DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 27, 2015) – Joe Kristensen, of London, Ontario, Canada, captured his first career SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB win on Sunday in the GT-3 class at Daytona International Speedway, earning the national title following three previous runner-up finishes. Chad Bacon, of Kingsport, Tennessee, and Mike Henderson, of El Cajon, California, finished second and third after a thrilling final lap.

Kristensen snuck away from the field from the Tire Rack Pole Position in the No. 14 Kristensen Race Engines/Hoosier Acura RSX and led flag to flag, averaging 102.554 mph and turning the fastest race lap in 2:03.617 (103.617 mph).

“I feel unbelievable,” Kristensen said. “It’s surreal. We had a great week, and I’m just kind of speechless. I don’t know what to say. I’m beside myself. I’ve been working at this for a while now, and have been working hard to get this far, and finally did it.

“The car was great today. The tires were fabulous. I had a bit of a mishap in the middle of the race, I slowed down a little bit. That was my own doing, and I just put my head back down and kept going.

“Mike was behind me at the start, and he had my worried for quite a bit there. We had low downforce, I dropped the wing down to get the extra mile per hour on the straights but it didn’t have the same grip in the infield. A couple of times it got hairy for me. It may not have looked like it, but it sure felt like it.”

Henderson’s No. 12 Goodyear/Red Line Oil Mazda RX-7 chased Kristensen early, and then dropped into the battle with Bacon’s No. 118 CB Motorsports/Goodyear/TRD Toyota Celica. Bacon got in front with just a couple of laps to go, but the battle continued.

Henderson moved around Bacon down the backstretch on the white flag lap, but Bacon countered going into the bus stop, rather than out. Bacon slid his Toyota to the inside of Henderson’s black RX-7 on the entrance to the chicane, moving through it well enough to get the power down on exit and hold on to the finish.

Bacon also earned the Sunoco Hard Charger after improving from fourth on the grid.

“Our cars had a pretty good balance,” Bacon said. “I felt like I had the handling in the infield, and he had the horsepower on the oval. I felt like I had to get out of Turn Six well, because if I could get to the bus stop in front of him, I felt like I could stay in front of him. I got a really bad run out of Six and he timed it perfectly and got me at the bus stop, and I said ‘ok, I’m going to throw it in there deep and see if we could get it to stick.’ He gave me room, he raced me very clean, and it came out on my side.”

Henderson saw the trip the same way.

“My best shot was in the banking,” Henderson said. “I had power on him there, he had me on the inside of the course. My lack of grip at that time was hurting me. I got by him on the top side going down toward the bus stop, and I got in not too bad. He got in just inside me, and I had to make room for it. I don’t want to hurt anybody or ruin a race car by cutting him off like that. I got into the wrong gear coming out and couldn’t pull him like I thought I would. I thought I could pull up on him and possibly pass him at the finish line, but it didn’t happen that way. I got out too slow and couldn’t run him down.”

Paul Young’s No. 79 Young Racing LLC/Hoosier Tire Ford Probe kept the pace with Bacon early on, but fell back in the latter stages as Bacon challenged Henderson and finished fourth. Bill McGavic finished fifth in the No. 69 NoMoMoney Race Eng./Hoosier/Mazda Mazda RX-7.

The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowned Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.

While the live broadcast of all 27 National Championship were available live at SCCA.com, each race will be on demand in the coming weeks.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Provisional results for Sunday’s SCCA GT-3 National Championship race at the 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.

1, (1), Joe Kristensen, London, ON, Acura RSX, 14.
2, (4), Chad Bacon, Kingsport, TN, Toyota Celica, 14.
3, (2), Mike Henderson, El Cajon, CA, Mazda RX-7, 14.
4, (3), Paul Young, Commerce Township, MI, Ford Probe, 14.
5, (5), Bill McGavic, Arcadia, FL, Mazda RX-7, 14.
6, (6), James Ashe, Prospect, CT, Mazda RX-7, 14.
7, (7), Guy Laidig, Woodside, CA, Mazda RX-7, 14.
8, (8), Kenford Nelson, Novi, MI, Nissan 200SX, 14.
9, (10), Ray Stephenson, Miami, FL, Mazda RX-7, 14.
10, (11), Richard Allen, Chickasha, OK, Nissan 350Z Track, 7.
DNS, (9), Robert Warkocki, Frankfort, IL, Mazda RX-7,  . 

Length of Race: 50 miles
Overall Time of Race: 29:09.561
Margin of Victory: 11.039 seconds
Average Speed: 102.554 mph
Fastest Race Lap: #14 Kristensen, 2:03.617 (103.675 mph)
Lap Leaders: #14 Kristensen, laps 1-14
Sunoco Hard Charger: #118 Chad Bacon

Image: Joe Kristensen dominated the GT3 class at the 52nd SCCA Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speecway en route to his first National Championship.
Credit: Jay Bonvouloir