SONOMA, Calif. (Oct. 21, 2018) -- As far as the Touring 2 class went at this year’s SCCA® National Championship Runoffs®, John Kachadurian, of Denver, Colorado, simply was at the head of the class. He claimed the Tire Rack Pole Award on Thursday, then went on to a flag-to-flag win Sunday for his second Runoffs victory.

At the get-go, Kachadurian leapt to the lead and never relinquished the top spot.  Admittedly, he made one driving error in his No. 80 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche 911 during the 20-lap race on Sonoma Raceway’s 12-turn, 2.52-mile circuit; and the No. 47 Fall-Line Motorsports Porsche 911 Carrera driven by Mark Boden made a challenge once or twice, but the race was very much under control for Kachadurian.

“We executed our plan perfectly,” Kachadurian said after victory podium celebrations. “We just wanted to get out front and run our race. I knew I was going to have to be clean, consistent, smooth and keep the car underneath me. I was able to keep it out front and keep running.”

Boden considered making a stab at passing Kachadurian in turn two on the first lap, but thought better of the maneuver.  He slotted in behind the leader waiting for an opportunity that never came.  And for the first handful of laps, Boden was hounded by the No. 37 Phoenix Performance Chevrolet Corvette C6 of Kurt Rezzetano.  But Boden was able to maintain the runner-up spot as Rezzetano faded.

“John drove a really good race,” said Boden, who now has a dozen Runoffs podium appearances. “I didn’t really have a lot of opportunities to stick a nose in on him. I just sat behind and waited for a mistake.”

Rezzetano easily rounded out the top-three finishers, his fourth podium at the Runoffs.

“John and Mark were pretty much in a league of their own all week,” Rezzetano said of the top-two finishers. “I wasn’t in conservation mode at all during the race. I tried to go for it as hard as I could, and actually got up next to Mark twice. But I didn’t have enough motor to pull around him.”

Meanwhile, an interesting battle for the fourth and fifth positions was taking place back in the field. Preston Calvert, in the No. 77 Calvert Dynamics/Phoenix Ford Mustang GT, held the fourth spot for a while followed by David Sanders’ No. 73 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06 and the No. 16 Porsche 911 Carrera of Thomas Herb.  But a few laps later, both Sander and Herb had gotten around Calvert.  On lap 12, Calvert nudged Herb in a corner and they both departed from the top-five fight.

Sanders moved on to claim fourth, and Addison Lee’s No. 89 addisonleedriver.com Ford Mustang GT secured fifth after some great racing with the No. 9 Hoosier/Alpine Motorsports/PPIR BMW E92 M3 of Jason Ott.

The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Michael Pettiford, in the No. 41 GO 4 IT Racing Schools/Hoosier/Hawk Pontiac Solstice, who started 24th and finished in the 15th position.

The 55th SCCA® National Championship Runoffs®, the Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at Sonoma Raceway in California Friday, Oct. 19 through Sunday, Oct 21.

Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races, presented by Mazda, is available throughout the three days of competition at SCCA.com/live. An audio race call, supplied by the Super Tour Radio broadcast team, is also available at www.SCCA.com/live, as well as live timing and scoring for each National Championship race.

SONOMA, Calif. -- Provisional results for Sunday’s Touring 2 race at the 55th SCCA National Championship Runoffs from Sonoma Raceway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps completed.
1, (1), John Kachadurian, Denver, CO, Porsche 911/996, 20.
2, (2), Mark Boden, Buffalo Grove, IL, Porsche 911 Carrera S 997.2, 20.
3, (3), Kurt Rezzetano, Phoenixville, PA, Chevrolet Corvette C6, 20.
4, (4), David Sanders, Malvern, PA, Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06, 20.
5, (8), Addison Lee, San Francisco, CA, Ford Mustang GT, 20.
6, (10), Jason Ott, Littleton, CO, BMW E92 M3, 20.
7, (5), Thomas Herb, Barrington, IL, Porsche 911 Carrera S 997.2, 20.
8, (9), Troy Ermish, Tracy, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 20.
9, (13), Tom Wickersham, Piedmont, CA, BMW Z4 M, 20.
10, (12), Bill Collins, Saint Paul, MN, Chevrolet Corvette C5, 20.
11, (7), Ken Pedersen, Novato, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 20.
12, (19), David Ray, Copperopolis, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 20.
13, (11), Scotty B White, Auburn, WA, Ford Mustang V6, 20.
14, (16), Beau Borders, Venice Beach, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 20.
15, (24), Michael Pettiford, Louisville, CO, Pontiac Solstice GXP, 19.
16, (20), James Leithauser, Colorado Springs, CO, BMW E92 M3, 19.
17, (22), Denis Nowak, Edmonton, AB, Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06, 19.
18, (21), Buz McCall, Boca Raton, FL, BMW E92 M3, 19.
19, (25), Don Van Nortwick, San Jose, CA, Ford Mustang GT, 19.
20, (28), Russ Peterson, Menlo Park, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 19.
21, (17), William Moore, Chagrin Falls, OH, Chevrolet Camaro SS, 19.
22, (26), Nicole Jacque, San Jose, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 19.
23, (29), Carl Fung, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06, 17.
24, (18), Christopher Qualls, Yorba Linda, CA, Chevrolet Corvette C5 Z06, 15.
25, (6), Preston Calvert, Potomac, MD, Ford Mustang GT, 11.
26, (14), Clark Nunes, San Jose, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 8.
27, (27), Ron Randolph, Walnut Creek, CA, Porsche Cayman S, 7.
28, (15), Roger Eagleton, Burlingame, CA, Ford Spec Mustang, 6.
DNS, (23), Pratt Cole, Salt Lake City, UT, Ford Mustang GT,  .

Length of Race: 50 Miles
Overall Time of Race: 35:51.754 (avg. 84.322 mph)
Margin of Victory: 01.112 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 1:45.999 (85.586 mph)
Lap Leaders: #80 laps 1-20
Sunoco Hard Charger: #41 Michael Pettiford

Image: John Kachadurian took a flag-to-flag Touring 2 win at the Runoffs

Credit: Jay Bonvouloir