Action-packed racing defined the first of two Hagerty Race Days at the 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco, and the excitement continued with the seventh race on the schedule: F Production (FP).
Tire Rack Pole Award winner David Strittmatter, of Akron, Ohio led the field to the green flag in the No. 28 Acura Integra at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, on a picture-perfect afternoon. After some early shuffling, he built a comfortable lead before a tire failure on lap six ended his race early.
With Strittmatter’s retirement, Chris Bovis, of Carrollton, Virginia took the lead in the No. 178 Hart Marx Advisors/Goodyear Honda CR-X and appeared to have the race in hand — until a full-course yellow on lap nine brought Mason Workman and David Bednarz, in the No. 52 and No. 47 Mazda Miatas, respectively, right onto his rear bumper.
When the race restarted with three laps to go, Workman briefly jumped to the lead, closely followed by Bednarz, until a multi-car incident in Turn 6 removed Bednarz from contention. Once cleared, Workman led Stephen Simonds, of Alvin, Texas, in the No. 63 JPM/Goodyear/Carbotech Mazda Miata, and Steven Powers, of Mesa, Arizona, in the No. 145 Jesse Prather Motorsports Mazda Miata, with Bovis following closely behind in fourth.
Lap 12 began with the leaders going three wide into Turn 1, shuffling Workman out of the lead, and allowing Bovis to move to the front. By the exit of Turn 5, Powers had passed Workman to secure the final step on the FP podium, while Simonds held second by a close margin. That’s the way they ran until Simonds jumped to the inside of Bovis in Turn 12 on the final lap.
“I did [think it was over],” said Bovis. “He got inside me. I was too slow for 3rd, I tried 2nd, it wasn’t there and he (Simonds) just took off.”
But as Road America has proven time and again, the race isn’t over until the leaders reach the finish line. Bovis got a strong run out of Turn 14 and drafted up the hill before popping out and passing Simonds — claiming his fourth Championship in 15 Runoffs starts with a margin of victory of just 0.132 second.
“Second gear picked a really bad time to leave,” said Bovis following the race, “and I didn’t have second gear for that entire three laps after the restart.” Smiling, he added, “and I don’t think I have first, so I’m not sure how we’re going to do the victory lap but we’ll find a way.”
Simonds built on his last year’s best Runoffs finish, improving to second this time around.
“I think I just said ‘this hurts so good’ and that pretty much sums it up,” said Simonds. “That was a hell of a race. Had a ton of fun — everybody raced clean around me for the most part.”
Powers, who had started 10 previous Runoffs races with a best finish of seventh in Spec Miata in 2014, rounded out the podium in third.
“I kept it clean, I’m happy,” said Powers following his third-place finish. “Nothing got tied up, stayed out of that melee at the top of six. Feeling happy… and feeling great to be on the podium.”
Rounding out the top six were Workman in fourth, Mark Weber in fifth, and Gerald Lamb in sixth. The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Paul Jensen, who started 17th and finished seventh.
The 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America™ Champions as part of the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program. In 2025, two Hagerty Race Days at Wisconsin’s Road America decide 23 gold-medal winners.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races is available over both competition days at SCCA’s Official YouTube Channel. Live timing and scoring for each race is also available at SCCA.com/live.
Below are final results for Saturday’s F Production race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Sunoco; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, SCCA Region, car, and laps completed.
1, (2), Chris Bovis, Chicago Region, Honda CR-X Si, 13.
2, (6), Stephen Simonds, Houston Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
3, (7), Steven Powers, Arizona Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
4, (5), Mason Workman, Ohio Valley Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
5, (13), Mark Weber, St Louis Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
6, (10), Gerald Lamb, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
7, (17), Paul Jensen, Continental Divide Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
8, (15), Michael Froh, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
9, (16), Jeffrey Winterfield, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Protégé 5, 13.
10, (19), Chris Kopley, New England Region, Toyota Paseo, 13.
11, (11), Thomas Gaydos, Neohio Region, Honda CR-X, 13.
12, (20), Tim Linerud, San Francisco Region, Volkswagen Rabbit, 12.
13, (9), Michael Lewis, Cal Club Region, Mazda RX-7, 11.
14, (8), David Bednarz, Detroit Region, Mazda Miata, 12.
15, (12), Bill Verdien, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 7.
16, (18), Mike Gnadt, Milwaukee Region, MG Midget, 6.
17, (14), Jonathan Goodale, Colorado Region, Mazda MX-5, 8.
DNF, (1), David Strittmatter, Neohio Region, Acura Integra LS, 5.
DNF, (3), Kevin Ruck, Ohio Valley Region, Acura Integra, 4.
DNF, (4), Ken Kannard, Atlanta Region, Acura Integra, 0.
DNS, (21), Weber Manning, Mid South Region, Mazda Miata, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 Miles
Overall Time of Race: 37:06.309 (avg. 85.094 mph)
Margin of Victory: 00.132 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:34.271 (94.462 mph)
Lap Leaders: #52, Laps 1, 10; #28, Laps 2-5; #178, Laps 6-9, 12-13; #145, Lap 11
Sunoco Hard Charger: #188 Paul Jensen
Photo by: Jeff Loewe
