DANVILLE, Va. (Oct. 4, 2009) - James Gue and Bret Seafuse did what they set out to do - win the 2009 Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport (GS) season-ending Bosch Engineering Octoberfest on Sunday at Virginia International Raceway. However, Ken Wilden's sixth-place finish was enough to keep the points lead and take his first series title.

Gue took the lead on Lap 83 of 108 and led the final 26 laps after taking control from Seafuse - who had led from Laps 66-82 at the point - during the JBS Motorsports team's final pit stop. Gue and Seafuse celebrated their second victory of 2009 in the No. 37 Trumansburg ShurSave Ford Mustang GT, as they led twice for a race-high 66 laps.

Seafuse - who stated before the race the goal was simply "to win" - started ninth, but Gue moved the car into the lead during his stint, and the two were never shuffled out of the top five.

Meanwhile, polesitter Wilden led the opening two laps, and he and co-driver Dean Martin participated in a different pit stop sequence, opting to stay out during the first of three caution periods while many of the leaders pitted. Martin led two laps during his stint, and Wilden was able to move into the top five during the race's final hour.

However, Wilden fell outside the top five at the beginning of the final hour, and was eighth on the race's final restart. Running conservatively enough to stay out of trouble, but aggressively enough to keep the championship lead, Wilden dropped to ninth in the first turn. He eventually finished seventh and was promoted to sixth following a penalty on Billy Johnson, showing emotion upon taking the checkered flag.

The final advantage for Wilden was nine points (317-309) over Gue - who pulled away on the final restart - and Seafuse, who had to settle for second in the championship for the second straight season. Last year, they finished six points behind titlists Scott Maxwell and Joe Foster.

"I wasn't worried (when they fell behind early in the race)," said Wilden, whose VIR finish tied his season worst. "I knew what our strategy was, and it played out. We just needed to do what we had to do, and we executed. On the first pit stop, we probably should have pitted with the leaders, but we knew we'd catch up again. We expected another yellow. On the championship, I'm just thrilled for the No. 59 Rehagen Mustang, 986 Cooling and Belesta.

"This is a really tight year for us and for Rehagen financially, and they really stepped up for me to come in here and show what we could do," Wilden continued. "Running with Dean is like having two pro drivers. Hats off to the crew, one of the best pit teams in the paddock. The car was flawless all year. We did not have one failure, and we didn't replace one body panel all year. I'm very happy and very pleased."

The championship was also the first for Wilden's team, Rehagen Racing, and the second consecutive for Ford, which defeated BMW by four points (348-344).

Disappointed with not winning the title, Gue was nonetheless content with winning the race. He held off Salt Lake City 200 race co-winner Johnson on the final restart and pulled away. Side-to-side contact between Johnson and Bill Auberlen in the No. 96 Motul BMW M3 allowed Terry Borcheller to jump ahead of both and into second, 1.305 seconds behind Gue. All 11 GS races this season finished with a margin of victory under five seconds.

"We came into this race knowing we had to win, and that's all we could control," Gue said. "I know the (No.) 59 guys had a rough time today, but they still had enough for the championship. But it's been a great year. We came up a little short in the championship, but I'm proud of Bret and all the guys. They did an outstanding job."

Borcheller co-drove with No. 28 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 driver Andrew Hendricks, making only his second career KONI Challenge start. Borcheller led 20 laps during the race's first hour. It was the best-ever finish for Fall-Line Motorsports.

Johnson was issued a 45-second penalty for the contact as well as blocking, dropping him and co-driver Jack Roush Jr. to ninth, the final car on the lead lap, and giving Dan DiLeo and Eric Foss third in the No. 8 Maxwell Paper Products Co. Porsche 997. It marked Maxwell's first-ever KONI Challenge podium.

Auberlen and Matt Bell finished fourth, while Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman took fifth in the No. 91 Sparco/Imported Car Store BMW M3.

Virginia-based Motorsport Technology Group and the No. 18 Evolution Motorsports Porsche 997, with drivers Ryan Dalziel and Payton Wilson of Chantilly, Va., finished 14th, one lap down.

The race marked the debut of the Chevrolet Camaro in KONI Challenge competition. Second-generation drivers David Donohue and Jeff Bucknum co-drove the No. 6 Sunoco entry fielded by Stevenson Motorsports - carrying the blue and yellow colors campaigned by Mark Donohue and Ronnie Bucknum for Penske Racing in the 1969 SCCA Trans-Am Championship. David Donohue qualified 13th and had the car up to third before turning the car over to Bucknum, who retired with clutch problems with 80 minutes remaining. They finished 23rd in class.

The race's three cautions - all for stalled cars - slowed the race's average to 88.093 mph.

 

Very cool!! Great season!

 

I was there and saw it all! Except for the Challenger-Camaro-Mustang showdown since the Challenger was withdrawn yet again (third, fourth, or fifth time this season).

I was on a balcony that happened to be beside the pit location of the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro. The Camaro did not make it to within 80 minutes of the end--it pulled into the pits at around 2:10 PM (110 minutes remaining, the third GS-Class vehicle in the race to DNF) and never moved under its own power again. Four guys pushed it behind the wall after the pit crew raised the hood, discussed whatever they saw for ten seconds, slammed the hood, and begin the long push to the garages. Bad news for the Camaro--two hours and ten minutes ain't gonna cut it when the typical Grand Am race is two hours and thirty minutes long. And the Camaro's speed was about eighth or ninth fastest over the course of the 57 laps (of 108 total for the winning Mustang) it managed to complete. 13 of the other 24 cars in the GS Class had faster best laps than the Camaro's, including the two Porsches that dropped out (Wrecked? Broke?) before the Camaro.

End of showdown, as the Gue/Seafuse Mustang of JBS Motorsports--clearly the class of the field--roared on to victory made to seem close only because of a two-lap caution that began four laps from the end. Everyone in the lead lap got to catch up to #37 as a result. The green came out for only one lap before the white flag fell, but no one could touch #37 in the two final laps under the green despite that hugely fortunate caution flag.

The longer the race, the better Mustangs do--last year the race at VIR was two hours longer and Mustangs swept the podium as the other competitors couldn't match their pace for six long hours.

They came, they saw, they kicked ***. The End.

Greg "Eights" Ates

 

"Eights" speaks the truth. Just an awesome weekend. Here are some photos I shot on Friday and Sunday. The turn at the Oak Tree are Friday. Pretty much the rest are from Sunday!

 

pitpup: "Eights" speaks the truth. Just an awesome weekend. Here are some photos I shot on Friday and Sunday. The turn at the Oak Tree are Friday. Pretty much the rest are from Sunday!

Eights always speaks the truth--or a reasonable facsimile thereof...

Absolutely terrific pics, pitpup! Helluva fun day that was!

It's odd to me that a car comes into the pits, the driver supposedly reports a clutch failure, the pitcrew doesn't look underneath the car but instead lifts the hood for ten seconds, slams the hood, and signals four dudes to push the car behind the wall...

Questions remaining in my mind from the events I witnessed at 2:10 PM in the Sunoco Camaro pit:

What's under the hood that tells you the clutch has irreparably failed in only a ten-second inspection?

And if the driver assures you that the clutch is history and the car is done for the day, why do you need to look under the hood at all? Was there something(s) that needed to be turned off/disconnected under the hood that the driver cannot turn off from within the car's passenger compartment?

Or are there other explanations? Enquiring minds want to know...

Greg "Eights" Ates

 

Congrats on the KONI Challenge title win- great to see Rehagen Racing win.

 

Thanks for the pics, Pitpup! I'm still waiting for the race to air on SPEEDHD so I can watch the whole thing lap-by-lap.

 

Perhaps the Camaro has a hydraulic clutch and the reservoir is under the hood? If the fluid was empty, it would indicate a failure or leak somewhere in the system - good luck finding it quickly. That's my guess since a semblance of the factory dash must remain in the interior.
BTW, Mustang FTW - again!!!

 

I wish i could watch this stuff...

Why cant ESPN show this isntead of Nascar?

 

excellent pics!!!! thanks

 

I'm a little late to the party here, but first I need to say:

Awesome pics pitpup! Better watch out or Wes Duenkel might bump you off to avoid the competition

Greg,

I wasn't there, I took this season off from crewing for Rehagen for family reasons (great year to pick, right? lol) Anyway, it may be related to a hydraulic clutch setup. Many hydraulic clutches (including the '05+ mustang) use brake fluid from the master cylinder reservoir to feed the clutch system. If the clutch slave cylinder had gone bad, its entirely possible they were checking the fluid level to see if it was a leak or something else. Changing a slave cylinder during the race is doable for a good crew, but not easy at all. It may be that the slave cylinder went bad, leaking fluid, and they decided not to worry about it. I know that many of the Mustang teams battled with clutch slave cylinder trouble off and on for a few years after the '05 car launched.

Of course, it may have just been a BS statement about it being a clutch issue. Many teams will give a vague and not necessarily truthful description of a problem to hide whatever it is they are really having trouble with. No real way for us to know for sure here, is there