I got a chance to chat with Jack Roush Jr. earlier this week who told me he was off to VIR this weekend to race the final round of the Koni Challenge Championship with his teammate Billy Johnson. They will be campaigning in their # 61 FR-500C Mustang under the team heading "Horsepower Ranch.
He is pretty excited as the team pulled off their first win of the season last race at Miller Motorsports Park
While the Horsepower Ranch team is not high enough up in the standings to win the championship this weekend, they stand to place well on the roster. S if you are near VIR, go check out the race and cheer them on!
More below the photo....
Mustangs Bound To Win Koni Championship Finale Weekend - GS Class
Source: Grand Am
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - It all comes down to this weekend. After 10 races across eight states and provinces in the U.S. and Canada, and nearly 2,000 miles of racing completed, the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge ends its 2009 season at Virginia International Raceway. The Bosch Engineering Octoberfest will be a four-hour combined Grand Sport (GS)/Street Tuner (ST) class race, the first time this format has been implemented.
Sunday's race will feature the return of a reigning series titlist as well as the Camaro and Challenger to the series. Overall, both classes will crown new driving and team champions, who need only to finish their seasons the same way they started - with strong, consistent finishes.
Ken Wilden (Oakville, Ontario) has led the GS points since he finished third at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He won two races - at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course - and finished eighth or better in every race.
Co-driving with Dean Martin (Westland, Mich.) in the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT, Wilden needs only to finish 13th to sew up the championship. That shouldn't be a problem - the No. 59 has finished inside the top 10 in 16 consecutive races dating back to last year. Martin is third in the standings, having only missed the race at Homestead-Miami in his Rehagen Racing team's bid at a first-ever title.
But five other drivers - three in GS and two in ST - still have the chance to steal those titles. In GS, JBS Motorsports teammates James Gue (Alpharetta, Ga.) and Bret Seafuse (Trumansburg, N.Y.) in the No. 37 Trumansburg ShurSave Ford Mustang GT trail by 18 points (292-274), as their ability to produce top finishes has been on par with Wilden's. Gue and Seafuse won at Barber Motorsports Park, and like Wilden, have finished all 10 races this season in the top 10. However, Wilden owns more podium finishes, and would own the tiebreaker in the case Gue and Seafuse - who finished second in the points in 2008 - won at VIR, by virtue of more second-place finishes.
Matt Bell (Los Altos, Calif.) in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 kept his title chances alive after finishing second Sept. 18 in the Salt Lake City 200 at Miller Motorsports Park. His two victories this season tie Wilden, Martin and Billy Johnson (San Clemente, Calif.) for most in class, but a pair of finishes outside the top 10 early in the season has him fighting more specifically for another victory. Bell, 32 points out of the lead, and Bill Auberlen (Redondo Beach, Calif.) will drive together at VIR.
On the manufacturer side, Ford holds a two-point edge over BMW for the title, which with a victory in GS would snatch the title away.
Aside from the championship, the manufacturers will play a major role this weekend as well. For the first time this season, five different types of cars are entered for the GS race. In addition to the Dodge Challenger, which has recently completed several tests and deemed a "challenger for top finishes" by one of its drivers, Tom Nastasi (Stamford, Conn.), the new Camaro will be on track for the first time.
Stevenson Motorsports' No. 6 Sunoco Chevrolet Camaro will be co-piloted by David Donohue (Malvern, Pa.) and Jeff Bucknum (Lake Havasu City, Ariz.), whose fathers took a similarly painted Camaro to a road racing championship in 1969. It marks the first time since 2003 a Camaro has been entered for a KONI Challenge race. Nastasi will be joined by Ian James (Paradise Valley, Ariz.) and Erich Heuschele (Detroit) in the No. 5 Blackforest Motorsports TPN Racing Dodge Challenger.
Turner Motorsport will bring its No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 for Lime Rock Park co-winners Joey Hand and Chris Gleason, while Kinetic Motorsports will bring four BMW M3s and 2007 team champion Automatic Racing two. Race-winning Porsche 997s from this season will come from TRG and Motorsport Technology Group, one of two Virginia-based teams entered.
Horsepower Ranch will also bring its No. 61 Valvoline/Roush Ford Mustang GT, which won at Miller Motorsports Park with Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. (Livonia, Mich.).
Official practice for the Bosch Engineering Octoberfest is scheduled to start at 10 a.m. ET Saturday, with qualifying at 3 p.m. The race is scheduled for noon Sunday.
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