LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 31, 2012) – The BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour heads to the Great Lakes Division this weekend for to join the Race of Champions Double National, hosted by the OVR and Cincinnati Regions. As the name would suggest, the entry list is chock full of former National Champions—27 in all of the 220 entries.
The weekend features a pair of National races, with Sunday being the BFGoodrich Tires Great Lakes Super Tour. Qualifying gets under way Friday, with a pair of sessions setting the grid for Saturday’s races, followed by the first session for the BFGoodrich Tires Super Tour contests on Sunday. Saturday begins with seven back-to-back race groups, and finishes with the final qualifying for several groups. After qualifying wraps up Sunday morning, it’s time for Super Tour Sunday. A full weekend schedule is available at the event home page here: http://www.scca.com/events/index.cfm?eid=3708.
Race Group One for small Touring, Super Touring® and Showroom Stock cars boasts six past National Champions, headlined by two-time defending Touring 2 Champion Marty Grand and his AMS Performance/TRE/Hoosier/Carbotech Mitsubishi Evo IX and the Hoosier Tire/Carbotech Brakes/Toyota Celica GT of two-time defending SSC Champ Mark McCaughey. A former Spec Miata National Champion, Andrew Charbonneau leads the SSB field in his Ford Mustang V6. Touring 3 has 2010 titlist Chad Gilsinger on the entry list with his HPD/BFGoodrich Tires/Alpinestars/H&R Springs/OS Giken Honda S2000 CR. Super Touring U has a pair of former Champs entered, although neither took the title in that class. Bill Niemeyer (Colletti Motorsports/Superior Equipment/BFGoodrich/HPD Acura RSX Type S) won F Production at Mid-Ohio in 2000 and Rob Huffmaster (www.VirSecServices.com Pontiac Solstice GXP) won Touring 3 in 2007.
Group Two features the largest single class of the weekend, with 23 Spec Racer Fords being led by 2011 Formula Enterprises Champion Scott Rettich and his Alliance Autosport/Springboro Car Wash/PDI Communications entry. Rettich is the defending Super Tour winner at Mid-Ohio in SRF.
Race Group Three for Formulas F, Vee and 500 features solid fields for all three classes. Formula Vee is 17-cars strong, with a pair of former National Champs headlining the entry—2004 winner Jeff Loughead’s Hoosier Tire/LL Loughead, DDS Vortech and 2009 winner Michael Varacins and his Speed Sport/Veetech/Hoosier Speed Sport AM-5. The Formula F field boasts the last two Champions—2010 winner Tim Kautz (Braeburn/Two Dogg/Hoosier/Euroquipe Piper DF3D) and defending Champion Lewis Cooper III (Martini/Voss Water Van Diemen).
Group Four for Spec Miata should be a fantastic battle, with 2010 Champion Charbonneau joined by 2011 Runoffs polesitter Jim Drago (East Street Racing Miata), 2003 SSB Champion Harry Manning (Hawk Brake/Rosen Mazda Miata) and defending Touring 1 Champion John Buttermore. David Bednarz (Dynomax Exhaust Miata) is the defending Great Lakes Super Tour winner.
Group Five for Production and GT-Lite boasts five former National Champions, including three in H Production. Four-time Champion (2004-2007) Tom Feller returns to action after a brief hiatus in his DJ Race/West MI Imports/Brinks Machine/Goodyear Triumph Spitfire. That will provide plenty of competition for the rest of the field, including 2000 and 2001 National Champion Ron Bartell (Hoosier Tires MG Midget) and defending Champion Greg Gauper, with his Rana Mort Racing/Goodyear Honda Civic. Defending Great Lakes Super Tour winner and 2010 National Champion Kevin Ruck (Hoosier/Honda/Cobalt Acura Integra) highlights a stout 11-car F Production field, and 2009 E Production National Champion Sam Halkias will be tough in his venerable Catawba Island Marina Triumph TR6.
Group Six includes all the sports racers and winged formula cars. Defending Formula Enterprises Champion Rettich (Alliance Autorsport/PDI Communication/Springboro Car Wash) pulls double duty on the weekend in SRF and FE, highlighting an eight-car FE class that also includes 2009 Formula 500 National Champion Patrick Gallagher (Jay Motorsports/CTL Engineering). Three-time National Champion (2006 CSR, 2007 CSR and Formula Atlantic) Hans Peter returns to action this weekend in his Swift 016 Formula Atlantic. Doug Peterson, the 2004 Formula Mazda Champion, will pull double duty in back-to-back races in Formula Mazda and GT-1 in his 3 Dimensional.com sponsored cars.
Peterson, who currently leads the Trans Am Championship points in his Chevrolet Corvette, will be joined by defending race winner Amy Ruman (McNichols/Goodyear/Cenweld Chevrolet Corvette) in Group 7 to lead the GT-1 field. Buttermore, who is also racing in Spec Miata, will run his Hoosier/Carbotech/Stoptech Corvette in Touring One. And “Fast” Freddy Baker, a four-time National Champion (1980 – C Production, 1987-1988 – SSGT, 2000 – Touring 1), will highlight a six-car Super Touring Over with his Porsche Beachwood/Goodyear Porsche 911. That class will also include the Dodge Viper of David Pintaric, who finished second at the 2011 National Championship Runoffs.
BFGoodrich Tires Great Lakes Super Tour/Dbl Nat
