Florida Region member Peter Shadowen held off multi-time Champion Chris Bovis on Friday morning at Road America to etch his name in the record book as the 2024 GT-Lite winner at the SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco.
Shadowen’s No. 72 Road N Race/Goodyear Honda CRX started on the Tire Rack Pole but by Turn 5 had fallen behind 10-time Champion Michael Lewis. That lasted until lap three when he moved back to the point, but had the pesky No. 178 Hart Marx Advisors/Goodyear Honda CRX of Bovis in his mirrors for the duration.
Ultimately, Shadowen’s slight horsepower advantage up the final straight to the checkered flag pulled the now six-time class Champion to a 0.328sec victory in the 13-lap race on the first of three Hagerty Race Days to crown Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, during the Sept. 28-Oct. 6 event.
The 2024 gold medal is his third in the past five seasons.
“It feels awesome to get another win,” Shadowen said. “Honestly, this morning I was probably more nervous than I’ve ever been because I knew it was going to be a tough one. There were several key players, including Chris, that had potential, but he was my main concern. It’s definitely a lot of work.”
Bovis gave everything his CRX had, which runs in a front-wheel-drive configuration versus Shadowen’s rear-wheel-drive car, but didn’t have enough for the race winner. Like the leader, he moved around Lewis’ early move on lap three, and it was soon just the duo left at the end.
The race looked temporarily like it could be a repeat of Bovis’ 2013 victory, where he used a run through the final Turn 14 to the checkered flag to win the race by 0.007sec in a photo finish, the second closest finish in Runoffs history.
“I had to slightly modify that strategy,” Bovis said. “It would have had to have been going into 14, because I just don’t have the horsepower over Peter to get it going up the straight. I had two shots at it, but I would have ended up in his door, and we don’t need that.”
Instead, he settled in for his seventh career Runoffs podium.
Defending National Champion Graham Fuller had begun to catch up to Lewis by mid race but inherited third for good when Lewis pulled off with a mechanical issue on lap eight. The finish gave Fuller a third career podium and a complete set of trophies, along with his past victory and silver medal.
“The start of the race, Brian Linn was right on me and we traded back and forth for a while,” Fuller said. “Then I was following Lewis for a while and thought we could work together, but he [pulled off track] in Canada Corner and I was all by myself out there.”
Linn finished fourth, followed by James Gregorious in fifth. Noel Hayward worked his way from 13th on the grid to ninth at the finish to earn the Sunoco Hard Charger Award.
The 60th anniversary SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Road Racing National Champions this year at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI, during Hagerty Race Days running Friday, Oct. 4, through Sunday, Oct. 6, 2024.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races, presented by Mazda, is available throughout the three days of competition at SCCA.com/runoffs-live. Live timing and scoring for each race are also available at SCCA.com/pages/runoffs-live-timing.
Below are final results for Friday's GT-Lite race at the 2024 SCCA® National Championship Runoffs, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, and laps completed.
1, (1), Peter Shadowen, West Palm Beach, FL, Honda CR-X, 13.
2, (2), Chris Bovis, Overland Park, KS, Honda CR-X, 13.
3, (4), Graham Fuller, Summit Point, WV, Toyota Tercel, 13.
4, (5), Brian Linn, Hermosa Beach, CA, Nissan Sentra, 13.
5, (6), James Gregorius, Livonia, NY, Mazda RX-7, 13.
6, (8), Eric Vickerman, Howell, MI, Mazda MX-3, 13.
7, (11), Chris Kopley, Easton, CT, Toyota Paseo, 13.
8, (10), Chris Doodson, Chilliwack, BC, Honda CR-X, 13.
9, (13), Noel Hayward, Vallejo, CA, MG Midget, 12.
10, (3), Michael Lewis, Poway, CA, Mazda RX-7, 8.
DNF, (7), Jonathan Goodale, Conifer, CO, Mazda MX-5, 3.
DNF, (12), Scott McAllister, Brockport, NY, Volkswagen Scirocco, 2.
DNF, (9), Peter Zekert, Maryland Hts, MO, Toyota Tercel, 1.
DNS, (14), Jonathan Stalzer, Plainfield, IL, Toyota Corolla, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 miles
Overall Time of Race: 33:02.080 (avg. 95.580 mph)
Margin of Victory: 0.352 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:30.844 (96.608 mph)
Lap Leaders: #32, Laps 1-2; #72, Laps 3-13
Sunoco Hard Charger: #2 Noel Hayward
Photo by: Jeff Loewe
