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Grand-Am Communications
http://www.grand-am.com
10/08/2006 - 07:00 PM
Alton, Va.
Mikel Miller and Tim Traver took their maiden Grand Am Cup win at VIR. (Grand Am photo) ยป More Photos
A championship battle to the finish between the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW 330i of Will Turner and Don Salama and the No. 27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Acura RSX of brothers Hugh and Matt Plumb stole the spotlight in the Bill Black Chevrolet Street Tuner Six-Hour Enduro at VIRginia International Raceway Sunday as the Acura drivers won the race but the second-place finishing BMW teammates sealed both the Grand-Am Cup Series ST driver and team championships.
The victory was the second of the season for the Plumb brothers after winning at Barber Motorsports Park in July and their success helped Acura clinch its fifth Grand-Am Cup ST manufacturer championship in the last six years. Matt Plumb crossed the finish line 6.255 seconds ahead of Turner in the No. 97 BMW and the winners averaged 81.529 mph in the six-hour race. The No. 68 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of Ken Dobson and Scott Schlessinger finished third.
While the Acura team celebrated the VIR victory, they came up just short in trying to beat Turner BMW and its drivers for the ST driver and team championships. After a rare mechanical failure sidelined the No. 70 SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 of former series champion Sylvain
Salama led the opening lap of the race, Matt Plumb led the final lap and for the six hours in between the two teams were rarely separated on the race track. Each of the four drivers led at various points and in one nearly three-hour stretch between laps 46 and 109, the No. 95 BMW and the No. 27 Acura ran first and second, with each taking a turn up front. Matt Plumb took the lead for good when he passed Dobson for the lead with just under 45 minutes remaining, but when Turner also passed the Mazda 15 minutes before the finish for second place, any slim chance of the Plumbs taking the title were gone. Turner and Salama clinched the title with 285 points, eight points ahead of the Plumb brothers.
"I think, going into the race, we just had to think about winning the race, and whatever happened to the Turner guys would just happen," Hugh Plumb said. "We were just staying out of trouble, taking care of the car, and not really hoping for their bad luck, but that's really what it was going to take. They did a good job."
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