Grand-Am

SCC: Birmingham: Series GS race notes

Gue, Seafuse Win KONI Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Race Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park New York-based JBS Motorsports team earns first ever victory BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (July 19, 2009) - Losing a heartbreaker at Barber Motorsports Park one year ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:24 AM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

Gue, Seafuse Win KONI Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport Race Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park
New York-based JBS Motorsports team earns first ever victory

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (July 19, 2009) - Losing a heartbreaker at Barber Motorsports Park one year ago, JBS Motorsports pulled out a dominating victory Sunday, giving the New York-based team its first victory in Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge competition.

Bret Seafuse and James Gue led 65 of the 90 circuits in the No. 37 Trumansburg ShurSave Ford Mustang GT, with Gue beating point leader Ken Wilden to the stripe by 1.863 seconds while running low on fuel. The team appeared on its way to win here a year ago, only to need to stop for a splash of fuel late in the race which led to a second-place finish.

"We learned from our mistakes from last year," Gue said. "We knew it would be close at the end, while it snuck up on us last year. I was basically trying to keep my gap. We didn't need to win by five seconds - all we needed was to win by just a hair."

Wilden took second in the No. 59 Rehagen racing Ford Mustang started by Dean Martin, who led twice for seven laps. Wilden retained his point lead over Seafuse and Gue (236-218), while Martin remained third with 206 points.

Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. placed third in the No. 61 Horsepower Racing Mustangs - giving Ford and Roush Yates engines a sweep of the podium.

The race was caution free - the second consecutive GS event without a yellow.

"We've been so close for so many times that I was afraid it was going to be dejà vu from last year," Seafuse said. "But we made it - and there can't be more than a pint in it. Finally the cards fell right and we are on top."

Spencer Pumpelly finished fourth in the No. 39 Adam's Polishes/The DigiTrust Group Porsche 997 started by Duncan Ende, while Matt Bell placed fifth in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 started by Boris Said.

Martin led the opening six laps from the pole before being passed by Seafuse - who paced the next 36 circuits before his pit stop. Meanwhile, Roush pitted earlier than expected due to a wheel vibration, with Johnson taking the lead when Martin and Seafuse pitted. Johnson led 13 circuits until his pit stop.

"I thought we were going to be able to drive up to the front and battle with these guys, but we have a wheel issue," Roush said. "Luckily, there was no serious damage, and Billy got out there and did an awesome job."

While several of the front runners needed to pit in the closing laps - including Bell, Bryan Ortiz and Andy Lally - the top two Fords were able to stretch out their mileage.

The Grand-Am KONI Challenge held a Street Tuner race on Saturday, with Ian Baas and Josh Hurley taking their first series victory in the No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI. Andrew Carbonell and Rhett O'Doski finished second in a Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5, followed by Kristian Skavnes and Andrew Aquilante in the Subaru Road Racing Team Legacy.

Only three races remain for the Grand-Am KONI Sports Car Challenge, which next sees action Aug. 15-16 at Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada.

-credit: grand-am

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article SCC: Birmingham: Owen Trinkler race report

Next article Utah: Miller Barrett Racing preview

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Phoenix II

2 h

Zane Smith fined $50,000 by NASCAR for ramming Carson Hocevar after Phoenix Cup race

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

United States GP

6 h

FIA expects F1 races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi to continue as planned

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

IMSA

IMSA IMSA 6 h

TDS Racing doubles down on IMSA program with two-car LMP2 return

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Singapore GP

6 h

Why Isack Hadjar doesn’t like F1 sprints anymore

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts