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SCC: Utah: Compass360 Racing preview

COMPASS360 RACING AIM FOR MORE WINS AND PODIUMS IN UTAH What a year 2008 has been so far for the Compass360 crew. Coming into the season we were the second-place team, with more wins than any other, and having finished runner-up by a handful of ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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COMPASS360 RACING AIM FOR MORE WINS AND PODIUMS IN UTAH

What a year 2008 has been so far for the Compass360 crew. Coming into the season we were the second-place team, with more wins than any other, and having finished runner-up by a handful of points to the first place guys. Those first-place guys, Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood, took top honors over Billy Johnson and the team was really excited to have inked a deal to have the duo join the team, having battled so hard against the them in '07.

This year, Adam and Trevor have taken two wins in KONI Challenge so far, a feat they'd not managed before. That's right, despite winning the championship in 2007, they'd never won a race. Now, at the helm of Compass360's #76 Skunk2 / K&N / Sunday Group Management Acura TSX, they've taken wins at Watkins Glen and Trois-Rivieres, two tracks that are so remarkably different, it's a testament to their great driving and the solid car that team Technical Director Ray Lee and his hard-working crew have given them.

But this year the competition is so tight that despite winning more races than anyone save Georgian Bay's Jamie Holtom (who has three), they're sitting seventh in the Driver's Championship with two races to go. Yes, the spread between third and seventh is a scant 18 points, and long-time pros like Peter Cunningham, Chuck Hemmingson, Christian Skavnes and young hot-shoe Kuno Wittmer are in that group just ahead. But the highs of two wins have been matched by the lows of a 29th place at Mid-Ohio when a rear hub failed, and a 17th at Iowa, the result of a broken half-shaft.

Worse, Trevor's been caught out twice this year on restarts when a car ahead has checked up and he has moved to the side to avoid hitting them. First at Daytona, then more recently at New Jersey, Trevor's been called to do a drive-through while being in certain position for a podium. In a points race this tight, losing out on a certain podium and finishing 7th (NJ) or 9th (Daytona), that loss of points is devastating. But that's racing and they duo are aiming for another win, this time at Miller Motorsport Park in Toole, Utah, to keep them in contention for the driver's championship.

The team's three other cars are also in contention for solid finishes amongst the mountains near Salt Lake City:

Jeremy Willard and coach Kenny Wilden have a season-best podium finish (at Iowa) under their belt, and will be shooting for another this weekend in the #75 Pure Hair Care and Body Wash Acura TSX that they've shared all year.

Christian Miller is in 9th place in the championship, within striking distance of the top three. Christian's done a great job this year and has been the model of consistency, finishing in sixth place an amazing five times! The team would dearly like to see him on the podium at least once this year (he was third at Laguna last season), and have signed Robb Holland (who currently drives in Speed World Challenge) to drive with him for the Miller race in their #74 C360R / Skunk2 / 034 Motosport Honda Civic Si.

And Kevin York, a Speed Secrets coach who first drove with the team in its debut season back in 2004, has performed admirably in his first full KONI Challenge year, garnering two sixth-place finishes thus far. He'll be teamed with Montana's James Rowan, who brings good local track knowledge and the promise of another top finish for the team in the #73 C360R / GoEnzo.com Acura RSX-S.

-credit: c360r

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