Stevenson Camaro (Source: speed.com)
Still awaiting the start of the riveting Motegi Street-fest; Hya! I decided to watch the final round of this year?s Grand Am season - having stumbled upon the race?s final 42-minutes... When ex-Champ Car World Series (CCWS) driver Ryan ?Dazzle Dalziel literally drove the wheels off of his Starworks Riley-Ford DP Prototype to the chequered flag ahead of perennial Grand Am Champion Scott ?Scooter? Pruett. As Pruett and Co-driver Memo Rojas won their third-consecutive DP title, a series first, along with ?Cheep?s record fifth Daytona Prototype Crown!
As going to commercial break, SPEED highlighted a younger Scott Donald Pruett winning his first Rolex 24 timepiece ?Way-back-in 1988 - some 23yrs ago aboard an Eleectromotive Nissan 300ZXT... With TV Booth Boyz Dorsey Schroeder musing I was there - were you Calvin? To which Calvin Fish coyly replied I was just a kid... Yeah, you were there too Dorsey noted...
But the win was special for Dalziel, who clouted kerves, got extremely tail happy and as Leigh Diffey noted - was driving at 11/10ths to keep the victory out of the clutches of Pruett who was hounding the Scot in P2, where the California ?Kid? would finish the race; as Dalziel later claimed ?He was either gonna WIN or WRECK!? With the win being Dalziel?s first since his memorable Overall triumph in the 2010 Rolex 24 - and Starworks debutant victory...
And while the GT Crown was anything but assured - as the Speedsource Mazda RX8?s went hammer ?N tongs - as the HomeBoy Team of Patrick Dempsey Racing?s No. 41 Mazda lost the lead with nary 15-mins remaining; a late race caution flag saw a two lap shootout where the famous Brumos No. 59 hung onto fourth place to win the title over a hard pressing Jonathan Bomarito; ?Juan ?O thee Atlantics LOST Souls; as in in The Johnnie Boy Trio, i.e.; Bomarito, John Edwards and Jonathan Summerton - like can Y?all say Edwards, Summerton and Simona de Silvestro? Who finished 1-2-3 in the 2009 title fight whilst Bomarito was Atlantics runner-up in ?08...
Yet then another name from the past came to light during the winner?s interviews; Hmm? Hey! I knows ?Dat name... As the winner of the GT Class featured Robin Liddell and Ronnie Bremmer... Wasn?t Bremmer an ex-Champ Car competitor? Yeah, thought so - as I recalled seeing the Dane trundle ?round Portland in the Dale Coyne Sonny?s Bar-Bee-Que car - ?Circa ?05 after he?d been let go by the first incarnation of HVM who replaced Ronnie with some Cat I nicknamed Dan ?SpeedyDry? Clarke.
As Bremmer also scored his Debutant Grand Am Pole position in the Stevenson Motorsports Camaro, with Chevie?s sweeping the first three grid spots - while the back-to-back victories by Stevenson helped GM claim the Manufacturer?s Crown in the GT Class. As next up is the 50th running of the Rolex 24 at Daytona next January...
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