{"id":680,"date":"2017-10-14T14:30:04","date_gmt":"2017-10-14T18:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=680"},"modified":"2023-05-03T15:51:14","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T19:51:14","slug":"alex-kirby-takes-second-pirelli-gt3-cup-trophy-usa-victory-of-the-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2017\/10\/14\/alex-kirby-takes-second-pirelli-gt3-cup-trophy-usa-victory-of-the-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Kirby Takes Second Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA Victory of the Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Monterey, Calif. (14 October 2017) \u2013 AASCO Motorsports\u2019 Alex Kirby\u00a0(No. 01 991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0took his second victory of the season in\u00a0Saturday\u2019s\u00a0Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.<\/p>\n

WinWard Racing\u2019s Russell Ward\u00a0(No. 35 Porsche\u00a0991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0crossed the line in first, but was penalized\u00a0following\u00a0the race after an opening lap tangle with Max Root\u00a0(No. 07 GT Technik Porsche\u00a0991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0in the first turn. The incident saw Root\u00a0spin\u00a0off track\u00a0and collect Diamond Masters competitors\u00a0Bryce Ward\u00a0(No. 57 WinWard Racing\u00a0Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0and Mike McAlister\u00a0(No. 18 Competition Motorsports Porsche 991 GT3 Cup).<\/p>\n

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\"\"The field took the green after two caution laps and Russell Ward began to distance himself from his competitors until a late race caution bunched the field back together for the final two laps of action. Ward held off the charging Kirby and Diamond Masters competitor Preston Calvert\u00a0(No. 99 Competition Motorsports\u00a0Porsche 997 GT3 Cup)\u00a0but a\u00a030-second penalty for avoidable contact\u00a0added after the race, saw Kirby take the overall and Diamond Cup class victory in the 21-lap event.<\/p>\n

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\u201cRussell\u00a0(Ward)\u00a0and Max\u00a0(Root)\u00a0made contact in front of me,\u201d said Kirby. \u201cMax spun, so I just waited for him to finish his rotation and picked my spot to go through. I was just aiming to get through cleanly. After that, it was just a matter of trying to catch\u00a0Russell and\u00a0make up as much ground as I could. The yellow helped, but Russell was just a bit faster today and I couldn\u2019t get a run. It\u2019s been an up and down season, with a lot of second-place finishes, so while I\u2019d rather have earned the victory on the track, it\u2019s good to come away from the last event with the win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the Diamond Masters class, polesitter Calvert was\u00a0determined to recover from yesterday\u2019s Lap 1 incident that ended his day early. He narrowly avoided the Turn 1 fracas that collected championship leader Bryce Ward, leaving Calvert to battle with Competition Motorsports\u2019 Michael Zuieback\u00a0(No. 2 Discount Tire \/ Competition Motorsports Porsche 991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0and TruSpeed\u00a0Autosport\u2019s\u00a0Will Lin\u00a0(No. 8 Porsche 991 GT3 Cup). Calvert held the third position overall to take his third victory of the season.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI\u2019m actually disappointed not to be higher in the overall order,\u201d said Calvert. \u201cBut I\u2019m very happy to bring home the class win. You really had to keep your head up, as something significant was happening every couple of laps. I avoided the spinning car on Lap 1 by about an inch! It was a challenging race and a really fun drive. My car was so well prepared by the guys at Competition Motorsports that all I had to do was drive. I also appreciate all the help from (coach) Andrew Davis, who\u2019s taught me how to drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the Platinum Class (for Porsche 911 997.2 versions), Jim Walsh \u2013 in his first weekend in the series\u00a0this year\u00a0\u2013 put his No. 96 Competition Motorsports Porsche\u00a0on\u00a0the pole position and took the win, but not without hard pressure from championship leader Ray Shahi (Sterling Collision\/TruSpeed Autosport) and Shahi\u2019s teammate Larry Schnur\u00a0in the No. 32 FuelSafe Porsche. The trio swapped the lead early before Walsh took command, but Shahi retook the lead coming back from the late-race caution. Walsh was able to get back by in Turn 11 for his first series win, as Shahi finished second and Schnur third.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn\u00a0Turn 1\u00a0I wanted to keep it clean,\u201d said Walsh. \u201cThere\u2019s no sense in doing anything silly. There was contact in front of me and I snuck through and made up a spot there. I kept my head down, didn\u2019t make any mistakes and had a good race. It was my first race in a year, but the car knows its way around the track. I just let the car do its thing and relaxed my hands and went where it went. It was fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Only once in the 16-race season has the Silver class for Porsche Cayman GT4 Cup Cars not come down to a dual between\u00a0Rearden\u00a0Racing\u2019s Jeff Kearl and Competition Motorsports\u2019\u00a0Sean McAlister, and\u00a0Race 16\u00a0was no different. McAlister,\u00a0Friday\u2019s\u00a0race winner, took the pole for\u00a0Saturday\u2019s\u00a0contest but could not hold off Kearl, who stormed past on Lap 13 for his 12th victory of the season. For the Pleasanton,\u00a0California\u00a0native, it was especially sweet to take the win surrounded by friends and family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was super cool,\u201d said Kearl, who will team with McAlister in the California 8 Hour event\u00a0on Sunday\u00a0in a Porsche Cayman GT4. \u201cI grew up near here and my parents live here so they were able to come to the race for the first time all year, along with my kids who flew up from Southern California with my nephew. It was cool to win in front of them. I snuck by Sean (McAlister) in Turn 11. He ended up putting a couple tires in the dirt, which slowed him down, probably because there wasn\u2019t enough track there when I moved all the way over, so I think he\u2019s a little bummed. Then it was just about keeping him behind me. But it wouldn\u2019t have been a great year without him. That made the year; having someone identical to you in speed\u00a0and\u00a0skill so you can battle them the whole year long.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In Silver Masters\u00a0competition, it was a clash between master and student, as Competition Motorsports teammates Steve Goldman and Laura Ely battled for victory. Goldman took the pole position and was aiming for his 11th victory of the season, but Ely spoiled the plan, taking advantage of a rare mistake by Goldman to snag the lead. Ely kept her No. 09 Porsche Cayman GT4 Cup Car in front to take her second win of the season, with Goldman second\u00a0(No. 1\u00a0Porsche Cayman GT4 Cup)\u00a0and teammate Carl Tofflemire third in the No. 62\u00a0Porsche Cayman GT4 Cup for an all Competition Motorsports podium.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI knew it would be tough,\u201d said Ely. \u201cI\u00a0tucked up behind him\u00a0(Goldman)\u00a0and he went just wide enough in Turn 6 and had to lift, which gave me just enough to get a run-up going into Turn 8 and I got by. I was able to hold a pretty good lead on him. For whatever reason, I seem to do better on the second race day! I had it in my mind that I wanted to do well today, and I did.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Competent Motorsport\u2019s\u00a0President Greg Franz, it was a fitting\u00a0end\u00a0to a 2017 season that has seen rising car counts and spectacular racing.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was one of the most incredible seasons that we\u2019ve enjoyed,\u201d said Franz. \u201cWe\u2019ve got great momentum going into 2018. We\u2019ll be announcing the majority of our schedule for next season soon, and we will be able to separate our Porsche GT4 race group from our GT3 race group, running separate races and separate championships, but we\u2019ll be running the exact same schedule. We\u2019re excited about that and the drivers and teams are excited as well. Our series grew this season as our teams and drivers just kept raising the bar. It\u2019s a real pleasure and privilege to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monterey, Calif. (14 October 2017) \u2013 AASCO Motorsports\u2019 Alex Kirby\u00a0(No. 01 991 GT3 Cup)\u00a0took his second victory of the season in\u00a0Saturday\u2019s\u00a0Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA season [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":681,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":682,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680\/revisions\/682"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}