{"id":984,"date":"2018-06-11T15:57:12","date_gmt":"2018-06-11T19:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=984"},"modified":"2023-05-03T15:50:42","modified_gmt":"2023-05-03T19:50:42","slug":"pirelli-trophy-west-usa-stages-thunderhill-thriller","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2018\/06\/11\/pirelli-trophy-west-usa-stages-thunderhill-thriller\/","title":{"rendered":"Pirelli Trophy West USA Stages Thunderhill Thriller"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exciting Battles Throughout the Field Highlight Race 2 at Thunderhill as Woods (Diamond), Tait (Diamond Masters), McAlister (Platinum), Shahi (Gold), Bellomo (Silver), and Brauns (Bronze) take repeat victories in the Pirelli Trophy West USA Series<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

WILLOWS, Calif. (11 June 2018<\/span><\/span>) \u2013 The results might have looked familiar, but it was an entirely new script\u00a0on Sunday<\/span><\/span>\u00a0as multiple lead changes and passes throughout each field characterized a wild Race 2 of the Pirelli Trophy West USA that nonetheless saw a repeat of\u00a0Saturday\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0race victors.<\/p>\n

Over 30 Porsche GT3 and GT4 Cup cars in five different classes contested two races on the classic three-mile, 15-turn course at Thunderhill Raceway Park: Diamond and Diamond Masters (2017-2018 991.2 GT3 Cup), Platinum (2015-16 991.1 GT3 Cup), Gold (2010-2013 997.2 GT3 Cup), Silver (Cayman Clubsport GT4 MR) and Bronze (2016 Cayman Clubsport GT4 Trophy) classes.<\/p>\n

The classes were split into two races, with the GT3 classes in the first race and GT4 in the second. \u00a0<\/p>\n

In the 20-lap, 40-minute flag-to-flag GT3 race, 911 Design\u2019s Loren Beggs started on pole with points leader Kevin Woods alongside. Woods, in the No. 94 Mothers Polish\/TruSpeed Autosport Porsche, held his ground at the green flag and made the outside pass in Turn 1 for the lead. Woods went on to take his sixth overall and Diamond class victory of the season, with Tom Haacker second and Beggs third in the Diamond class.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw an opportunity going into Turn 1 and I went for it,\u201d said Woods. \u201cOnce I had the pass done, the point was to be consistent, unlike yesterday, and try to pull out a gap. This is a lot of fun \u2013 there\u2019s so much driving on the race weekend, which is great. But I just focused on not making mistakes and I\u2019m happy with that part of things this weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an action-packed Diamond Masters division, Competition Motorsports\u2019 Michael Zuieback passed Race Technik\u2019s Will Tait for the lead early in the race, only to lose the position in a lap-15 spin in Turn 3. Competition Motorsports teammates Mike McAlister and Jim Walsh battled for the final podium spot through much of the early going, with McAlister making the pass in Turn 1 on lap 9 to take the position. Tait maintained the top spot with Zuieback second and McAlister third.<\/p>\n

In the Platinum class, Competition Motorsports\u2019 Sean McAlister made it look all but effortless, tucking into second position overall by mid-race and taking his eighth-straight victory of the season ahead of Tom Tait and David Elsner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI got a much better start than I did yesterday,\u201d said McAlister. \u201cI was able to keep my position and got a good gap on the guys behind me. I was able to stick to what I know, running solid, consistent laps. I\u2019m really enjoying racing this car, I think I\u2019ve adapted well in the switch from the Cayman this season.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the GT4 race, Flying Lizard\u2019s Martin Braun took the Bronze class pole position but was never able to shake Black Sheep Racing\u2019s Laura Ely. Ely filled Brauns\u2019 mirrors for the entire 19-lap, 40-minute flag-to-flag race but was not able to make a move on the veteran racer.<\/p>\n

In the Silver Class,\u00a0Saturday\u2019s<\/span><\/span>\u00a0winner Chris Bellomo (The Racer\u2019s Group) started on pole but veteran Carl Tofflemire (Competition Motorsports) came from fifth at the start of the race to the back of Bellomo\u2019s rear wing by lap 7. Tofflemire made his move coming out of Turn 6 on but Bellomo refused to back down, with the pair at one point going side-by-side through Turn 1. Bellomo set up Tofflemire going into Turn 1 on lap 15 and made the inside pass stick, holding off Tofflemire for the win.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was great out there,\u201d said Brauns. \u201cLaura (Ely) ran a great race, I don\u2019t think she made a mistake. It was tight the entire time, it was great fun!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never raced side by side with Carl (Tofflemire)\u00a0like that,\u201d said Bellomo. \u201cBeing in that close proximity it was good, clean racing and we had some good passes on each other. I didn\u2019t qualify as well as I would have liked, starting in the second row, but this is racing experience that I want. I knew it would be a hard-fought battle but this experience is so valuable for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

Competent Motorsport President Greg Franz was thrilled not only with the race action \u2013 especially two entirely green-flag events \u2013 but with the weather at the typically hot Northern California track.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was an exciting weekend, and a very clean weekend,\u201d said Franz. \u201cIt was green flag racing all the way. And there was so much concern about the weather going in, if it was going to be extremely hot, but it turned out to be absolutely beautiful! This is great momentum for us heading into our next event at COTA.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up for the Pirelli Trophy West USA will be two races at the U.S. home of Formula One, Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas\u00a0July 6-8<\/span><\/span>. Live timing and scoring can be followed at\u00a0http:\/\/www.competentmotorsport.com\/index.php\/live-timing\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Exciting Battles Throughout the Field Highlight Race 2 at Thunderhill as Woods (Diamond), Tait (Diamond Masters), McAlister (Platinum), Shahi (Gold), Bellomo (Silver), and Brauns (Bronze) take [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":985,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-984","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\/984","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=984"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":986,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/984\/revisions\/986"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}