Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Fresh From Florida 200 Ready for “Prime Time” on SPEED
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 9, 2007) – Round 1 of the 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series, the Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway, will be televised by SPEED in “prime time” on Saturday, March 10, beginning at 8:00 p.m. ET.
The race, which was contested on Friday, January 26, featured 93 starters and the race’s top-three overall finishers were covered by less than half a second, and just four-tenths of a second separated the two-two finishers in the Street Tuner (ST) class.
Tom Nastasi and David Empringham scored the overall and Grand Sport (GS) class victory in the No. 5 Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang GT over Joe Foster and Scott Maxwell in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT. Karl Thomson and Billy Johnson took the ST class honors in their No. 76 Kensai Racing Acura TSX ahead of Bob Endicott and Ken Dobson in the No. 144 Davis Motorsports Acura RSX.S.
The Fresh From Florida 200 will be replayed at 3:00 a.m. ET on Sunday, March 11 and again at 3:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 13. It is the first of three Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series races to air on SPEED in 2007, with the others being the GS class race at the historic Lime Rock Park circuit in Connecticut and the penultimate round of the season from Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Lime Rock event will be contested on Monday, May 28 and will air on SPEED at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 10. The Miller Motorsports Park race will run on September 15 and will be televised by SPEED at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 23.
The Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series returns to action for Round 2 at Homestead-Miami Speedway on the weekend of April 13-15. One week later, the series will make its inaugural visit to the new Iowa Speedway on April 20-22.
The Grand American Road Racing Association, which operates and sanctions the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve and the Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series, is the premier road racing organization in North America. The 15-race 2007 Rolex Series schedule and the 12-race KONI Challenge Series calendar will deliver professional sports car racing to key markets throughout North America. All 2007 Rolex Series events will be televised in the United States and Canada on SPEED and distributed globally through ESPN International. With title sponsorship support from Rolex Watch USA and presenting sponsorship from Crown Royal Special Reserve, the Rolex Series showcases emerging and legendary drivers from around the globe and thoroughbred racing machines from the industry's leading constructors and the world's top automobile manufacturers. Learn more about Grand-Am at www.grand-am.com.
