From the SCCA.com:
Pete Taylor, of Ortonville, Mich., captured his first National Championship Sunday, taking the Showroom Stock C class win at the 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Kohler at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Ryan Ciechanski, of Clinton Township, Mich., and Joel Lipperini (also in a MINI), of Pittston, Pa., completed the top-three.
Commencing the final day 2005 Runoffs, Taylor led the 39-car field to the green flag. Going two and three wide down the back straight, Ciechanski and David Waleke had dynamite starts, moving into second and fourth place respectively behind Taylor. Behind the leaders, several cars made contact in madness, resulting in a full-course caution being shown for a car upside-down the gravel trap. Getting the green flag on lap four, Taylor had ideal restart, holding off Ciechanski into the esses. Racing nose-to-fender, Taylor and Ciechanski immediately established a multi-car gap on Lipperini. Getting quicker every lap, setting a new lap record in the process, Taylor steadily began to pull away from Ciechanski as the race progressed. Running error-free fast laps to the checkered flag, Taylor led-flag-to-flag, capturing his first Showroom Stock C National Championship by 0.452 second.
“I have been driving a Neon this year but switched to a Mini for the Runoffs,” said Taylor. “I think that there is hardly any comparison; the Mini is just that much better. I had a good start although Ryan [Ciechanski] also had a very good start. He got alongside of me, but I was able to keep the lead through the first turns and since this is a hard track to pass on I felt comfortable.”
[ Taylor Holds Off Challenge to Win Runoffs Title in Stock C ] SCCA.com
Congrats to Pete Taylor and Joel Lipperini for fantastic performance!
<p>I am LOVING all the MINI motorsport news, Gabe. Keep it coming. Go MINI!</p>
<p>I second that!… The racing news is super cool (being that we’re winning alot in minis lately)</p>
<p>As always, great news sharing Gabe…</p>
<p>Interesting that a NEON driver, a car with a very similar motor, would switch to the MINI for the Runoffs!
That should tell you something.
A guy here in Connecticut who has built race motors for Tony Nuzzo as well as numerous motors for the older NEON Challenge Series, is going to offer “turn key” MINI race cars, built for customers to just get in a go racing!
Contact Tim Marren at <a href="http://fuelinjector.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://fuelinjector.com</a>
Look there in the engine building program.</p>
<p>The Cooper S was moved into the class this year from the next higher class. Before that the regular Cooper was the best MINI in the class. Most of the competitors believe that the MCS is an overdog for the class, and although it was required to weigh more when it was moved, it still needs further adjustments before there is parity between the Cooper S and the other cars in the class (mostly Civic Sis, Mazda 3s, and Neons).</p>
<p>But you still gotta drive the car, and there’s no question that Pete Taylor did a great job of that.</p>
<p>Great news about the MINI Cooper S win in SSC! Last year they were hopeless in SSB. Now that they’ve won watch SCCA kill them with weight or a restrictor. </p>
<p>I heard that the reason for the Neon’s not running at the runoffs was that Chrysler pulled their support. The Neon is not being produced anymore.</p>
<p>WHOOOHOOOO!!! Go you Michigan boys!!! I am from Clinton Township, MI and work with Ryan Ciechanski’s bride-to-be. Although he is a stellar guy and fun to talk with, I wasn’t able to convince him to race MINIs. HAHAHA! When MINIs first entered race competition, I told him to watch out for them as they would be dominant. He said that was the car that everyone else was looking out for. Hahaha…</p>
<p>A win for everyone involved! ;-)</p>
<p>Make that : <a href="http://www.injector.com" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.injector.com</a></p>
<p>for Tim Marren and the motor building program.
He will be building “turn-key” MINI race cars for SCCA.
Check it out – give him a call – hey! what could it hurt?
Might even be a ton of fun!!</p>