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| Long Beach Race: Sofronas Takes Home Victory |
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James Sofronas scored a hometown win in his GMG Porsche. Sonfronas showed speed Sunday morning securing a second place starting spot. At the start of the race he took the lead on lap two and withheld steady pressure throughout the entire race to claim his second World Challenge win.
"This was a race we wanted to win for obvious reasons - you want to win in front of the hometown crowd," Sofronas said. "We"ve been coming here for the last three years and had top fives every time, but finally getting the win is so gratifying. I think our team was one of the last to leave the paddock this weekend. They were up until 2:30 in the morning making changes.
"Having GMG right down the street, we're lucky to have a lot of clients here and a lot of our cars on display. It gave a chance for people to see that we're not as much a race team as a Porsche prep shop. We do a good amount of racing, but we do a lot more on the street tuning side. The racing is the branding. It gives us the image of racing on Sunday and selling on Monday. The best part though, is having my wife here. She's amazing. I couldn't do this without her and we're expecting a baby girl in three months."
After Sofronas took over the point and had the younger Davis (Mike's son Brandon) behind him, he knew he'd be in for a fight, but learned he had the right car to do the job.
"I got by Mike [Davis] and the next thing I know I have this black beast in my mirrors, but I told myself to be smooth and run consistent laps," Sofronas said. "What was amazing was, when I was going through traffic, I got into Turn Nine at full Brakes and I had no idea I had that much brake left and it made me that much more confident. Moving forward, I was so confident knowing that, if Brandon came charging, I knew I could brake deep with the Stoptech Brakes I knew that as long as I didn't make a mistake, I'd be okay."
Curran, the 2007 race winner, started seventh, but moved to fourth by the time a lap three caution came out to re-set the Turn One tire wall. Despite high engine temperatures in the 96-degree heat, Curran's No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette was able to move up steadily after the restart, passing Mike Davis for third on lap eight and setting his sights on the lead duo of Sofronas and Brandon Davis' No. 10 Applied Computer Solutions/SunMicro Ford Mustang Cobra.
With two laps to go, Davis missed a shift, allowing Curran to get a run and trough to second place, equaling his Sebring finish to take the lead in the point standings.
"It was nice to get up to Brandon," Curran said. "I didn't think I had anything for him, but he made a little bit of a bobble and I just timed it right and got by him. I didn't have anything for James at the end. Those Porsches are fast. They're tough to chase down on a slippery track like this."
Brandon Davis, the defending race winner, also experienced high engine temperatures after following Sofronas for so long, but held on for his second third-place finish of the season.
"It seemed like, in the beginning of the race, I had a little something for James, but it was in all the wrong places," Davis said. "I had to push really hard to keep with him, but then the spots that I would catch him I couldn't get by, so I think I burned the car up a little too much.
"The Mustang was really good on brakes. Our car is sprung really soft and we have a good package for the bumps here. It seemed like in the brake zones we'd catch up to James. But coming out of the slow speed corners, we couldn't get on the power as good as James. When I tried to stay with him, the back end would step out and it started wearing on the tires more and more. By the end of the race I had nothing left in the car and Eric was able to run me down."
The lead trio stretched out to a 20-second lead over fourth-place Mike Davis, from Huntington Beach, Calif., who took the position, a career-best, after swapping it with Sebring winner Tony Rivera several times. Jas
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