ALTON, Va. – The 56th SCCA National Championship Runoffs came to a close on Sunday at Virginia Int’l Raceway, with eight more competitors collecting victories and championships.
Mark Boden headlined the list of winners on Sunday, with the Illinois driver taking top honors in the Touring 1 division after a last-lap pass.
It appeared the Touring 1 class was going to belong to Andrew Aquilante, who led 14 of 15 laps. However, on the final lap Aquilante’s car began to lose power and his massive lead of more than 30 seconds evaporated.
Boden caught Aquilante four turns before the finish line, taking the lead away and stealing the victory away from Aquilante, who costed to a second-place finish. The victory allowed Boden to earn a rare feat of earning first, second and third-place finishes across multiple events at VIR during the Runoffs.
Multi-time Trans-Am Series champion Ernie Francis Jr. captured his first Runoffs championship in the GT-1 class. Tony Ave started from the pole and led early before sliding off the track in fluid left on the track by another car, giving Francis the lead.
Ave quickly regained his footing and returned to the track, chasing down and passing Francis to regain the lead. After several more cars spun in the fluid, officials stopped the race to clean the track, setting up a three-lap dash to the finish.
When the race resumed Ave held serve with Francis in tow, but a mistake by Ave in the Hog Pen turn sent him off the track and opened the door for Francis to regain the lead again. This time Francis maintained his position, earning his first Runoffs crown.
Cooper MacNeil made the trip from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to Virginia Int’l Raceway worthwhile by earning his first Runoffs crown in the Touring 2 division. MacNeil drove the No. 3 WeatherTech Porsche 911 to a dominant victory.
Tray Ayres earned his second SCCA Runoffs title and his first in Prototype 2, leading runner-up finisher Lucian Pancea home by nearly four seconds at the checkered flag.
Eric Prill edged Charlie Campbell by a scant .096 seconds to claim the Runoffs crown in the F Production class. The race was one of the more exciting races of the day, with six lead changes being scored at the line with more taking place around the track.
Anthony Seaber took top honors in Formula Mazda competition, finishing more than 30 seconds ahead of runner-up Robert Noell in the pouring rain.
Jonathan Kotyk defended his Runoffs victory in the Formula F event, surviving a rain-soaked and shortened feature aboard his No. 8 K-Hill Mygale Honda.
John Phillips kicked off the day with a victory in the B-Spec class after surviving a race-long battle with David Daughtery, who fell off the pace late in the race. That handed Phillips the victory, his first championship in 29 attempts.