CURT SIMMONS WINS ROUND THREE AT THUNDERHILL

May 15, 2011, Willows, Ca. – Curt Simmons in the Stevens Creek Dodge SRT-4 won Round Three of the Nitto Tires US Touring Car Championship (USTCC) at Thunderhill Raceway on May 15, 2011. Simmons had a very tough fight on his way to the checkered flag and had to overtake Brandon Kraus in the DW Pumps Honda Prelude. Kraus was the early leader but Simmons did not give up and kept the pressure on. Finally, Simmons got the opportunity that he needed when Kraus lost a bit of momentum out of Turn 15. Simmons used the horsepower of the Dodge to get alongside Kraus at Turn 1. The two had side to side contact as Kraus tried to defend and at one moment it looked like both were headed for the dirt. But neither spun and both continued with Simmons in the lead. Finishing second was the team of Valtierra and Cabezas with Felipe Cabezas behind the wheel of the TNI Racing Mazdaspeed 3. Cabezas had a great battle with the San Rafael Mitsubishi/Hawk/Works Mitsubishi Lancer of Dave Brown who continues to get faster at each race. At the finish, Cabezas managed to edge out Brown for second place. Winning the GT category was the TPIS Pontiac Trans Am of Ken Kurtz.

Special Awards

Larry Bani in the UTI/Gogogear.com BMW M3 finished in fourth place and won the Wera Tools Top Rookie award.
Ali Arsham in the UTI/Gogogear.com Hyundai Genesis finished fifth and won the Wine Country Motor Sports $150 shopping award.
Curt Simmons won a Go Pro Hero HD Camera for winning the race.
Dave Brown won the ATI Gauge Pack award for the outstanding pace of the Mitsubishi in the race.
The STACK Pass of the Race goes to Curt Simmons for the crazy for the lead at Turn 1.
The PIAA Bright Idea of the Race went to Felipe Cabezas for their great strategy to stay consistent and take over the points championship.
The top three drivers won Ironclad Performance crew gloves and Curt Simmons won a set of Ironclad Performance racing gloves.
The MBO Racing team of Pete Bovenberg worked so hard during the weekend repairing a burnt and blown engine and needed all of the help from Mother’s Car Care products to keep their car clean and won the Mothers Clean Car award.
The LeMans Karting Slowest Fast Lap Driver Improvement award went to Pete Bovenberg who won a $100 gift certificate at LeMans Karting of Fremont.
Optima Batteries Ultimate Source of Power Batteries goes to the Top 3 Finishers of the race.
Ken Kurtz won the AEM Award winning an AEM performance gauge.
The Swift Move of the Race award went to Dave Brown for his great battle with Larry Bani and Felipe Cabezas.
The driver team of Felipe Cabezas and Ron Valtierra received the Sampson Racing Great Communication of the Race with a $75 Gift Certificate towards their next Sampson communication purchase.
The Go Light award was won by Ali Arsham for having a great race and running out of gas on the last lap of the race.
The Race Ramps Ramp It Up award was won by Pete Bovenberg for working most of the weekend on changing engines in order to make the race and finishing the race in the process.