Shawhan Wins a Close Battle in Sonoma

Sonoma, CA -- Michael Shawhan won a tight battle at Round 3 of the United States Touring Car Championship at Sonoma Raceway in the Touring Class. Carl Rydquist won the GT class while George Kibilov won the Super Touring class. Armen Rafaelian scored his first win in the Sportsman class.

Shawhan took the early lead with a great start in his BTM Motorwerks BMW 330i but was soon passed by Andrie Hartanto’s Supertech/Rota Wheels Honda S2000. Hartanto started pulling away but on the last lap he suffered a puncture which allowed Shawhan to take the lead. Gary Sheehan finished third in the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels/Total Hyundai Genesis Coupe.

Carl Rydquist was quick all weekend long and ended up winning the GT class in the Champion Factory Five GTM. He was followed by Sam Stowell’s BAF Racing/Sterling Foam Jaguar XKR-S and Felipe Loza’s Redwood General Tires Chevrolet Camaro.

George Kibilov made in three in a row in the Super Touring class with his SGK Racing BMW M3. He was followed by Mike Sekhon in the GoGoGear.com/Total BMW M3 who finished second. Larry Bani was running second in the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels/Total BMW M3 until ignition issues slowed him down and he ended up finishing third.

The very competitive Sportsman class was full of action as usual. David Vodden took the early lead in the GoGoGear.com/Konig Wheels/Total BMW M3 but was eventually passed by Armen Rafaelian’s Artech Fab Honda S2000 who went on to take the win. Thomas Pitre who had won the first two races ended up finishing in second place in the Pitre Racing Acura Integra while Vodden finished third.

The teams now enjoy their summer break before heading out to one of their favorite tracks, Thunderhill Raceway on August 12-13. Be sure to follow the action on www.ustcc.com and watch every show on Final Drive TV on NBC Sports BA available on Comcast cable, AT&T Uverse, Dish Network and DirecTV. You can always follow Final Drive on Facebook at www.facebook.com/finaldrivetv

Advanced Clutch Technology

Larry Bani almost had his best finish of the season but an ignition issue slowed him down and he still managed to finish in third place. He won the Advanced Clutch Technology award good for $500.

AutoMeter Products

Patrick Chio finished just outside the podium but he did end up winning an AutoMeter battery charger and an AutoMeter professional tire gauge.
Carl Rydquist won the GT class and won an AutoMeter battery charger and an AutoMeter professional tire gauge.

BAF Racing

The Bay Area Drafting team had a big setup when their car caught fire but with the BAF Racing award and $300 cash it brings, they can get one step closer to fixing the damage.

Classic Motorbooks

Carl Rydquist improved his chances of winning the championship with a win and a set of books from Classic Motorbooks.

CRC

Andy Chittum ended up having to start in the back but charged his way forward to finish in sixth place. He won the CRC Industries award with an assortment of CRC products.

CSF Radiators

Pete Bovenberg had overheating issues and ended up finishing in 8th place. He took home the CSF Radiators award and hopefully will not have any more cooling issues.

Disc Brake Australia USA

Felipe Loza had his best finish of the season with a third place and won the DBA USA award along with a set of DBA high performance rotors that can help him in the future.

Flowmaster Mufflers

Daniel Akhromtsev is accustomed to winning but a broken bumper led to a flat tire and ended his day prematurely. He did manage to win $500 from Flowmaster Mufflers for his efforts.

Molecule

Gary Sheehan had a horrible time in qualifying but he was patient and worked his way up to finish third. He won the Molecule Sports award with a complete Molecule cleaning kit.

Mothers

Cedric Walker started and finished his first professional race with a beautiful BMW from Life’s Good Racing. He won the Mothers Polish award with a big bucket full of car cleaning products.