TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 14, 2006) – Chuck Hemmingson, of West Des Moines, Iowa, captures his second SCCA Touring 2 National Championship in as many years at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Kansas, As Big As You Think. Kristian Skavnes, of Sparta, N.J., held of a hard charging Will Turner, of Amesbury, Mass., for second and third, respectively.

Piloting the No. 75 SCCAForums.com/Kumho/Carbotech/Hp2 Pontiac Formula from the outside of row one, Dave Schotz, of Phoenix, Ariz., took the early lead heading into Turn One, but swung too wide coming out of Turn Four and relinquished the lead to Hemmingson. Hemmingson did not waste anytime putting some distance between his No. 95 Subaru WRX Sti and the rest of the field, ultimately winning by 3.520-seconds (at an average speed of 76.953 mph) over the No. 69 Subaru/Goodyear/Valvoline Subaru WRX Sti of Skavnes.

“Winning two championships back-to-back at too different tracks is pretty cool,” Hemmingson said. “Everything seemed to happen on the first lap and the rest of the race was just a battle of wits. I just wanted to make sure that I didn’t do anything silly. I wanted to gauge my distance to the back and front and just keep the car under me. During the race we had the best tires, no doubt, and that helped.”

With Hemmingson in the lead late in the race, the most hotly contested battle was between three drivers (Skavnes, Turner and polesitter Robert Schader) for second. While each driver tried to better their respective position, each had to battle and block to keep the position they currently held. In the end, Skavnes held off the No. 91 Turner Motorsport/Toyo Tires BMW M3 of Turner for second, while Turner staved off the No. 12 Hoosier/Red Line/Boulder Nissan 350Z of Schader for third.

Ken Dobson, of Sonoma, Calif., finished fifth in his No. 7 Temp Control Nissan 350Z. Marty Grand, of Manassas Park, Va., won the Sunoco Hard Charger of the race award for advancing eight positions throughout the race, starting 22nd and finishing 14th.

Now in its 43rd year, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Kansas, As Big As You Think annually crowns the best amateur road racers in North America as Champions. More than 750 competitors have gathered this year to battle for 25 class titles, with nine races on Friday and eight Saturday and Sunday. This marks the first year that the Runoffs is held at Heartland Park Topeka.

Celebrating its 62nd anniversary, Sports Car Club of America is a 55,000 member organization that sanctions and promotes grassroots and professional motorsports events in a variety of disciplines, including road racing, Solo, road rally and rallycross.

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