LEXINGTON, Ohio (Sept. 25, 2004) – John Hill, of Seattle, Wash., captured his first-career National Championship Saturday, winning the D Sports Racing class race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Kohler. Steve Ott, of Brighton, Colo., and Al Beasley Jr., of Newbury, Ohio, completed the top three.

Starting from the pole position in his No. 6 Loynings Engine Service Stohr DSR, Hill got the jump over fellow front row starter Ott’s Speads RS04 at the green flag. However, Ott dogged Hill in the early stages of the race, and made several bids to take the lead at the end of the back straight. On lap 8, Ott seemed to make the pass stick, but the two appeared to make contact at the top of the Esses, with Ott spinning back to third. From there, Hill was able to cruise to his first-ever National Championship, the third-consecutive for that particular chassis.

Ott was able to move past Beasley Jr. to regain second. Hill won the race by 7.132 seconds, averaging 93.116 mph.

“This is the same car in which I had a major accident this year,” said Hill. “The car had to be completely rebuilt, and this is the first race since the crash. It is as good as new. There was a lot of traffic today and it was difficult getting through some of it. Steve [Ott] and I went into the esses pretty hard, we got together a bit and he went off. I can't say I was disappointed.”

Matt Direnzo, of Medford, N.J., and Michael Reupert, of Hubertus, Wis., completed the top three.

Now in its 41st year, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs annually crown the best amateur road racers in North America Champions. More than 700 competitors have gathered this year to battle for 24 class titles this year, with eight races being run each day from Friday through Sunday.

Celebrating its 60th Anniversary, Sports Car Club of America is a 60,000 member motorsports organization that sanctions and promotes grassroots and professional motorsports events of a variety of disciplines, including road racing, autocrossing, road rally and performance rally.

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Link to story: http://www.scca.com/News/News.asp?Ref=162