Montague Makes Inaugural SCCA National Championship GT Lite Crown His

Lexington, Ohio (Sept. 23, 2005) – Warren Montague, of Manakin Sabot, Va., capped off a fantastic GT Lite week at the 2005 SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Kohler by going flag-to-flag and winning the class’ inaugural title. Jimmy Burke, of Cumming, Ga., and Doug Ruthroff, of Phoenix, Ariz., finished second and third, respectively.

Montague, who won his only other Runoffs Championship in 1996 in GT-4, ran away with the win from the very start, running the race’s fast lap on Lap 2 with a 1:36.770 (84.001 mph) in his TRD/Toyota Motorsports/Pella VA Toyota Tercel. Using that lap as a slingshot, Montague bolted away, building on his lead lap after lap and eventually taking the win in the 20-lap race by 19.590 seconds over Burke’s Goodyear/Red Line/Moton/Motec Nissan Sentra. Burke moved up to second early on as second-qualifier Joe Kristensen, of London, Ont. (Can.), pulled into the pits after just one lap with mechanical problems in his Kristensen Racing Honda CRX.

"The car has been fast all week. It was fast out of the box and fastest in the first practice and qualifying. It got a little slower after that, but I was still on pole,” Montague said. “My crew chief, Scott Ritchie, could not be here this week as he is home with an ill wife. But I called him at least twice each day and he told us over the phone how to adjust and set up the car. I lost fourth gear on the 10th lap and had to go from third to fifth after that. I drove as smooth as I could, I got lucky, and was able to maintain the lead."

Bill Davidson, of Dexter, Mich., started last in the GT Lite field, but marched his way through the field in his Goodyear/Davidson Motorsports Ford Fiesta to finish fourth. Dan Robson, of Moore, S.C., also had an impressive drive, starting 12th before finishing fifth.

Now in its 42nd year, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs annually crown the best amateur road racers in North America as Champions. More than 750 competitors have gathered this year to battle for 23 class titles this year, with eight races being run Friday and Saturday and seven on Sunday.

Celebrating its 61st 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 rallycross.