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Kent Prather Takes Record
Sixth GP Championship, Awarded President's Cup
Lexington
,
Ohio
(Sept. 25, 2005) -- Two days after recording his Production
category record sixth SCCA National Championship in the G Production
Runoffs race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Kent Prather was presented
with the highest competition award--the President's Cup.
Wakarusa, Kansas' Prather started second on the grid in his Prather
Racing/Victoria British MGA and dropped to fourth on the first lap of the
race before he started his comeback over then-leader and polesitter Kevin
Dennis, of Rochester, N.Y.
Dennis, in his Nissan 510, appeared to be well in control of the race,
running the fast lap on Lap 10 with a 1:40.412 (80.954 mph) and extending
his lead over Prather, who had moved back up to second, to 1.306 seconds.
It took Prather little time to make up the difference, however, as Dennis
slowed on the next lap. The two jostled for position and Prather dropped
to third behind the Suzuki Swift GTi of Woody Deatherage as the lead pack
weaved through passed traffic.
With the leaders in front and a lapped car between them on Lap 15, Prather
made a bold move to the inside of all three cars, slashing his way to the
front of the field; a move that seemed to catch everyone off-guard.
From there, Prather held his spot and earned his sixth Production class
win -- all in G Production, making him the all-time Production Class
Championship leader.
"We’re going down the backside, Woody got ahead of me, and I’m
thinking, ‘Well, huh, what am I going to do now,'" Prather said.
"So I pulled into the inside, and there was a back-marker there. There
was a little-bitty spot on the inside, and I dove right into it. I said
'It's now or never' and dove in there and somehow ended up in the
front.
"From there, it was just a matter of running qualifying laps and
keeping these guys behind me and not making any mistakes."
Prather beat second place Chuck Mathis, also from the Midwest Division, by
1.346 seconds at the finish. Dennis finished third.
-end-
(compiled from SCCA Press Releases)
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