TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 12, 2007) - Local driver Chris Bovis put on an impressive driving display in front of his hometown fans to win his first GT-Lite National Championship at the 2007 SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by AT&T at Heartland Park Topeka. Joe Kristensen, of London, Ontario, finished second, while Peter Zekert, of Maryland Heights, Mo., driving the controversial Booble Racing entry was third.

In the second race of the morning under overcast skies, Bovis grabbed the early lead from the polesitter Kristensen heading into Turn One, followed by Zekert. Driving the No. 18 Goodyear Honda CRX, Bovis used his home track knowledge to keep both Kristensen and Zekert
behind him early. 

On lap four, Zekert motored his No. 45 BOOBLE/RedLine/Goodyear Nissan 200SX past Kristensen for second place, while Bovis opened up nearly two second lead. By lap six, the lead pack of Bovis, Zekert and Kristensen were more than 22 seconds ahead of the field. 

For the next two laps, Zekert and Kristensen were locked in an intense battle for position until Kristensen drove his No. 24 Kristensen Auto Development Acura Integra deep into Turn Three retaking second place. Later it was discovered that Zekert’s transmission locked in 4th gear, allowing Kristensen to easily motor past.

With his sights set on the leader, Kristensen managed to cut Bovis’ lead to under a second with three laps left in the 18-lap race. Unfortunately for Kristensen, the first and only caution of the race came out on lap 17 to remove Dan Hall’s No. 77 Dan Hall & Auto Machine
Shop Nissan 200SX from the Turn 14 wall.  

The race ended under caution giving Bovis his first SCCA National Championship.

“Our strategy was to push Joe and wear his tires out, but we got by him at the start and then Joe was pushing me trying to get me to wear my tires out,” Bovis said. “Things looked good in the mid part of the race, but towards the end, I was getting a little bit slower and we were going the same speed unfortunately. It got awful tight. The yellow flag came out and it is hard to say if I could have held him off. Joe was running awful fast and I want you to know that he raced me totally clean. I have to thank him for that.”

Zekert, who had run up front most of the race, fell off the pace late in the race due to a broken gear box leaving him with only fourth gear. “When the gearbox locked I THOUGHT it was in third. I called the crew on the radio to see how many laps were left and how far back to fourth place car. Luckily we had motored out past the field, so I had a 29 second lead over fourth place. Losing only a few seconds a lap, we determined that we could maintain third place…. until the caution came out! I had to leave large gaps between me and the lapped cars so that I could make it the next two laps at pace lap speed in FOURTH GEAR. If I stalled, I would lose third. Lucky for me it all worked.”

On the Podium, Zekert thanked his sponsors, including his main sponsor “whose name I am not allowed to use.” Zekert had been warned by Prroducer John Mullen that the use of any of Booble; Booble.Com; or The Adult Search Engine would result in the podium interview being deleted from the Speed TV airing of the race. 

Four-time SCCA National Champion Jim Dentici, of Oconomowoc, Wis., was the Sunoco Hard Charger. He advanced 25 positions throughout the race, from 29th to fourth. William Pintaric, of Youngstown, Ohio, finished fifth.

The SCCA National Championship Runoffs® Presented by AT&T, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions for the 44th-consecutive year in 2007. The best amateur drivers from across North America convene on Heartland Park Topeka’s 2.5-mile road course each fall in what is considered the “Olympics” of motorsports. This year’s event begins with four days of qualifying, Oct. 8-11, and concludes with three days of racing, Oct. 12-14.

Peter Zekert and Team Booble Racing scored it’s third consecutive Midwest Division GTL Championship. According to a report in the Midwest Division Racing Report, “Peter Zekert (StL) maxed out at 72 points from 7 wins and remains the only MiDiv GT Lite champion there has ever been.” [GTL is the result of a GT4/GT5 merger in 2005. Zekert raced previously in GT5 from 1984-2004, finishing second in the Midwest Division race on several occasions.]

Second to Zekert in the Midwest Division point race was Chris Bovis of Lawrence, KS with 48 points; followed closely by Roy Lopshire (44 pts); Brad Lewis (43); R. Britton Brown (39); Ken Probst (21); and Keith Maloney (20).

“Winning the Midwest Division in one thing, but winning the National Championship is another”, said Zekert. The SCCA National Championship comes to Heartland Park Topeka Oct. 12-14. Driver’s from across the country in the top-10 in their Divisional Points are invited to the Inter-Divisional “One Race Winner Takes All” event. “I only ran twice at Heartland Park this year. Last year I ran 4-5 times. Luckily the car is good and we are going to test there the week before. That should help us stay close to the top.”

In 2006 Zekert and Team Booble surprised the racing community by posting a best qualifying time on day two and held on to a front row second place qualifying position. In the race, while comfortably running in second, Zekert’s engine let go in a cloud of smoke, ending his championship hopes.

Good Luck to the 2007 Booble Racing Nissan 200SX team!

Several late seasons races, ranging from Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI; to Gateway Int’l in St. Louis, MO; to Heartland Park Topeka, KS tested the strength of the Booble Racing Nissan 200SX and driver Peter Zekert against some of the best GTLite teams in the Midwest.

Zekert and the Booble Race Team are gearing up for the end of season National Championship “Runoffs” Oct. 8-14 at Heartland Park Topeka. Last year Zekert qualified on the front row, beside eventual winner Jim Dentici, but blew up on lap 7 of the 18 lap sprint race. This year Zekert and Team Booble hope to bring an even stronger effort to the season ending Championship, but so do several other top contenders.

In late July, Zekert and the Booble Nissan 200SX made a visit to Road America, home track for last year’s Champion Jim Dentici. Dentici showed his good stuff, qualifying first with a new track record. Unable to stay close to Dentici, the other GTLite cars had to fight for second place. Mike Alexander, Bob Clark and Zekert all battled for runner up position in the race, with both Zekert and Clark dropping out on the last lap. Dentici won, Alexander second. Team Booble 20th.

Next races were at Gateway int’l Raceway in St. Louis, MO, hometrack for Zekert. On Saturday Zekert won the race starting near the back of the field. “I was working on the backup car, driven by Phil Harris of Memphis, TN. I came in during qualifying to see what the problem was (with the backup car), and I screwed up my own qualifying. Luckily I know Gateway and it was a small field. It was over 100 degrees, so not many teams came out to play.”

For Sunday’s National Championship points race, stronger cars showed up to Gateway. But, due to problems in the backup car, Zekert missed qualifying entirely. Starting last in the 23 car field, Zekert and Team Booble made their way to 6th overall and into the lead in the GTLite division. “It was a little tougher today going through the field. I had to make sure that cars battling amongst themselves knew I was coming. I do NOT want to wreck my car this late in the season.”

The regular season ended Aug. 19 for Team Booble Racing at Topeka Kansas’ Heartland Park. “This was an important race for us since the Chamionships will be held here a month and a half later.” At the June race at Heartland Park, Zekert qualified on the pole but had to leave to meet a work contract in Ohio. “Usually I make every race at Heartland Park, preparing for the Runoffs. This year I couldn’t do every race, so I was behind the eight ball.” In the morning qualifying session for this event, Zekert put the Booble Racing Nissan 4th on the grid and 2nd in GTLite. In the afternoon, Zekert was 3rd fastest, but the track had become slower in the hot sun. Team Booble would start 4th in the Sunday race.

After qualifying session 2, the Booble Racing crew discovered problems in the clutch, necessitating a transmission change. The team went out in Sunday morning warmup. Something was still wrong, as Zekert had trouble getting the car in gear. More work was needed.

Before the race the team adjusted the clutch mechanism and check for air in the clutch hydraulics. Starting 4th, Zekert last one place in the first lap. “I just couldn’t get it into gear in the slow corners. I lost a place and then had to fight my way back around the 5th and 6th place car, eventually getting back to 4th.” With 6 laps to go and a car broken on the main straightaway, the officials called for a full course yellow. Zekert stepped on the clutch pedal and radioed in “I think the clutch is completely gone. I’ll ride around (on the yellow flag laps) and see what I can do.” On the next lap Zekert pulled into the pits and retired, credited with a 25th place finish.

“Don’t feel bad for us,” Zekert said. “We learned a lot. We learned that the gear we chose in the race is not the best one in traffic and we’ll go back to the one we used last year. We learned that our tire choice was the right choice. For us, this was a test session for the championships.”

Girls love to model with the Booble car and you can see plenty of pictures here of beautiful babes at NOPI.

Enjoy!

Here is the first of many pictures from NOPI. More will be updated soon but until then enjoy this beautiful shot by Troy Moore. Fast cars and hot babes never looked so good!
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