CANADIAN TEAMS WITH MARTIN FOR WIN

Monterey, Calif. — Ken Wilden muscled his way into the lead on the final restart with 16 minutes remaining and held on to pace the final 11 circuits of Saturday's 79-lap Verizon Festival of Speed, giving the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT co-driven by Dean Martin its first Grand-Am Koni Sports Car Challenge Grand Sport victory of the season at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Street Tuner race also went down to the final restart, where Will Turner passed Tom Long and fought back several late-race challenges to win in the No. 95 Turner Motorsports BMW 328i started by pole sitter Don Salama.

While the middle portion of the two-hour, 30-minute race was slowed by five caution periods, the final 35 minutes of the event were marked by terrific battles in both classes, slowed by only one brief yellow flag period.

Todd Lamb led 26 laps down the stretch in the No. 32 Cybernation/Cobalt Friction BMW M3 started by Glenn Bocchino, challenged by the Fords of Wilden and Hugh Plumb, along with the Porsche of Spencer Pumpelly.

Plumb made his challenge with 30 minutes to go, working his way from fourth to second in the Horsepower Racing No. 61 Roush Performance/Valvoline Ford Mustang started by Jack Roush Jr. Then, Pumpelly made his bid, charging to briefly hold the lead in the TRG No. 39 Digitrust Group/Adams Polishes Porsche GT3 started by Duncan Ende. Lamb came back with a crossover pass, with Pumpelly falling from briefly holding the lead to fourth.

The stage for the final showdown was set when the No. 171 APR Motorsport Volkswagen GTI of Josh Hurley stopped on course, bringing out a two-lap caution. Racing resumed with 16 minutes remaining, when Wilden pulling to the inside coming down the front straight and pulling into the lead exiting Turn 2.

"He [Todd Lamb] had been jumping the restart down there," said Wilden after scoring his second career victory in the series - both co-driving with Martin. "He was in first gear going full throttle coming out of the last turn, which you're not supposed to do. I caught on to it, so I was in first gear and I was ready for him and I gave it to him on the inside. It was tight and we were all over the curbs. I nicked him a little bit in the bumper, but it was nothing that would put him around or anything. It was good, strong racing here."

Lamb held on to finish second, 3.596 seconds behind, followed by Pumpelly.

"Apparently, these Cobalt Friction brakes are so good that the Mustang could stop and he drove me right off the track," Lamb said. "What are you going to do? That's racing. It was a lot of fun. We had a good car and led a lot of laps. I've got to thank Glenn—he did a great job and brought the car back in one piece."

Andrew Caddell and Mike McGovern finished fourth in the No. 54 Jim Click Racing Ford Mustang GT, while Bret Seafuse and James Gue recovered from a Saturday morning practice crash to take fifth in the No. 37 JBS Motorsports Ford Mustang GT.

Wilden held his lead in the GS point standings, with Gue and Seafuse 12 points back (118-106).

Matt Bell captured his third consecutive pole in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and led twice for 23 laps early in the race. He turned the car over to Boris Said, who exited after 38 laps with engine problems.

Martin led three times for 18 laps before turning the eventual winning car to Wilden.

Contributed by Grand-Am Racing News Bureau