Kelly Moss Extends Title Margins at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park - Speedway Digest

Kelly Moss Motorsports extended its Platinum Cup Team and Driver Championship points lead after two second-place finishes in Rounds 7 and 8 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama on July 11-12 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The powerhouse team entered the Canadian weekend with a smaller lineup than usual, with only two drivers on the entry list. But that’s all it took for Kelly Moss to increase its championship lead to six points over Formula Motorsport/Avid Motorsport.

“The plan all along was to come here and increase our lead and pick off any wins if possible,” Kelly Moss Vice President Jeff Stone said. “So we’re on target for exactly what we came here for.”

Colin Thompson, Kelly Moss’ young talent, continued his podium streak by picking up two second-place Platinum Cup finishes. Both were hard-earned after the team had problems in qualifying, causing Thompson to start seventh and sixth in the two races.

“We had a good car all week long but never a great car,” Stone said. “We had an OK qualifying but not quite what we wanted. So we had to work really hard in the race. We did some things to the car and Colin worked on a few things, and we had two great races, scored some points and stretched out our championship lead. We had a chance to possibly make a pass for the win, but we decided that was not the right move because we’re here for the championship.”

Thompson increased his Driver Championship lead to 14 points, 152-138, over rival Angel Benitez Jr. with seven rounds remaining in the season.

“You can’t complain about moving up five spots in any race, especially at a track like this one,” Thompson said. “We didn’t have the fastest car out there, but we just ran a smart race. At the end of the day, it’s all about the championship and points, and second place is solid points.”

Kelly Moss’ second driver, William Peluchiwski, had a hectic weekend juggling work and racing. Qualifying was the first time he had seen the fast, fearsome circuit, but he was still able to finish eighth in Gold Class and fifth in the Gold Masters Championship in Round 9 and ninth in Gold and sixth in Gold Masters for Round 10.

“Bill was unfortunately tied up with business and wasn’t able to show up for either the test day or practice day,” Stone said. “He did an unbelievable job coming in here never having seen the track before and having done little preparation. To come in and have the car come home in one piece and have fun, we’re just real proud of him for keeping it together and doing as well as he did.”

Peluchiwski is tied for fourth in the Gold Masters standings.

Kelly Moss is heading back to its headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin to prepare for Rounds 6, 9 and 10 of the Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge USA by Yokohama at the team’s home track, Road America. Round 6 is being made up after being rained out in May at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.