01/27/07: Canadian hotshoe David Empringham passed fellow countryman Scott Maxwell on Lap 61 of the 64-lap Fresh From Florida 200 at Daytona International Speedway, scoring himself and co-driver Tom Nastasi an overall victory in the No. 5 Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang GT in the 2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series season opener.
Empringham battled Maxwell throughout the race's final stint, with both pilots exchanging the point position through the infield and high banks of the 3.56-mile Daytona road course layout. The decisive pass came on the entrance to the famed "bus stop" chicane on the back straightaway, when Empringham dove to the inside of Maxwell and held on, winning by a 0.475-second margin.
"This was pretty neat, getting the chance to race against my best friend, Scott," said Empringham, the 2005 Grand Sport class champion. "Blackforest put together a great car and I can't that Tom Nastasi. We were worried near the end of the race that there wasn't going to be enough time to make the pass, so we had to be a little aggressive on the restarts and extremely creative to get by Scotty."
Nastasi qualified the No. 5 machine third on the grid, and avoided trouble throughout his opening stint while leading 18 laps. The three-hour race was slowed by five cautions--including a lengthy stop during the race's midpoint to repair a damaged guardrail--and Nastasi handed off to Empringham with a chance at the victory. Nastasi has had success at Daytona, winning the series opener at the famed circuit in 2005.
"We knew it was going to be a long race," said Nastasi, who claimed his third-career victory Friday. "My job was to keep the brakes and tires under it and avoid any of the incidents on the track. David did a great job to bring home the win."
Maxwell wound up second in the No. 55 Supercuts Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT with co-driver and polesitter Joe Foster. Maxwell took the lead on Lap 51 when he passed David Murry's No. 33 Playboy Racing Nissan 350Z. Foster took the green flag shortly after 2:15 p.m. ET, but saw his lead quickly vanish as 2006 Street Tuner class co-champion Don Salama worked his No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 around Foster in Turn 1. However, Salama spun in Turn 1 on Lap 2, giving the lead back to Foster, who led a total of four laps.
Sports car ace Bill Auberlen finished third in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW with Chris Gleason. Auberlen ran nose-to-tail with Empringham and Maxwell late in the race in the infield portion of the track, but gave distance to the powerful Mustangs on the banking. Murry and co-driver Hal Prewitt finished fourth, and Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal rounded out the top five in the No. 09 Fresh From Florida BMW M3.
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