Holtom cliniches points title at VIR

Published: October 4, 2008

ALTON — Jamie Holtom came into Saturday’s KONI Challenge Bosch Engineering Twin Six Hour event with a 29-point lead over Kristian Skavnes and only needed to finish 26th in order to be crowned the Street Tuner class champion for this season.

Holtom did all that and more, finishing third and clinching the 2008 driver points championship. His team, Georgian Bay, won the team title.
Georgian Bay’s manufacturer, Chevrolet, also clinched the manufacturer’s title.

“In a position like that your always worried,” Holtom said. “Your always worried your going to jinx yourself. All you have to is keep the car on the track and keep it in one piece. I just drove a clean race and made the easy passes where I they were. Luckily it worked out. My hat is off to the team. They team earned this as much as I did. To win this thing for Chevrolet as well is a dream come true.”

Fellow Georgian Bay racers Lawson Ausenbach and Ken Dobson won the race, finishing ahead of second place Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood by over a minute.

“This was a tough race,” Ausenbach said. “I just want to thank Georgian Bay and Chevy Cobalt and thank my teammates. I’m pretty beat, but this feels good.”

“Basically, I just kept it between the white lines and let the kids do the work,” Dobson said.

Pole sitter Shane Lewis led the first three laps of the race, but was passed by Matt Pritik. Piritko woud quickly fold to Tom Long on lap six.

Skavnes, who overtook Tom Long for the lead on lap 16, saw his chances at catching Holtom in the points disappear after making contact with the tirw wall in turn one and dropping back to tenth.

“I was in the lead,” Skavnes said. “I came up on Oak Tree, and I’m not sure if someone had dumped something onto the track or if someone kicked some dirt up, I was just running the same line I had run before and it suddenly pushed wide.”

Holtom began moving up the field early in the race. After starting seventh, Holtom dropped back to tenth in the early laps but was able to battle back to seventh by lap seven. He was running in the third position with only 10 minutes remaining.

Holtom and teammate Eric Curran made their way through pack during the race, reaching their peak position at third late in the race, where they would finish.

After the race, Holtom couldn’t express his feelings after becoming the youngest champion in the history of the series.

“I can’t tell how good this feels,” Holtom said. “It is absolutely amazing. I have been chasing this for four years. We’ve been close, we’ve been really close. I just can’t tell you how good…

“This means the world to me. Anytime you win a championship it is a huge bonus for your career.”