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Mustangs ran strongly during most of the race, gaining three of the top five spots by lap 25. Running orders shuffled after the first round of driver changes, but by lap 59, the top four places were held by Mustangs. Rehagen Racings' #60 driven by Hugh Plumb was first, followed by teammate #59 driven by Dean Martin. Joe Foster was next in the Hyper Sport #55 and then Terry Borcheller was fourth with the #3 Blackforest Mustang.
However, a safety car appearance on Lap 62 led to the top cars pitting for supplies and a disastrous fumble by the Rehagen team. Limited space at Daytona means that cars have to share hot pit spots. Plumb, #60, arrived first and was looked after, but Martin had to wait until the #60 car left - not that Plumb's experience went all that well either.
The #60 car rejoined the field in 11th place. Borcheller, who had also pitted, was two spots ahead. Martin's #59 car got back in to 19th place.
Shortly after the green flag fell on Lap 65, Terry Borcheller in the #3 Mustang was just over 7 seconds behind the leader. One the next time around, he passed for fourth place. Maxwell was in seventh, David Empringham in eighth and Hugh Plumb followed in tenth place. By Lap 70, Borcheller had stormed his way into third place.
With ten minutes to go, Scott Maxwell rocketed past Borcheller and Jeff Segal to take second. Hugh Plumb passed David Empringham for sixth spot on the same lap. Maxwell began pulling away from the pack and on Lap 74 closed to 8 seconds behind the leader.
On Lap 75, contact in chicane between David Russel in the #99 Automatic Racing BMW M3 and the #138 GS Motorsports Chevrolet Cobalt brought out the safety car and sealed the deal as the three-hour time limit expired on the next lap.
Although a yellow flag ended the race, it did not dominate. There were a total of 5 full course cautions, resulting in 16 laps being run under yellow flag conditions. There had been seven different leaders and 70 of the 91 combined-class cars finished the event.
Koni Challenge competition now takes a four-month break until getting together in late May at Lime Rock Park, in Lakeville, CT. From what we hear, you can expect Tom Nastasi unlikely to be there. He is now fully involved with Rolex GT-class competition and the blazingly fast #15, Crawford-built Mustang.
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