Pro Challenge Series and Professional Association of Scale Car Auto Racing (PASCAR) officials have announced that the championship event for the series’ 2009 season will be held at the half-mile Concord Speedway in North Carolina on Saturday, October 31st. The event will be a double-points event, with bonus points for qualifying, leading a lap and leading the most laps during the final race. Following the drop of the checkered flag, the 2009 Pro Challenge National Champion will be declared and honored at Concord.
“Concord Speedway should make for an interesting end to the 2009 racing season,” said John Litzinger, Owner of Pro Challenge Race Cars, Inc. and President of PASCAR. “The track layout is certainly unique and will test the drivers and teams en route to the championship. We have raced our series at Concord several times in the past and as recently as earlier this summer, so we know that the Pro Challenge cars can put on a good show at Concord Speedway and we’re excited to see the final battle of the season there to declare our National Champion.”
The October 31st National Championship event will feature stars from all four Pro Challenge Regional series - North, South, Sunshine (Florida) and Canada. Four events in each region count as National Point races and a driver’s results in those four races in their declared region went towards their National Point total. With double points on the line in the series’ finale on October 31st at Concord, any number of drivers in the National Point standings have a shot at the series’ National Championship.
At the conclusion of the regular-season National Point events in three of the four regions, Canada Region standout Dennis Thomson led the National standings by 10 markers over a pair of North Region stars tied for second, Meghan Dillner and Kyle Benjamin. Another Canada Region racer, Josh Nicholson, follows in fourth, while multiple-time North Region winner Stephen Bergh, Jr. sits fifth. The Sunshine Region is the only region which has not completed its Regular Season National Point events, but will do so at Florida’s Orlando SpeedWorld on October 2nd.
In addition to the double points available in the race, drivers will jockey for bonus points in qualifying, as well. Bonus points will be awarded for the pole winner, as well as for second and third in time trials.
The October 31st Pro Challenge National Championship event will be held in conjunction with the UARA-Stars Late Model Stock Car tour’s event at the Concord, NC, half-mile.
“We have had a great working relationship with Kerry and Wink (Bodenhamer) and the rest of the UARA organization for several seasons now, and we’re looking forward to sharing the card with them at Concord,” added Litzinger. “We’re excited not only for this event, but for the possibilities of holding even more Pro Challenge Series events with UARA in 2010 and beyond.”
Concord Speedway will be available for testing for Pro Challenge teams on Friday, October 30th, from 2pm to 5pm at $150 per car. There will be additional practice for teams on Saturday, October 31st, prior to qualifying and the feature National Championship race.
