Larry Beutlich wins Event 7 (Sep 2005)

09/24/05 - Bradenton, FL - After a long wait, the Rev Xtreme Florida Corvette Challenge was back in action in September. With the series taking the month of July off and the August race lost to rain, it seemed like a whole new season was beginning today. It appeared as if some drivers forgot to come back however, turnout was lower than expected. 11 Corvettes came out to resume the series so today's race would be a four-rounder.

Event Winner Larry Beutlich
Runner-up Olivier Mader

Olivier Mader, in the Grand Sport themed C3, went all the way to the finals against Larry Beutlich. Mader faced Mark Politowicz in the first round and ran a dead-on 11.153 on 11.15 dial coupled with a .047 light to defeat Politowicz who ran under being chased by Mader. Marc Fisher got a first round win when his .065 light was more than enough to give him a nice advantage at the top end over Bill Wadsworth who also ran under his dial. Beutlich won his first round in similar fashion with a huge tree killing on Blair Brannock who had the top MPH for the round at 124.84. Gary Guest got an easy first round win when Jay Maricreft went red. Bruce Littler, the only C4 today, got a first round win in the '91 over Dick Swenson in a close race and finally, Craig Gingerich got the luck of the draw getting the first round bye in his '01 running 13.351 on 13.30 dial.

In round 2, Marc Fisher got an even bigger tree advantage and coasted to the finish when Gary Guest was way late. Littler cut a stellar .022 light in the C4 and ran 13.626 to Wadsworth's quicker but losing 11.915. In a very tight race, Beutlich advanced when he faced Gingerich who ran under by .019 trying to make up a .021 reaction time deficit. Only a couple hundredths separated these two. Mader cut an equally stellar .022 (to Littler) and got the win when Dick Swenson (.039) had to stay in it to hold off Mader but broke out running 13.000 on 13.09 dial.

Round 3 was Mader vs. Fisher and Fisher was yet to make a full pass. This time however, Fisher did not get the tree advantage as Mader cut a .059 light in a near heads up race with Fisher dialed 11.29 to Mader's 11.21. The MPH for both drivers indicates both on the brakes but it was Mader getting the light and the win taking the stripe and heading to the final. In the other semi-final race, it was Beutlich and Litter and the driver's cut nearly identical lights with Beutlich taking a slight advantage .022 to .025. This one proved to have a little brake play as well as Beutlich took the win running 13.341 on 13.27 dial to Littler's 13.679 on 13.57 dial.

The final was set for 2004 defending points champion Beutlich and May '03 race winner Olivier Mader. Beutlich took the tree advantage .073 to .082. Mader would be chasing as Beutlich was dialed 13.26 to Mader's 11.21. In a very close finish, Mader was .036 over his dial and Beutlich was just .035 over on his dial, Beutlich got the win.

We do apologize for the not having updated championship points as of yet. We have discovered an error in the June calculation and are in the process of getting the points updated.

Next race will be October 22, 2005 and we hope to see you there.

If you would like to visit the Corvette Challenge throughout the nation, visit The National Schedule