For: Immediate Release     Date: April 3, 2006    Contact: Dan Barnes

April 3, 2006—Torrance, California USA – Speed World Challenge Touring Car was an all-Pobst show this weekend at the Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. Randy Pobst, the 2005 championship runner-up and defending St. Petersburg race winner, set fast times in practice and qualifying as a prelude to his flag-to-flag victory in the No. 72 Mazdaspeed/Tri-Point Motorsports Mazda6.

Pobst’s 0.555 sec. qualifying margin was even more impressive in light of the 0.326 sec. covering the next six grid positions. Starting from the front was critical, as only the top three got away before Charles Espenlaub’s No. 97 Sparco/Oakley/Tindol Motorsport Mazda6 and Eric Curran’s No. 43 Acura Certified Pre-owned/RealTime Acura RSX tangled, starting a reaction that led to four cars failing to reach the first turn. Pobst’s teammate Jeff Altenburg, starting 5th in the No. 73 Mazda6, was tagged in the melee. He attempted to continue under yellow, but retired just before the lap 5 restart.

Pobst set a blistering pace, opening a lead of more than 2.2 seconds against 2005 series champion Peter Cunningham in his No. 1 Acura Certified Pre-owned/RealTime TSX. Cunningham chipped away at the gap in the second half of the race, but Pobst was able to efficiently put lapped traffic between his Mazda6 and the Acura, helping him hold onto the lead by 0.938 seconds when the checkered flag flew.

“I was very aggressive in the setup of my MAZDA6, and although it gave me a slight edge in practice and qualifying, it might have been a little too aggressive for the race,” Pobst said. “The StopTech brakes were excellent and the Comptech engines are great.”

Turner Motorsport Still Fastest BMW

All BMW 3 Series received competition adjustments after Bill Auberlen’s domination of the Sebring World Challenge event, suffering 100 lbs additional minimum weight, the rev limit reduced by 400 rpm and a forward shift in weight distribution to 52 percent front, 48 percent rear. Will Turner, who won his first World Challenge Touring Car race in 1999, made a point by driving his own StopTech-equipped No. 2 H&R Springs/EdgeRock Technologies BMW 325i at St. Petersburg. Starting as the fastest BMW, 8th on the grid, the experienced racer made it through the green-flag pileup unscathed and drove a clean race after the restart. He passed Seth Thomas in the No. 38 Bimmerworld/Performance Friction BMW 325i for sixth on lap 13 and held the position until the finish. When the checkered flag waved, the second BMW across the line was in 18th place, Karl Poeltl in the No. 83 Racer's EdgeInc/LEDASuspension 325i.

Randy Pobst’s performance puts both him and Mazda in the lead for the driver’s and manufacturer’s championships. Two races into the 2006 World Challenge Touring Car series, StopTech Balanced Brake Upgrades® are the only brakes to have qualified on pole, the only brakes to have led a race lap and the only brakes that have won.

LG Motorsports Sets Grand Touring Pace

In Grand Touring, Lou Gigliotti put his StopTech-equipped No. 28 LG Pro Long-Tube Headers Chevrolet Corvette C6 on the pole for the second-straight race, outqualifying Tommy Archer in the No. 5 c3controls/Autohaus/Dodge SRT Viper by 0.594 seconds. Gigliotti made a clean start and stayed in front until lap 17. Then, eventual race winner Lawson Aschenbach, driving the No. 66 AXA Financial Porsche 911 GT3, followed up a pass with a mistake in the next turn, handing the lead back to Gigliotti and dropping the Porsche to fourth place.

From there on, the GT race became a dog fight, with 2005 champion Andy Pilgrim, in the No. 1 Cadillac CTS-V, getting by Gigliotti on lap 20 and taking Aschenbach with him. Gigliotti traded third place a couple times with Ricardo Imery, driving the No. 64 AXAFinancial/Cavenas Elevators Porsche 911 GT3, before a spin two laps from the finish cemented fourth place for the flamed Corvette from Texas.

While Lou Gigliotti hasn’t yet put together a race victory in 2006, he has led more than half the race laps in both of the first two World Challenge GT races and put his StopTech-equipped Corvette on the pole once.

StopTech Brakes for Your Car

Unlike many racing components, the exact same two-piece AeroRotor® discs and six-, four- and two-piston calipers used by these successful racers are included in the Balanced Brake Upgrades StopTech engineers for street and track day cars. Located in Torrance, California, Stoptech is the performance engineering and manufacturing division of Centric Parts. StopTech is the leader in Balanced Brake Upgrades for production cars and production-based racecars. It has three patents in basic brake technology and one other pending. With a worldwide network of resellers, StopTech’s product line includes Balanced Brake Upgrades for approximately 450 applications, two-piece Direct Replacement Kit Aerorotors, braided stainless-steel brake lines and slotted original-dimension rotors. StopTech stocks a wide range of performance brake pads. The company’s website, www.stoptech.com, is a clearinghouse of performance brake information, as well as providing details on StopTech products.

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For more information contact Dan Barnes at (310) 325-4799 or by email at dbarnes@stoptech.com.