ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 16, 2009) 聙聯 After Eight Rounds of SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT competition, Tony Rivera, of Missouri City, Texas, became the first repeat winner of the 2009 season, taking the Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech. Eric Curran, of Easthampton, Mass., and Dino Crescentini, of Manhattan Beach, Fla., completed the podium at Road America, site of this weekend聙聶s Time Warner Cable Road Race Showcase.Starting third in the No. 97 Tax Masters/Brass Monkey Racing Porsche 911 GT3, Rivera was the primary beneficiary when the No. 14 Global Motorsports Group Porsche 911 GT3 of polesitter James Sofronas remained motionless on the standing start. Skirting his way around the disabled Porsche, Rivera charged into Turn One side-by-side with the No. 13 Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper of Canadian Kuno Wittmer, who started second. 聙聹I didn聙聶t expect James not to move,聙聺 Rivera said. 聙聹I almost got into the back of him because I was so focused on the lights. They went out, I looked up and was like 聙聵oh no!聙聶 I got alongside Kuno and I don聙聶t think he knew that I was there. He was trying to protect the right side and I nearly had my right tires in the grass all the way up to Turn One. I decided to give [the position] to him.聙聺Wittmer exited Turn One with the lead, but a mirror-full of Rivera. After taking several looks, Rivera made the move for the lead in Turn 12. From there, Rivera sped away to his second World Challenge win of the season, winning by 7.268 seconds and averaging a record 104.824 mph in the 19-lap, 76.911-mile race, which ran caution-free.聙聹I realized later that lap that was just flat holding me up,聙聺 Rivera said. 聙聹I knew he wasn聙聶t going to interfere in our Championship, so I looked inside again down in Turn 12 and he let me have it.聙聹At that point, I looked in my mirror, maybe two or three times. Any good driving instructor will tell you that where you聙聶re looking is where you聙聶re going to go. It always happens to me聙聰I look in the mirror and then I聙聶m racing with the guys in my mirror.聙聹I made a conscious effort to look forward the entire race and focus on running hard the whole time while keeping the tires under me.聙聺En route to victory at the 14-turn, four-mile course, Rivera set the D脙漏baufr脙漏 Fastest Lap of the Race, a 2:17.565 (105.934 mph).聙聹I didn聙聶t think this was going to happen,聙聺 Rivera added. 聙聹This is not a Porsche track, although it looked that way this weekend! It just goes to show you what focus, a good team and getting the car set up well will do.聙聺The win was especially poignant for Rivera, who lost a close friend and fellow racer at Road America back in June.聙聹I thought about Tom every single lap,聙聺 Rivera said. 聙聹A friend of mine, Tom Thrash, died here a couple of months back. This was the race I wanted to win. I wanted to win if for Tom.聙聺Starting fifth, Curran briefly lost a position on the opening lap, before commencing a charge to the runner-up spot. By lap five, the driver of the No. 30 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette was pressuring Brandon Davis for third. 聙聹The start was pretty wild with Sofronas just sitting still,聙聺 Curran recalled. 聙聹I was behind Tony and he almost got James and I almost got into the back of him as well. I had to check up and Dino got around me on the start.聙聹We had a good car today. It was a long weekend and I聙聶m glad to finish it up on the podium. I got up to Brandon and put the pressure on him. Brandon聙聶s a close friend of mine and it聙聶s fun to get in his mirrors and push him a little bit. He raced me clean. It would have been nice to see Kuno have a good run but he had a problem. He really slowed up and held Brandon and me up quite a bit and that allowed Tony to get away and really gap us.聙聺Shortly after Wittmer dropped out of the race from second with a broken knuckle bearing on the right-rear wheel, Curran was around Davis in Turn Five and into second place. With Rivera out of sight, Curran would cruise to his fourth runner-up finish of the season.聙聹The car was strong all race long,聙聺 Curran said. 聙聹Dino was coming toward the end but we tried to be consistent and finish up where we were. I didn聙聶t really have anything for Tony because he was so far away. Congrats to my teammate Sonny as well for having such a great race.聙聺Though he was disappointed to see his teammate Sofronas stationary on the grid, Crescentini was happy to finish third in the No. 4 StopTech/GMG Porsche 911 GT3.聙聹As much as I was concentrating on going forward, my heart sank because James聙聶 car just sat stationary,聙聺 Crescentini said. 聙聹Obviously, he had a huge opportunity this weekend to move up his position in the point standings. I聙聶m so far back in the standings that I聙聶m basically now in full support of what he does and his objectives. I felt bad, that was the first thing.聙聹The next thing on my mind was 聙聵how do I get to the front?聙聶 It was a great day. It was good, clean racing. We had some troubles with practice and qualifying. But the StopTech/GMG team did a great job preparing the car for the race. I was trying to chase down Eric at the end but just didn聙聶t have enough for him.聙聺Brandon Davis, of Huntington Beach, Calif., held onto his point lead with a fourth-place finish in his No. 10 Applied Computer Solutions/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang Cobra. Davis now leads Rivera by 52 points (824 to 772). Sofronas, who went on to finish 15th after his team replaced a broken axle from the start, dropped to third in the standings with 716 points.Jason Daskalos, of Albuquerque, N.M., had a fantastic drive in the No. 5 Daskalos Developments Dodge Viper. Starting 11th, the Mosport race winner picked up four positions on the opening lap alone en route to a fifth-place finish.Defending Champion Randy Pobst overcame the team聙聶s stubborn gearbox issues and brought his K-PAX Volvo home in sixth.Finishing seventh in the No. 23 Lala Motorsports Dodge Viper, Mike Borkowski, of Miami Beach, Fla., was awarded the AutoWeek Move of the Race for his pass on Ritch Marziale in the Kink. Marziale finished eighth.Sonny Whelen, who finished ninth, took home the Sunoco Hard Charger award for advancing eight positions in the race at the wheel of his No. 31 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Corvette.Tony Gaples completed the top 10 in a Chevrolet Corvette.With Rivera聙聶s win, Porsche extended its lead in the World Challenge GT Manufacturers聙聶 Championship Presented by RACER to 11 over Ford (55 to 44). Chevrolet (33) passed Volvo (31) for third. Viper is fifth with 18 points.The Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech will air on SPEED, Friday, Sept. 11, at 2 p.m. (EDT).The series next heads to Road Atlanta for the Petit Le Mans weekend, Sept. 23 聙聯 25.For more results, photos and news, visit . The series can also be followed on Twitter @ SPEEDWC.ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - Results from Sunday's 19-lap, 76.911-mile SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship Round Eight race, part of the Road America Grand Prix Presented by StopTech, with finishing position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car, laps and reason out (if any).1. (3), Tony Rivera, Missouri City, Texas, Porsche 911 GT3, 19.2. (5), Eric Curran, Easthampton, Mass., Chevrolet Corvette, 19, -7.268.3. (6), Dino Crescentini, Manhattan Beach, Calif., Porsche 911 GT3, 19, -8.583.4. (4), Brandon Davis, Huntington Beach, Calif., Ford Mustang Cobra, 19, -24.432.5. (11), Jason Daskalos, Albuquerque, N.M., Dodge Viper, 19, -38.555.6. (7), Randy Pobst, Gainesville, Ga., Volvo S60, 19, -54.381.7. (9), Mike Bor