POBST TAKES POLE AND VICTORY IN TRI-POINT MOTORSPORTS MAZDA6 AT PORTLAND WORLD CHALLENGE TOURING CAR EVENT

In a dominant performance this weekend, showing the strength of car, driver and team, Randy Pobst of Gainesville, Georgia secured pole position and led all 31 laps in his #73 Tri-Point Motorsports MAZDA6 at this past weekend’s SCCA SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Series event at Portland International Raceway. The win which marked the 2nd this year for Pobst and the 11th World Challenge win of his career, allowed him to cut the series leader’s points cushion to 10 with only three races remaining in the 2005 schedule. Tri-Point drivers Dino Crescentini of Malibu, California and Jeff Altenburg of Ellicott City, Maryland drove their MAZDA6s to 6th and 12th respectively, and the overall performance of the Tri-Point Motorsports squad has closed the gap to just two points in the manufacturers title race. MAZDA6 Takes the Front Row As Pobst scored his 4th Air Force Reserve Pole Position award with a lap of 1:21.649, Crescentini hustled his #74 MAZDA6 to a lap of 1:22.066 to make it an all Tri-Point Motorsports MAZDA6 front row. Altenburg drove a clean qualifying lap at 1:22.681 to place his #72 MAZDA6 entry 5th on the grid. A Dominant Performance At the start of the race Pobst got away cleanly, and the led the 20 car Touring Car field into the newly revised “Festival” chicane turn 1 complex at Portland International Raceway. The early stages of the event showed Tim Richmond in a BMW 325 and Eric Curran in an Acura RSX shadowing Pobst’s brilliant blue and white MAZDA6, but by mid race Randy was able to pull away to a 4 second gap and maintained his lead to the finish. Crescentini, who drove a solid lap in qualifying, found himself with more wheelspin than he wanted at the start, and he was quickly ambushed by a group of cars, dropping him back to 8th by the end of lap 1. Undaunted, Dino set out to gain the positions back, and despite a miscue at the high speed chicane before the front straight which saw him briefly languish in 12th, Crescentini fought his way back up to a well earned 6th position at the checkered flag. Altenburg quickly gained one position at the start and fended off pressure from the BMW 325 of Bob Stretch in the early stages of the event. Altenburg, whose smooth driving style kept his MAZDA6 underneath him, was able to steadily pull away from Stretch. Quotes Jeff Altenburg - #72 We had a good event overall this weekend. My car was very good, and the Stop Tech brakes helped me to fend off some pressure from one of the BMWs early on. I’m happy to see that we were able to close the gap to Acura in the manufacturer battle, and I’m looking forward to Denver. Randy Pobst - #73 This win was a real team effort by everyone at Tri-Point. My MAZDA6 was good all weekend, and I have to thank Comptech for preparing such good motors. The challenge at Portland is how much the track changes through the day. It goes from a cool high-grip surface early in the day to a much tougher track in the afternoon with the heat and loss of grip. Craig Nagler (Tri-Point Motorsports team principal) made the right calls on set-ups for qualifying and race, and I think it showed. It was a Tri-Point plan, and it worked. Dino Crescentini - #74 It was great to qualify on the front row, and I was pretty happy with my lap. Unfortunately, I got a bit of wheelspin at the start, and fell back a little. I had some great battles during the race though, and it was clear that my MAZDA6 was fast. I have to thank everyone at Tri-Point for giving me a good car this weekend. Sponsors Tri-Point Motorsports wishes to thank the following sponsors for their continued support: Mazda, Mazdaspeed Motorsports Development, Racing Hart, Stop Tech, Recaro, Crocotile, Quarter Master, Ron Davis Racing, Hawk, Koni NA, Pro Parts USA, and Race Sign Specialists. Up Next The Centrix Financial Grand Prix of Denver is the 9th round of the 2005 World Challenge Touring Car season and is the next event for the Tri-Point squad Aug 12-14. For more comprehensive results on the Portland event, or for scheduling on the Denver event log onto www.world-challenge.com. Keep up to date with the Tri-Point squad and the awesome MAZDA6 at www.tripointengineering.com.