Rinker Wins 2nd Straight In Savannah; Fairchild 3rd
SAVANNAH, Georgia – November 4, 2007 – Tim Seebold went into “championship” mode and did enough to reach the podium for the 4th time this season and capture his 5th F1-ChampBoat Grand Prix Series title and his first since 2004 at the 6th and final round of the championship in front of thousands of fans along the Savannah River in downtown Savannah, Georgia.
“We did what we needed too in order to get the job done,” said Tim. “The Bud Light Racing effort put together some long hours this season and I want to especially thank my father Bill for doing such a great job behind the scenes all year long to give us back this coveted trophy.”
While the native of St. Louis was cruising around in 3rd place and finishing 49 of the 50 laps around the 1.0 mile (1.62 kilometer) 4-turn course, the battle up front was having the race fans standing and cheering all race long. Terry Rinker in his Amsoil sponsored Lee craft boat led from the pole and held onto every lap despite being challenged hard in the early stages by young star Shaun Torrente of Miami, Florida who came charging up from 10th to 2nd only to have his race day end quickly when his steering went on the 11th lap.
Chris Fairchild of Paw Paw, Illinois, who was 2nd in the championship and needed points badly, was looking for his 2nd win on the Savannah River after winning upstream at Augusta, Georgia back in May. He pushed Rinker hard for most of the race getting as close as side by side at the halfway mark only to get washed down and losing his pace and falling back to secure 2nd place in the race and 2nd in the championship as well.
Brother Randy Rinker of Syracuse, Indiana came home in his best performance of the season with a strong 4th place finish followed by Texan Michael Schubert running the OMC engine and pushing Seebold hard for 3rd place and the final podium position for most of the race in a great debut of a challenger to Mercury Marine’s strangle hold of the sport.
Lynn Simburger of Elsah, Illinois came home a fine 6th to finish 5th in the championship, while Jeff Shepherd of Tennessee gave the South a good 7th place finish on another steady run from the likeable driver from Woodlawn.
Canadian Brian Venton led the two boat contingent from Ontario as he came home 8th while his fellow compatriot Mark Major from Toronto was pushing hard for a top 5 finish early before exciting the race only 5 laps in being the first driver out of the event.
Ned Mihajlovic of the SPN Racing Team came home a fine 9th place in only his 2nd event of the season while rookie Chuck Unkle of Thomasville, Georgia was 10th.
Tim Seebold wins the title with 3207 points or 78 more than 2nd place Chris Fairchild and 79 more than Terry Rinker who finished 3rd. Shaun Torrente was 4th back 254 points while Lynn Simburger finished 5th with 503 points less than his neighbor Seebold.
The win for Rinker was his 17th career victory moving him into 3rd all-time in the F1-ChampBoat Grand Prix Series totals ahead of legionary Bill Seebold’s 16.
Kris Shepard won the Champ2 title with a 6th place finish while Glynn Mathews took the win and finished 232 points behind Shepard’s winning total of 3528 at seasons end. Mark Profitt in only his 2nd race was a strong 2nd place finisher just ahead of Jimmie Merleau of Fennville, Michigan with both drivers running the new Mercury Optimax power plant engine of the future.
All in all a great 2007 F1-ChampBoat season with 3 drivers in each class going to last race of the season determining a champion. Seebold and Shepard are the winners but you believe a new host of drivers are already planning to take their championship trophies away for the 2008 season.
SAVANNAH, Georgia – November 4, 2007 – Tim Seebold went into “championship” mode and did enough to reach the podium for the 4th time this season and capture his 5th F1-ChampBoat Grand Prix Series title and his first since 2004 at the 6th and final round of the championship in front of thousands of fans along the Savannah River in downtown Savannah, Georgia.
“We did what we needed too in order to get the job done,” said Tim. “The Bud Light Racing effort put together some long hours this season and I want to especially thank my father Bill for doing such a great job behind the scenes all year long to give us back this coveted trophy.”
While the native of St. Louis was cruising around in 3rd place and finishing 49 of the 50 laps around the 1.0 mile (1.62 kilometer) 4-turn course, the battle up front was having the race fans standing and cheering all race long. Terry Rinker in his Amsoil sponsored Lee craft boat led from the pole and held onto every lap despite being challenged hard in the early stages by young star Shaun Torrente of Miami, Florida who came charging up from 10th to 2nd only to have his race day end quickly when his steering went on the 11th lap.
Chris Fairchild of Paw Paw, Illinois, who was 2nd in the championship and needed points badly, was looking for his 2nd win on the Savannah River after winning upstream at Augusta, Georgia back in May. He pushed Rinker hard for most of the race getting as close as side by side at the halfway mark only to get washed down and losing his pace and falling back to secure 2nd place in the race and 2nd in the championship as well.
Brother Randy Rinker of Syracuse, Indiana came home in his best performance of the season with a strong 4th place finish followed by Texan Michael Schubert running the OMC engine and pushing Seebold hard for 3rd place and the final podium position for most of the race in a great debut of a challenger to Mercury Marine’s strangle hold of the sport.
Lynn Simburger of Elsah, Illinois came home a fine 6th to finish 5th in the championship, while Jeff Shepherd of Tennessee gave the South a good 7th place finish on another steady run from the likeable driver from Woodlawn.
Canadian Brian Venton led the two boat contingent from Ontario as he came home 8th while his fellow compatriot Mark Major from Toronto was pushing hard for a top 5 finish early before exciting the race only 5 laps in being the first driver out of the event.
Ned Mihajlovic of the SPN Racing Team came home a fine 9th place in only his 2nd event of the season while rookie Chuck Unkle of Thomasville, Georgia was 10th.
Tim Seebold wins the title with 3207 points or 78 more than 2nd place Chris Fairchild and 79 more than Terry Rinker who finished 3rd. Shaun Torrente was 4th back 254 points while Lynn Simburger finished 5th with 503 points less than his neighbor Seebold.
The win for Rinker was his 17th career victory moving him into 3rd all-time in the F1-ChampBoat Grand Prix Series totals ahead of legionary Bill Seebold’s 16.
Kris Shepard won the Champ2 title with a 6th place finish while Glynn Mathews took the win and finished 232 points behind Shepard’s winning total of 3528 at seasons end. Mark Profitt in only his 2nd race was a strong 2nd place finisher just ahead of Jimmie Merleau of Fennville, Michigan with both drivers running the new Mercury Optimax power plant engine of the future.
All in all a great 2007 F1-ChampBoat season with 3 drivers in each class going to last race of the season determining a champion. Seebold and Shepard are the winners but you believe a new host of drivers are already planning to take their championship trophies away for the 2008 season.
