North Wilkesboro, NC- October 31, 2010

Sunoco National Tour PR

Jeff Choquette led the most laps at Historic North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday en route to his season leading fourth victory in the Sunoco National Tour season finale, the King’s Ransom 150. Choquette was also the AR Bodies Fast Qualifier earlier in the day, his third fast time award of the season. Choquette held off fellow Floridian, Sean Bass, for the final thirty laps to take home the checkered flag. Tanner Berryhill, who will be competing in the Richard Petty Driver Search Program in December, came home third.

Brent Downey had a solid day, finishing fourth and leading laps in the early stages of the race. The effort was good enough for Downey to claim the 2010 Sunoco National Tour Championship. Bryan Ortiz also led laps early in the race and finished in fifth spot, which allowed him to become the 2010 Sunoco National Tour Rookie of the Year, and finish second in the overall standings.

After qualifying, the entire field was inverted, which put Kyle Beattie on the pole, with Bryan Ortiz alongside. When the green flag waved, Ortiz jumped out to the early lead and held the top spot for the first 12 laps. Downey moved underneath the Camaro of Ortiz and took the top spot away, where he would find himself for three laps until Jeff Choquette worked his way past the Mustang of Downey into the top spot.

At the halfway break on lap 75, the running order was Choquette, Berryhill, Downey, Bass, and Winston Wood in the top five. Ortiz was running in sixth, without his power steering working. During the break, all the teams bolted on four fresh Goodyear Racing Eagles, and made adjustments to their machines. There was a pill draw to invert the field for the second half of the race, and a six was pulled. This inverted the top six runners for the final 75 lap dash to the checkers.

The only incident of the day occurred on lap 79 when Winston Wood and Tanner Berryhill made contact entering turn three while racing for third position. Both cars spun to the top of the racetrack, leaving Terry Horak with nowhere to go, forcing him to collide with Berryhill. All three cars were able to continue, however Horak lost several laps in the pits while repairs were made to his Firefly Vodka Sweet Tea Chevrolet Camaro. By the end of the day, Horak was driving what looked like an open wheel modified.

The crash allowed early race leader, Jeff Choquette, to move up to the third spot behind Ortiz and Sean Bass. After the restart, Choquette wasted little time working around Sean Bass, who had lost his brakes in the second half of the race. Choquette continued to hound the back bumper of Ortiz lap after lap, until he was finally able to clear him off of turn two on lap 107.

In the final 43 laps, Bass was able to get past Ortiz, as was Berryhill and Downey. However, no one had anything for the Adrian Carriers Chevrolet belonging to Royal Palm Beach, Florida’s Jeff Choquette, as he claimed his fourth victory of the season in the Sunoco National Tour.

“Our weekend was really good,” stated Choquette from victory lane. “We were fastest in practice, we were the fastest in qualifying, and we won the race. We showed we had the strongest car even after the invert at halfway when we worked our way back to the front. This was just a good job by the crew and everyone on this Adrian Carriers team.”

“First, I want to thank Bob Varney and the whole team,” stated Rookie of the Year, Bryan Ortiz. “This was my first year and I learned so much. We had our ups and and downs, but that happens to everybody.”

Brent Downey, who was crowned champion of the Sunoco National Tour for 2010 at Historic North Wilkesboro Speedway after his fourth place finish was all smiles in the garage area afterwards. “It feels pretty awesome to come out here and race at North Wilkesboro Speedway and to come out being the champion,” said Downey. “Anytime you run a series and can be real consistent and be there at the end, you have a chance to be the champion, and that is what we did this year.”

To learn more about the Sunoco National Tour, be sure to visit them at www.sunoconationaltour.com. To learn more about Historic North Wilkesboro Speedway, check out their website at www.historicnorthwilkesboro.com. To learn more about Sunoco Race Fuels, visit them at www.sunocoinc.com. To learn more ab