Local drivers showed well in this weekend’s Pirelli World Challenge racing through the streets of Long Beach, CA. The 11-turn, 1.97-mile temporary street course and the Long Beach weekend are both challenging in their own ways. A big weekend at most race tracks happens when there are two big races and maybe three support races.

All vying for track time and spectator attention this past weekend at Long Beach were IZOD IndyCars, Pirelli World Challenge, American Le Mans Series and the Firestone Lights, along with drifting demonstrations and Pro Celebrity racing. As a result, World Challenge competitors got 25 minutes for practice on Friday, a half hour on Saturday morning before qualifying on Sunday morning.

The weekend was even more compact for the ALMS teams, who had to get everything in before their race on Saturday afternoon. While it is commonly acknowledged that there is never enough practice time, the unforgiving nature of Long Beach’s concrete-lined track puts a premium on experience.

Tiger Racing, out of Covina, CA, was fastest during both practice sessions for the Pirelli World Challenge race. Photo by StangTV.com Editor Mark Gearhart

Ann Arbor's Jason Von Kluge would take pole position for Sunday's race.

Local Mustang racer, Paul Brown, was looking for a big weekend on his home track. “We’ve been doing testing, and the car is getting better,” Brown said. “I’ve been here before, I know the track, and we’ve really been focused on this race.”

Things started off well for the Covina, CA, team, who were fastest in both practice sessions. Brown set the high water mark with a 1:30.698 lap (78.114 mph) in the #50 Lucas Oil/K&N Filter Ford Mustang Boss 302S.

In qualifying, however, it would be Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Jason von Kluge that claimed pole position, with a 1:28.729 lap (79.847 mph), just 0.27 seconds ahead of Brown. Von Kluge won the season opening race in St. Petersburg at the end of March, and took fifth place in the second race of the double header event.

The first two rows to start the race were occupied by Mustangs, with Ben Crossland’s #25 Interbank FX/Racewithrp.com Mustang FR500S in P3 and Eric Foss beside him in the #73 Traxxas/St Jude Hospital/SPX FR500S Mustang. Last year’s champion, Peter Cunningham, would start from fifth, 1.8 seconds off the pace in an Acura TSX.

In GT class, Huntington Beach’s Brandon Davis sat in second spot for the start, in the #10 ACS Express/Sun Micro Mustang Cobra. GT-class cars run about 6 to 7 seconds per lap faster on the Long Beach circuit than the GTS cars like the Mustangs. The third class in World Challenge racing is Touring Cars, which run about 6 seconds per lap slower again. All together, 38 cars would start racing together when Sunday afternoon arrived.

Eighteen year old Ben Crosland showed the same fast form evident in Mustang Challenge racing last year, to ultimately take second place.

Skies were overcast and the temperature hovering in the mid-sixties late on Sunday when dignitary, Chip Foose, gave the instruction for drivers to start their engines. The pack took one recon lap and returned to the grid to form up. All World Challenge races use a standing start format.

When the green flag fell, an early spin allowed Paul Brown to take over the lead from Jason Von Kluge. Brown would lead much of the race, ahead of Von Kluge, Ben Crosland, Peter Cunningham and Eric Foss. Half way through the race, Brad Adams managed to take fifth place from Foss.

However, with three laps remaining, Paul Brown’s #50 car started suffering from clutch problems, leaving just first and fourth gear working. The car slowed down and despite his best defensive efforts, Von Kluge managed to pass Brown on the final corner of the last lap. Crosland finished in third, followed by Cunningham, Brad Adams and Pratt Cole. Cole’s #96 USA Cares/Western Metal Mustang FR500S suffered a mechanical failure in qualifying and barely made it to the track after repairs.

In GT class action, Brandon Davis maintained P2 early in the race. Davis managed to take the lead with an epic side-by-side run through three corners and the back straight with James Daskalos in the #7 Dalsin Development Dodge Viper Competition Coupe.

GTS runner-up, Paul Brown, is a grass roots racer and credited his team for their efforts. “This entire program was put together by friends and family. It’s all volunteers and we’ve been working our butts off. This last week has been hell, between pulling all-nighters to get here and moved in, to have a car able to run up front consistently, it means a lot.”

It may have meant a little more to the Tiger Racing team later on. The #19 Varsity Ford Ann Arbor/Steeda Mustang Boss 302S of Jason Von Kluge failed its post race technical inspection due to “a non-compliant part.” Von Kluge was stripped of the win and disqualified from the race.

Paul Brown (standing) would be declared the winner after Von Kluge's car was DQ in post race inspection.

With that, Paul Brown takes top spot on the podium, followed by Ben Crosland and Peter Cunningham. Paul Brown now leads the GTS Drivers’ Championship points race with 373, followed by Eric Foss (321 points), Cunningham (312), von Kluge (255) and Crosland (231).

It will be a short rest now until Round 4 of the series, the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix, takes place April 29 – May 1, at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, UT.