After a winter away from the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge, it was hard to know what to expect. It could have been a runaway win for someone, but instead it turned into a nail-biter. Since first opening in late 1995, the 2.21 mile, 11-turn road course at Homestead Miami Speedway has dispensed its share of drama and this weekend would be no different.

Jason von Kluge of Ann Arbor, MI, led from the pole in Saturday’s opening race of the 2010 season, to open a five-second margin over the field. However, he would battle mightily in the end to earn his first race win over the hard charging, Naperville, IL native, Tony Buffomante. Dan Aweida, of Boulder, Colorado, finished in third place.

On lap 14 of the 26 run, Richard Golinello’s No. 50 car made contact with the inside wall of turn 1. He escaped unhurt, but the same could not be said of his Mustang. The resulting full course yellow, eliminated von Kluge’s lead. On the restart, at lap 18, Buffomante, who had moved into second from his fourth place start, challenged for the lead. By the following lap, he got the run he needed onto the front straight to draw alongside von Kluge.

Photos: Wes Duenkel/Mustang Challenge

Working hard to hold him off, von Kluge barely missed the apex in turn 1, which sent him just wide enough to open the door for Buffomante. The pair went door-to-door through turns 2, 3 and 4 before Buffomante finally completed the pass in the turn 6-7 complex.

For the next three laps Buffomante was on the point with von Kluge in his shadow. On each lap, von Kluge tried to get the run into turn 1 until, on lap 24, he got the draft he needed on the straight and went to the outside of Buffomante into turn 1. Side-by-side through turns 2 and 3, von Kluge was perfectly positioned at turn 4, a right hander following three left turns, to be on the inside and finish the pass for the lead. All that remained were three laps to the finish to seal the victory.

“I’m really happy–I wanted to get a good gap at the start and I was able to build up a lead, so that yellow flag was the last thing I wanted to see!” said von Kluge after the race. “He (Buffomante) got by me on the restart, but we had a good close race with Tony and I was glad I was able to get back by him for the win. I’m so excited to be up here today, and hopefully I can do this again tomorrow!”

SUNDAY ACTION

The opening and closing events in this series are double headers, so the excitement was far from over when Saturday’s sun headed west. The event had marked the first time that Mustang Challenge racers would take their battle to the high-banked corners as the event uses the “NASCAR 3 and 4” turns of the oval on the South Florida circuit. Of the arrangement, series veteran Pratt Cole commented, “This track, you have to be brave on one end, and patient on the other.” Cole would lead the pack at race start.

When the afternoon’s green flag fell, Tony Buffomante in his No. 34 Mustang out-muscled Jason von Kluge to take over second place. Starting from his inside row-2 position, Buffomante maneuvered himself skillfully through the first five turns to take full advantage into turn 6. At the end of lap 1, Cole led Buffomante, von Kluge, Steve Phillips and Dan Awieda.

The race’s only yellow flag came out on the very next lap when Robgert Bengoa spun to the inside of turn 1 and put an early end to his day. When the green flag flew again on lap 6 the fireworks started going off aplenty. Von Kluge came out of the final corner with a head of speed to draw alongside Buffomante into turns 1 and 2.

Side-by-side they went until von Kluge forced the issue in turn 3 to get by. Meanwhile, George Winkler, starting from last after a morning mechanical ruled him out of qualifying, was clawing his way to the front. Just past the halfway point, it appeared the race was to settle into a steady run to the finish. Somehow, Winkler of Frederick, MD, didn’t get the message. He was still coming like gang-busters and soon engaged Dan Aweida in an epic duel for the final place on the podium.

Over the next 12 laps, the duo would swap positions no less than seven times. There was little to choose between the two on each lap as the pendulum swung wildly from one to the other. They would go door-to-door through turns one and two. They would duck and dive each other into the hard-braking turn 8 hairpin. They would blaze a sling-shot trail around the oval portion. It was unrelenting, and the only thing that could put an end to it was the checkered flag.

At the same time, Cole was keeping some daylight between himself and a hard charging von Kluge, but he never managed to open up enough of a gap to negate the effects of the draft along the back straight. On lap 13, von Kluge edged beneath Cole on the inside of turn 1, braking deeply into turn 2 in order to capture the lead.

“I definitely had to be patient, to get up there, get by Tony (Buffomante) and then Pratt was running really well so I just took my time and reeled him in and used the draft through the banking and it worked out,” said von Kluge. Indeed, it seemed to, as von Kluge would head home with two victories to his credit from the weekend.

The next round of the 2010 Championship will be staged at Virginia International Raceway on April 24-25 as the series makes a debut race appearance on the rural Virginia race course as part of the GRAND-AM event weekend.