LAKEVILLE, Conn. - Santa Maria's Paul Edwards had an eventful and interesting afternoon on Monday.

He and Banner Engineering co-driver Kelly Collins struggled through a flat tire and a mid-race penalty to drive their No. 07 Pontiac GXP.R to a fourth-place finish in the Grand-Am GT Classic at Lime Rock Park.

Their Banner teammates, Tim Lewis Jr. and team owner Leighton Reese, scored the maiden win for the GXP.R by taking their first career Grand-Am victory.

The fourth-place finish marked the second straight race that the Edwards/Collins duo just missed a podium finish, coming in fourth last weekend at Laguna Seca.

Collins started the race and took the lead just before mid-race, only to run over debris from an earlier incident, causing a flat tire and dropping the car back to 13th.

Edwards then took over, posting the race's fastest lap (54.303 seconds), only to be caught in a mid-race tangle with another Pontiac in the first turn, sending that car and another into a spin.

Race officials deemed the move an avoidable collision, sending Edward to the pits for a drive-through penalty.

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“It was a tough day for us in the 07,” Edwards said. “Kelly had the flat tire early on forcing us to pit under green. I then had to make up positions and got into the 30 car, which is extra tough when it is a fellow Pontiac competitor. I had the penalty that sealed our fate. Congrats to Leighton and Tim, they ran mistake free and were rewarded with the win.”

Despite missing out on a possible win, Edwards and Collins inched closer to the overall points lead, now only nine points out of a three-way first-place logjam.

The series resumes on June 9th with the Sahlen Six Hours at the Glen, held at Watkins Glen. The race will be broadcast live in two segments, beginning at 8 a.m. PDT.

NCAA Baseball

Mustangs left out of NCAA Tourney

SAN LUIS OBISPO - Despite winning eight of its last nine games and posting a series win over Cal State Fullerton two weeks ago, Cal Poly was denied an invitation to the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship on Monday.

Four Big West Conference teams were selected for the first time since 1996.

The conference has never sent five teams to the postseason in baseball.

The four teams selected for the 2007 regionals, which begin this weekend, are Big West champion UC Riverside (37-19) along with Long Beach State (37-18), UC Irvine (40-15-1) and Cal State Fullerton (33-23). The 49ers and Anteaters shared second place in the Big West with 15-6 records, one game behind the Highlanders (16-5), while the Titans finished fifth at 10-11.

After a 13-16 start, Cal Poly won 19 of its last 27 games to finish the season 32-24.

Local College

AHC seeking women's volleyball coach

Allan Hancock College is seeking to immediately fill an opening for the position of head women's volleyball coach. The position requires a part-time instructor in coaching at the California Community College level, for which the minimum academic qualifications include any bachelor's degree and two years of coaching experience or any associate degree and six years of coaching experience.

Interested candidates should contact the AHC Athletics Department during regular business hours at 805-922-6966 Ext. 3227 or 3359.

May 29, 2007