Rolex Sports Cars

SM's Edwards wins Grand-Am GT title

TOOELE, Utah - What a perfect way to clinch a championship.

Santa Maria native Paul Edwards was the man behind the wheel as he steered the No. 07 Banner Engineering Pontiac GXP.R to victory in the GT category in Saturday's SunRichGourmet.com 1,000K at Miller Motorsports Park, clinching the season championship for himself and co-driver Kelly Collins.

“A dream come true,” Edwards said. “A championship is something you dream about when you first start racing.”

The duo entered the day only six points ahead of the duo of Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis, driving another Pontiac GXP.R. Needing to finish ahead of the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports entry, Edwards and Collins took the lead in ever-changing conditions, using a lap-81 pit stop for new slick tires to extend their lead enough to cruise to the finish.

“The team made an excellent call to go to slicks before the green came out and that gave us a big gap especially when a yellow did not follow.,” Edwards said. “Also one of our pit stops gave us a lead of about 17 seconds on (the third-place team of Sylvain Tremblay Nick Ham) and about 10 on the 57, so that made our job on the track a little easier.”

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Edwards and Collins finished with 373 points for the season, ahead of the 364 of Liddell and Davis; Tremblay and Ham - who finished fifth at Miller - finished in third, with 351 points.

Murphy sweeps Sprint titles at SMS

Clovis driver Peter Murphy finished his sweep of the 360 sprint class on the West Coast on Saturday night by clinching the local Bandit series title at Santa Maria Speedway, finishing fourth in the 30-lap main event.

Murphy, originally from Sydney, Australia, added the SMS title to his Bandit overall title, as well as the Bandit/VRA Grand Slam and Kings Speedway (Hanford) titles claimed this season.

The main event was won by Visalia teen Richard VanderWeerd, who took the lead from Taft's Jayson May late in the race. May took second, followed by Murphy and VanderWeerd's twin brother Jace. Easton's Albert Pombo took fifth, just ahead of fan favorite Justyne Hamblin of Hanford.

Also clinching a local title on Saturday was Santa Maria's Danny Lauer, who secured the IMCA Modified title by starting the main event.

Winning that 25-lap feature was Santa Maria's Jacob Jones, who scored his second consecutive victory in the category. A mass of Santa Maria drivers rounded out the top five, with Ron Wiley taking second, followed by Doug Thornton, Joey Claborn and David Addamo.

The Factory Stock points race was shaken up slightly when leader Kirk Morgan finished down in 12th in the 20-lap feature.

Goleta's Matt Marchiando won the race, followed by Rookie of the Year contender Randy Obert of Atascadero, Santa Maria's Glen Sparks and Michael Frazier (who is second in points); Pete Lethcoe rounded out the top five.

The NMRA TQ Midgets were also on hand, with Sunland's Kenny Wiley claiming his second victory in as many trips to SMS.

Prep Sports

VCA falls in gridiron opener to Laguna

The Valley Christian Academy football team opened its 2008 campaign with a 46-0 loss to Laguna Blanca on Saturday, in a game called due to the mercy rule in the fourth quarter.

“We definitely had first-game jitters,” Lions coach Peter Fortier said. “We weren't really ready to play today, but we've now got a game under our belts.”

The Lions hosts Cornerstone Christian at 3 p.m. on Friday.

Warriors finish strong in Riverside

RIVERSIDE - Righetti High's water polo team finished well at the Riverside Poly Tournament on Saturday, scoring a pair of victories in the final day of play.

Alex Johnson scored a hat trick in the Warriors' opener, a 10-5 victory over Redlands; Matt Johnson (no relation) had four goals in a 10-8 victory over Buena Park in the finale.

Righetti hosts Nipomo in PAC-7 League action at 7 p.m. on Wednesday night.

Owens wins at Mt. Carmel Invite

SAN DIEGO - Karlee Owens won the girls' large-school senior race at the Mt. Carmel Invitational on Saturday, posting a time of 15 minutes, 40 seconds in the win - the fourth-fastest girls' time of the day.

The Eagles' boys also took fourth in the Junior Class team standings, led by Hugo Gutierrez's fourth-place finish (16:14). Arroyo Grande trailed Dana Hills, Mt. Carmel and Poway in the standings.

Also of note, freshman Josh Davis took 12th in the boys' frosh race (17:40) despite taking a fall during the race, injuring his arm and shoulder in the incident.

The Eagles host the Big Ditch Invitational at 9 a.m. on Saturday at Biddle Park.

Local Sports

One Way Water Polo schedules sessions

One Way Water Polo has scheduled Sunday sessions at Paul Nelson Pool for Masters and Youth Divisions.

The Masters sessions are from 12-1 p.m. The Youth sessions are from 1-3 p.m. The first two sessions are free. All swimmers are welcome. Experience in swimming is not required.

For more information, go to www.onewaywaterpolo.com.

Final B&G sign-up dates on tap

The final sign-up date for the Orcutt Boys & Girls Club Basketball League is next Wednesday. Sign-up time is from 6-9 p.m. Sign-ups take place at Lakeview Junior High.

Boys and girls in second-through-sixth grades who attend school in the Orcutt area are eligible.

The final sign-up dates for the Santa Maria Valley Boys and Girls Club Basketball League are next Tuesday and next Saturday. Times are 5-7 p.m. next Tuesday and 9 a.m.-12 p.m. next Saturday.

Sign-ups will be at the Boys & Girls Club at 901 N. Railroad. Boys and girls in first-through-sixth grades are eligible.

Sept. 21, 2008