Melbourne's Mark Eaton put his name in the sports car racing record books Sunday, winning his class in the Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan., and in the process capturing the coveted Triple Crown.

 Eaton, who drives for Melbourne's RobinsonMotorSports, won his second straight SCCA Formula Enterprise National Championship, and combined with his victory in the Formula Enterprise race Sunday and in the June Sprints, he became the first Brevard County resident to win the Triple Crown.

"It feels awesome," Eaton said.

Sunday's victory didn't come easy for Eaton, team manager at RobinsonMotorSports.

"I botched the start," he said. "I got on the gas at the right time, but I hit the rev limiter and once you hit the rev limiter it's like hitting the brake. That allowed Nick Evans to slip up on the inside. I set my sights on Nick Evans. I slowly reeled him in and coming up on the front straight, he bobbled just a little bit, and I had a good run and got a draft and (got) by him going into Turn 1."

Eaton won eight races this season in the spec series in which the open-wheel cars are powered by 2.3-liter inline, 170-horsepower Mazda 4-cylinder engines.

Eaton next will race in an event in Willow Springs, Calif., in December, for all national champion Mazda drivers. A victory there will provide him with a race ready Mazda MX5 for use in the MX5 Playboy Cup Series. He also plans to run in the SCCA Southeast National points competition in 2009.

Fort Myers' Mathew Inge also competed in Formula Enterprise for Robinson, finishing seventh, while Melbourne's Hector De La Torriente, the 2007 Southeast Division Regional Champion, finished eighth in Sunday's Spec Ford race for Robinson -- rallying from 23rd to eighth after getting spun out. De La Torriente finished his inaugural national season seventh in Southeast Division points with one podium and three top-5 finishes.

Spec Ford racers are closed-wheel, open-cockpit cars powered by 105-horsepower 1.9-liter fuel-injected 4-cylinder engines.

De La Torriente's race will be broadcast on SPEED TV at noon Wednesday, Nov. 26, while Eaton's championship race will be shown at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 28, also on SPEED.

 Several local racers will compete in the American Road Race of Champions Nov. 5-9 at Road Atlanta. The race determines the national champion for SCCA regional class cars.
Indialantic's David Ellis-Brown has entered his Volkswagen Jetta, and Cocoa Beach's Deuce Keane has entered his Honda Accord, both in the Improved Touring B class.

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TOPEKA, Kan. (Oct. 12, 2008) – Mark Eaton, of Melbourne, Fla., recovered from an shaky start to win the Formula Enterprises National Championship in the class’ debut at the 45th SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Eaton also took home the SCCA Chicago Region Triple Crown®. Nick Evans, of Dublin, Ohio, and Brandon Aleckson, of Watsonville, Calif., completed the podium at Heartland Park Topeka.

Starting from pole in the No. 92 Global Aerospace/RMS/Cincy Images Formula Enterprises, Eaton immediately dropped a spot to Evans and Matthew Inge, of Fort Myers, Fla., on the start. Keeping a cool head, Eaton quickly got back around Inge’s No. 20 Land/Development Solutions Formula Enterprises, and took over the lead from Evans on lap six. The pass enabled Inge to follow Eaton around Evans and take up the second spot.

Once by Evans, Inge remained glued to Eaton’s bumper taking several looks through the Turn 13/14 complex and on the front straight.

As the 18-lap race neared its conclusion, Inge began to push the car a bit too hard, making a brief off-course excursion in the Esses on lap 16. The following lap, Inge repeated the mistake, but this time could not hold on. With Inge out of the picture, Eaton crossed the finish-line 1.391 seconds ahead of second place.

“I hit the rev limiter and that’s what caused it [the poor start],”Eaton said. “Nick [Evans] threw it in there and he was able to get by me. I followed him for a few laps and saw his car went away just a little bit. I happened to get a draft in that huge headwind, and I think that was probably the factor that helped me get the lead.

“I felt a lot of relief when I saw [Inge] spin off with two to go. When I saw him spin again with one to go, I knew if I just didn’t throw the car off I could probably win this thing.”

Though he had started to turn up the pressure on Inge in the closing laps, Evans was spared any decisions about a pass with Inge’s spin and finished second.

Fourth-starting Aleckson finished third in the No. 83 Tico Const/Westek/Trinity Rcng Concepts Formula Enterprises.

Matthew Schneider, of Lexington, Ky., and Paul Schneider, of Charlotte, N.C., completed the top five.

Lee Walther, of Oklahoma City, Okla., was the Sunoco Hard Charger, advancing seven positions in the LRW, Inc. Formula Enterprises during the race.

The Formula Enterprises National Championship race will air on SPEED, Wednesday, Jan. 28, at 1 p.m. (EST).

 http://www.scca.com/newsarticle.aspx?hub=1&news=3502

Melbourne's Mark Eaton is on a roll and hopes to record a landmark accomplishment on Sunday in the Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kan.

Eaton, the 2007 SCCA Formula Enterprise National Champion who drives for Melbourne's RobinsonMotorSports, is set to defend his title and is eligible to win the prestigious SCCA Triple Crown.

Earlier this season he won both the Southeast Division national points championship and the Piggly Wiggly June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis., and could become the first Brevard County resident to win the Triple Crown.

All total, he has seven victories this season in the spec series in which the open-wheel cars are powered by a 2.3-liter inline, 170-horsepower Mazda 4-cylinder engines.

The 2.5-mile, 14-turn, Heartland Park circuit will put a premium on track position and passing, challenging Eaton to ensure he has a good starting spot (Eaton won the pole with a time of 32.60 seconds) and gets the most from his car handling-wise over the course of the 18-car, 18-lap, 40-minute event.

"We're hoping for the win, but right now it's pretty tight after testing," Eaton said. "There's four or five guys within two-tenths of a second of each other. This isn't a really good passing track, so it's going to be really important to get qualified up front. We've got a really, really good shot at winning but it's going to be tough for sure."

Fort Myers' Mathew Inge also will compete in Formula Enterprise for Robinson while Melbourne's Hector De La Torriente, the 2007 Southeast Division Regional Champion, drives in today's Spec Ford race for Robinson. De La Torriente finished his inaugural national season seventh in Southeast Division points with one podium and three top-5 finishes, earning him a berth in the winner take all event.

Spec Ford racers are closed-wheel, open-cockpit cars powered by 105-horsepower 1.9-liter fuel-injected 4-cylinder engines.

In other sports car competition:

 Former Melbourne resident and Melbourne High and University of Central Florida graduate Randy Pobst won the 2008 World Challenge GT championship last weekend for the second straight year and the third time in six seasons.
Pobst and the No. 1 K-PAX/3R Racing Porsche 911 GT3 team finished fifth in the SCCA SPEED World Challenge GT Championship season finale at Road Atlanta, clinching the drivers' championship.

"I am so very honored and fortunate to be part of the K-PAX/3R Racing Team," Pobst wrote in an e-mail. "This championship win is a testament to their hard work and dedication to making our Porsches the best that they can be. Our cars consistently handle and race well which makes them fun to drive and competitive at every track.

"I was holding my breath for the first few laps until I knew we were in. Standing starts are high risk. You never know what can happen. Towards the end I ran hard to the finish. I was happy to finish fifth."

 Several local racers will compete in the American Road Race of Champions Nov. 5-9 at Road Atlanta. The race determines the national champion for SCCA regional class cars.
Indialantic's David Ellis-Brown has entered his Volkswagen Jetta and Cocoa Beach's Deuce Keane has entered his Honda Accord, both in the Improved Touring B class.

Contact DeCotis at 242-3786 or e-mail This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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Coming to our home track brought our thoughts back to last year, where our incredible run to the Formula E National Championship started. Daytona is one of the most intersting venues on the circuit, as it provides unpredictable racing due to its high speeds and drafting......and besides, its DAYTONA!!! whats not to love?

With Cinco De Mayo around the corner, we were looking to have a celebration of our own in the form of a win and the division points lead. All eyes were on the Global Aerospace/ RMS/ Cincy Images FE as last year we dominated the weekend, taking the pole position, win and track record. In a repeat of last year, provisional qualifying found us at the top of the speed charts with a large gap back to second place. Final qualifying started later that day and the GA/ RMS/ CI Formula E instantly took off in a blistering pace, setting a quick time a few tenths off our own track record, and 2.5 seconds ahead of second place around the famed 3.65 mile circuit. With everything going our way the team decided that once again it was a good idea to leave this mean machine alone, and just do race preperations only.

After a relaxing evening, we showed up bright and early Sunday morning at the world center of racing to finish preparing for the race later that morning. When the green flag flew over the field, the GA/ RMS/ CI FE sprinted to the overall lead ahead of the much faster FA cars, opening up a three second gap in the first mile of track. As we hit the high banks the higher horse power cars took the overall lead back, but we never stopped lurking them. Lap after lap the GA/ RMS/ CI FE raced unchallenged by the other FE's in our class and grew our lead to an amazing 28 seconds before taking the checker first in class, second overall and resetting a new track record in the process. In a repeat of last year, we swept the accolades for the weekend and also took the points lead in the division for the first time this year.

 Our next event should be the June Sprints at Road America, WI.