There was at least one National Champion in the PTE field when the green flag dropped, and when the checkers flew, he had notched another one for himself.
Midwest/Great Lakes racer Jason Kohler won Honda Challenge 1 last year at Mid-Ohio in an S2000. This year he was driving an NB Miata. Starting from fourth, Kohler edged past Texas Teen Mazda Challenge driver Timothy Reger, Glen McCready and Bruce Pendleton, who started from pole.
Andrew Kidd started from even further back in the field, from sixth, and had established what could only be called a commanding lead — then smoke began trailing from his car. It went on for two or three laps, losing no ground, but the engine soon let go and Kidd pulled off track to a safe spot and sat out the rest of the race. That left Kohler to take the win, which was news to him.
“It was a great race. I started fourth, and I had a little incident in front of me and I managed to avoid a collision,” Kohler said. “I had a great battle with Andrew Kidd and Tim Reger and a couple others. I had no idea I was in the lead. I thought I was in second the whole race. I got up to impound afterward and found out I was first.”
