APR displays at Waterfest 2012: R8 Grand Am

This year there were an unprecedented number of real deal race cars on display at Waterfest. Yeah there was the typical show stuff too, but from R8s to ah, R8s, it was great to see them out and in front of the public. More soon,

_WRS

CTSCC - APR pulls amazing 1-2 finish at Watkins Glen

Against all odds APR Motorsport pulled out a fantastic 1-2 finish at Watkins Glen this past weekend. Considering how things were at the start, this seems almost impossible to believe. APR has always seemed to do well at Watkins, with their first Continental Tire victory coming at the track in 2009. All three APR VW GTIs started from the back of the pack. The #171 championship car of Ian Baas and Ryan Ellis had an engine let go in qualifying which meant they started at the back of the pack.



The 181 and new 161 Mk5 GTI (replacing the now-retired / written-off GS class S4) were moved to the back of the pack for a technical infraction of some sort, which was doubly disappointing as the Gleason brothers in the 181 and Nate Norenberg in the 161 (along with Josh Hurley) were set to start 3rd in ST.

Despite all that, the team regrouped and passed the entire ST field and ended up at the front of the pack. That's 55 cars! The equivalent of starting from the back and passing the entire field for victory at Le Mans from a number of cars passed standpoint.



The final finish was the 181 in first, 161 in second, and 171 in 31st. Ian lost the driver's championship points lead after suspension problems set them back in the field.



Although it's unfortunate for Ian to get bumped from the lead of the driver's championship, APR and VW remain in very strong positions, with VW retaining the manufacturer lead by one point over Mazda, and APR sitting fourth in team points. Ryan Ellis remains in the top five in the driver's championship.

With four events remaining it's crucial for APR to keep it together and finish strong in every event.

For more: www.grand-am.com / www.aprmotorsport.com

_WRS

CTSCC - Round 1 from Daytona - APR Motorsport on ST pole

The 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge kicks off today at 1:30pm EST, with the Grand Am 200 at Daytona International Speedway. Like other large tracks, the CTSCC is running combined classes at Daytona so both GS and ST cars will be on course at the same time. You can check out live timing and scoring for the race at www.grand-am.com - and it will be broadcast live on SpeedTV at 3pm on February 5th.

The good news for VAG fans is that APR Motorsport, who like previous years is flying the flag in the CTSCC, earned pole position in the Street Tuner class with new driver Ryan Ellis behind the wheel of their new-for-2011 Mk6 GTI 4-door. This is a very strong indicator that 2011 could finally be the year that APR Motorsport has what it takes to clinche the championship. The Mk5 GTIs were always a bit down on power, and for the Mk6 to be on pole it's clear that APR has been doing a lot of homework on getting the absolute maximum from the 2.0t TSI. Ellis managed a 2:06.818 to get ahead of the DeMan Motorsports Porsche Boxster, and the always-fast Compass360 Racing Honda Civic Si.

The disappointment is in Grand Sport, where the B8 S4 qualified a low 19th in class, reportedly due to minor suspension trouble. We saw flashes of brilliance from the supercharged sedan last year, but it was plagued with teething troubles and APR had a rough go of it. APR's Jeff Mishtawy is usually quite adept at calling race strategy and consistently puts the team in the position to win, but with the competitiveness of the CTSCC, starting back in 19th does not always bode well for podium finishes. If the car can hold together, it should do well.

Here we go! The first event for 2011 in the USA is almost underway...

_WRS

Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge: Bosch Engineering VIR 200

APR Motorsport will take on the rest of the GS / ST field today at 3:30 PM, at Virginia International Raceway, better known as VIR. The number 01 S4 grids at P11, with Ian Baas putting in a solid qualifying run, as seen above. The ST GTIs start off 10th (171), 14th (91) and 24th. (181) Not the best spread overall, with the highest placed VW Jetta of Irish Mike's starting 7th, but with the long race almost anything can happen. Although showers were expected, the weather maps are looking pretty clear, so it should be a very exciting day indeed. The crew from NGP Racing is in attendance today, and with a little luck we might have some great pics from Benji from the VA shop...

_WRS

Be sure to check out live timing and scoring at Grand-Am.com.

Motorsport(s) Update

I've been slacking on updates of substance the past week or so, and for that I must apologize. As I may have alluded to previously, I have an upcoming marriage dealio going on in the very near future, plus a bunch of other stuff, so the focus has been scattered and probably will be for the next couple months.



It was also because of this wedding (or at least a tailoring appointment) that I missed out on the debut of the APR Mk6 GTI at Barber Motorsports Park. It was not nearly as successful as it could have been for the S4, with a 2nd place position lost to a technical failure on lap 46. (can't recall what, engine?)



The GTis didn't fare much better, with a 10th, 12th and 24th, the 24th position going to the new Mk6 with APR owner Stephen Hooks on the roster. Grand Am has made some significant changes in the way they monitor and regulate turbo boost, and with these super strict limits the GTIs are essentially down on power significantly from the rest of the field. As Stephen said, something has to be done.



Here's an in-car from Josh Hurley in the 181...



This weekend sees the second round of the ALMS at Long Beach California, with the largest field they have ever had. GTC is full up with 10 entries, and it should prove to be a very exciting race from the bottom of the field (GTC) to the top (LMP). Be sure to download your Spotters Guide to keep up with all the entrants and cheer for your favorites. It goes without saying we'll be routing for the Lizards and Falken, flying the Porsche flags...



If I find any feeds with video I'll pass them along, but the guys from Radio Le Mans will be calling it as they see it, so it's pretty much as close to being there as you can get.



Oh, and I almost forgot, Audi scored a big old win with the R15 Plus at it's very first race! It was at Le Castellet in France (cool looking track eh?), and 8 hour event. I may have cared, and it may have actually mattered more if it was a real race like say, I don't know, Sebring, but it was 'just a test' according to Audi so I guess it was successful. Check out Fourtitude for a full run down. Word on the street is that Peugeot has something to worry about with the new car...

_WRS

Continental Sports Car Challenge: Porsche 250 @ Barber Motorsports Park

APR takes on the rest of the field at this weekend's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with some added firepower to the arsenal. Their latest and greatest ST class car, the Mk6 GTI, has been completed and will see APR owner / Team Principle Stephen Hooks take a seat in this weekend's race. This brings the total number of APR-supported cars to four, which is quite an undertaking.



Both ST class Mk5 GTIs remain, with the Mk6 being piloted by Hooks and Australian racing star Tom Drewer. It will be interesting to see what sort of performance advantages the TSI motor may afford (or not) the Mk6, as compared to the FSI motors which have been pretty thoroughly developed within the limits of the rules.

The GS class S4 should hopefully fulfill its destiny as a race winner, as it has previously shown the speed, but not the problem-free race required to win in the competitive CTSCC series. George Achorn from Fourtitude.com is down in Alabama to provide a first hand account and a little moral support to the four-ringed sedan.

APR is the defending ST class race winner at Barber (their 'home' track), and there will no doubt be extra pressure to perform a clean sweep of both CTSCC classes in front of friends and family in attendance.

For more:
Grand-am
APR Motorsport
Fourtitude on Facebook (live updates throughout the weekend)

_WRS

Video Post: In-car from Homestead with Josh Hurley

Since we recently sampled a video of the crankandpiston.com Mk5 GTI, I figured it'd be nice to take a peek at one from this past weekend's Homestead 200 here in the states. This lap is on board the CTSCC ST Class APR GTI Mk5 (bit of a mouthful eh?), with Josh Hurley behind the wheel.



For those that don't recall, a communication problem meant that the #181 had to start from pit lane, but Josh and co-driver Kevin Stadtlander made their way up to a solid 5th place finish by the end of the event. As they say, consistency wins championships, and it sure would be nice to see it brought home to VW in 2010.

Catch the race on SpeedTV today at 1:00 pm!

_WRS

Results: Homestead 200 CTSCC

Today saw a fair performance from APR in today's Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Homestead 200. After putting the supercharged direct-injected S4 into the third spot, a ride height infraction saw the car moved to the back of the pack and it did not start when the green flag dropped at 1pm. Whether or not APR chose not to start in protest, had problems, or were completely disqualified remains to be seen. The pole-winning #20 Roush Performance Ford Mustang GT was also penalized for an illegal part, but ended up going on to win today's event.

In ST the two APR Mk5 GTIs started towards the back of the field, and slowly but surely moved up. The#181 Stadtlander/ Hurley car managed a solid 5th place as the checkered flag waved, with the #171 in 18th position.

I'll try and find out more info this week, but so far 2010 continues to be a tough year for APR's efforts in Grand Am.

_WRS

Grand Prix of Miami - GT pre-race report

Our man on the street, Robert Overholser from Lufteknic has provided us with some in-the-moment coverage down in Miami. Practice didn't go so well for #44 Porsche 911 of Magnus Racing, which blew a tire. Never good, but this was especially damaging as it ended up taking out the right rear suspension, oil tank and the transmission. Busy times in the pit as the crew are replacing parts to get things ready for the big show at 5pm.

In other news, Turner motorsport has some problems with the power steering on their tube-frame M6. It's a new-ish car, so some teething issues are to be expected for sure.

And some other random shots from the garage...

On track NOW is the CTSCC ST / GS race! Check out live timing and scoring at Grand-am.com.

Go apr!

_WRS

This is who we want to win (in GT)

So we have 3 out of 4 classes with Wolfsburg Rennsport-connected cars running in this weekend's Homestead 200 / Grand Prix of Miami. APR in ST and GS, and the Grant Racing / 901 shop entry (because of Lufteknic being on board) in the GT class. Honestly I have to say 3 out of 4 is ideal, cause even if I knew someone running a Daytona Prototype, I'd never admit it...

http://www.grand-am.com for more. GT / DP class runs live (actually live, not tape delayed) tomorrow at 5pm on Speed TV.

_WRS

'Porsche' powered DP wins Rolex 24, Mazda takes GT

As I alluded to in my recent post about the Continental Sports Car Challenge, I have little to no love for Grand Am's performance-neutered classes in the Rolex series. I think the DP cars are ugly, uninspiring, and are generally the result of trying to apply a template that may work elsewhere (NASCAR's various oval series), but has no place in a top-tier championship. That said, Grand Am has what was once one of the most prestigious endurance racing events in the world under its jurisdiction, the Rolex 24 at Daytona.

So despite their best efforts to drag sports car racing back into the past, in terms of chassis and engine tech, Grand Am still has one event a year which is a little bit exciting and worth attending. This year the entry list was down compared to years past (when I was going back in the early aughts the field was into the high 70s and low 80s in terms of car counts), but the teams appeared to be as pumped as ever, and the result was quite a race.



A Riley chassis, powered by a Porsche Cayenne V8 which was not at all endorsed by the factory, somehow managed to overcome all the odds to take the overall and DP class win. The engine is street-derived, and despite Action Express being an offshoot of the Brumos team, it was not expected to win with all the other 'known quantities' at the top of the field. So I suppose Porsche won, but then since this was done without Porsche's blessing, who knows if they will acknowledge the win at all. Something tells me the marketing department will manage to put it in the headlines, even if they didn't originally want to make it so. Best thing about the win: Mike Rockenfeller played a key part in the victory and got a 24 hour win.



The GT class is one in which you pretty much expect a Porsche 911 to win. They always do, or used to anyways, as this year a tube-framed 'Mazda RX8' managed to stomp the formidable foes from The Racers Group, Flying Lizard, and the BMWs of Turner to take the GT class win. The winning 'RX8' was the #70 from SpeedSource Castrol Syntec. I feel about the same about tube frame racers as I do about the Daytona Prototypes, but damn that rotary sounded good screaming around the banking. Kudos to Mazda for getting the job done, and hey, at least they sounded good and looked good while winning. You can't count out the importance of that. In my opinion, winning is only worth doing with style...

Speed TV's race recap

_WRS

Continental Sports Car Challenge: Fresh from Florida 200

At the drop of the green flag for yesterday's Fresh From Florida 200, none of the APR Motorsport cars were in prime position for a quick or easy victory. Although solid times were managed in the warm ups, the brand-new supercharged B8 S4 in GS, and the two GTI Mk5s in ST, were starting towards the back of each of their respective classes. Still, it was a long race and anything could happen. Unfortunately it did, but not in a good way for the APR Motorsport team.



Ian Baas put in a strong performance in the APR S4, quickly and steadily moving up from 29th position to the top 10 before the first round of pit stops. Baas pushed the supercharged six up to a high of 6th place before handing of to co-driver Mark White. White re-joined in around 27th spot, and hung around the mid 20's for the entirety of his time in the car. Changing back to Baas at the second and final pit-stop once again saw the S4 on the move, before a puncture on the very last lap took the car out of any contention for a top-ten finish. The S4 ended in 19th position.

The potential is there, with the big sedan showing surprising speed compared to the more 'pure' sports racing cars such as the Porsches and BMWs, but naturally some teething problems were to be expected for the first time out. Matt Plumb was the eventual GS class and overall winner, in the #13 Rum Bum E92 BMW M3.



The results in ST were almost exactly the same as those in GS, in fact, you could substitute the names and problems and it would be almost 100% accurate. The 171 was piloted by last year's 3-time winner Mike Sweeney, with new driving partner Mike Halpin. 181 also had an APR veteran of 2009 behind the wheel, Josh Hurley, joined by Kevin Stadtlander. Both GTIs battled their way through the field, with Sweeney and Hurley handling first round driving duties. They eventually overcame the Jetta GLIs from Irish Mike's Racing before piercing the top-ten, much like the S4 had done.

After the first round of pit stops Halpin and Stadtlander took over for the 171 and 181, with Stadtlander putting in a particularly strong performance. The sheer number of cars in ST meant that the smallest problem or delay could cost precious positions on the track, and unfortunately for APR, problems for the team showed up in the waning laps. After his fantastic performance, Stadtlander handed the 181 over to Hurley within striking distance of a podium finish. It was not to be however as one of the Civics punted Hurley off the track with a hit from behind, ultimately moving him well outside the top ten. The 181 and 171 finished 15th and 16th in class. The ST class winner was the always quick Compass 360 Honda Civic of Aschenbach / Thilenius.

APR Motorsport showed real promise and speed in the Fresh from Florida 200, but the momentum carried from their outstanding late 2009 performances could not translate into victory in yesterday's race. You can bet they'll be working hard to prepare for a more successful round at Homestead Florida, on March 13th.

More info: Grand-Am.com / GoAPR.com

_WRS

APR Motorsport: Ready for 2010

APR Motorsport, who managed to have a very fruitful 2009 by scoring not only their first win ever as a team, but also went on to score the MOST wins of any team in Koni Challenge last year, is looking to make 2010 a breakout year for the team. The championship in '09 went to Compass360, with their Honda Civic Si, but the strong APR Motorsport showing from June forward indicates 2010 could be the year for APR to make their championship bid. Both GTIs will return to the ST class to do battle once again, and the rest of the field will no doubt will be ready for them.



APR has decided not to rest on their laurels however, and has expanded in 2010, showing a strong commitment to the Grand Am series with a brand new Audi S4 3.0 TFSI. This is a very exciting development, and it pleases me to no end that APR has continued to commit to motorsport, even while so many other companies cut back or choose not to participate. The tribal style graphics which carry over from the GTIs are not my favorite...they're a bit busy for me, but I can understand the desire for visual continuity.



It takes more than money to make for a successful race team. It takes commitment, engineering and perhaps most of all, passion, to best the rest of the cars on the circuit and emerge anywhere near the top of the pack. APR has proved they can win, now let's see if they can keep it consistent and bring home a championship to VAG.



Ian Baas, who drove the #171 GTI last year, will be behind the wheel of the new S4, along with newly signed driver Mark White. White drove with APR in 2008, and should be a great addition to the team.



Check out this in-car lap from Daytona testing just a few weeks ago. The car certainly looks fit. (Ian is behind the wheel)

I always think I could be a competent race driver, then I see something like this and realize that's not likely. Still, it's fun to watch.

We will find out shortly whether or not this expansion will prove to be a wise move, or is perhaps going to spread resources too thin. Going by how Stephen and the gang usually do things, I would guess not. Here's to a championship season for both VW and Audi in 2010.

_WRS

Video Post: In-car Turner Motorsport footage from Watkin's Glen

I was over on the Eurotuner blog today and saw this video they had linked to from Turner Motorsport. It shows some furiously hectic last-blast end of the race action at the combined class Grand Am / Koni Challenge race at Watkins Glen. You can spot some APR GTI's getting passed, along with most of the other ST field, but the main focus here are the Turner M3's, since all the footage is from inside those cars. Obviously. Anyways, it's makes great use of the fact that almost anyone can afford a decent in-car camera system these days. I think it's amazing, and very cool, that Turner puts the time and effort into releasing this footage to the public for them to watch. does a great job of building the brand and building loyal fans too.

By the way, these cars sounds so bad-ass in this footage it's enough to make me want to buy an E46 M3. Something I never really have thought about before.

_WRS

Koni Challenge: APR Motorsport locks down the front row at Mid-Ohio

APR Motorsports is on quite the roll. Not only did they just give Volkswagen its first win in over 25 years in a professional road racing series inside the USA, but they've nailed down the pole position at each of the last three races, and locked up the whole front row at the last two. The 171 car of Baas and Hurley sits on pole for this weekend's race at Mid-Ohio, and the 181 of Sweeney and von Moltke are right behind, sitting on the outside of row one. That's got to feel great. I've always said that the only thing lacking from VW's success in the motorsports arena is the lack of commitment and money. Very few teams have had both the money and the commitment to achieve success. It generally tends to be either one or the other. (i.e. all passion and no money, or all money and no follow through)

With APR, VW has found a committed partner in racing. I think it says a lot about APR as a tuning company, compared to a lot of others. Few people are willing to put their company's profits on the line with a motorsports program, but it's also one of the best ways to test and improve your products and knowledge. Racing is expensive business...some may consider the Koni Challenge to be the minor leagues, and compared to the stuff at Le Mans it certainly is, but this is no nickel and dime affair. After an up and down first year you would be excused for thinking that maybe APR would drop out or not fully committee, especially with a faltering economy. Not the case though, and it has payed off. I'm very curious to see if Volkswagen gives APR a little more support next year. Perhaps a few Mk6 GTI bodies in white? That would be very cool, and probably make the conversion from street car to race car a bit easier. After all, the current crop of Mk5 GTi's were just standard Mk5's to start with, so there is a lot of labor involved in stripping them out and making them race ready.

Although the race is this weekend, it won't be broadcast until June 28th at 12:30 on Speed TV. This may mean that results aren't much of a surprise, but hey, it should still be an exciting race either way. It's times like this I really wish I had cable. hehehe. Go APR!

_WRS

Busy weekend - get thee to Mid Ohio!

I don't have a time machine nor an airplane. If I did, I would do one thing, other than the stuff I already have to do this weekend, and that is: Go to the Mid-Ohio Sportscar course. Its is quite the weekend of racing for Volkswagen in the USA. Not only is it the first round in the Koni Challenge since APR won at Watkins Glen, but the Jetta TDI cup is also running as a support series. It should prove to be one hell of a weekend. In TDI cup you'd think I might not have a guy to route for, but you'd be 100% wrong. AJ Nealey is a Maryland local and has been doing pretty well so far, and with past successes at Mid Ohio in NASA, should be able to do quite well. It would be great to see AJ win, and he clearly has some talent behind the wheel given his results from the last year. Check out AJNealeyracing.com for his full bio.

APR is hoping to make it two in a row, and with their cars running strongly in the past at Mid Ohio, there's no reason to think they won't be anything but contenders. With Grand-Am running split classes, same as they did at Lime Rock, it should turn out to be quite a battle without all those pesky Grand Sport class cars getting in the way. Naturally we are pulling for the APR Motorsport guys 100%, and look forward to seeing the 171 or 181 back in the winner's circle this weekend.

For the full run down on the Koni Challenge series, including live timing during practice and the race, check out the Grand-Am site. For Jetta TDI Cup info, go to the SCCA's site, which will give you the info you crave.

I'd have more to say, but I'm late for dinner. More tomorrow!

_WRS

Lime Rock Weekend Part Two: Koni Challenge

Sometimes things just get busy. It kind of drives me nuts, but I guess it's better to be busy than the converse, which is to have nothing going on at all. So with that, here we are finally visiting the May 23rd Grand-Am Koni Challenge race at Lime Rock Park.

I'm not sure if it's because I've had to go to events for work for so many years, but car shows really drive me mad. I get it on one level...lots of nice cars you would not typically see while driving down Main Street in Your Town, USA, share ideas and hang out with like minded people. That I love. It's the lack of visceral experience on the car end that make them a little boring. Sure that 'bagged Mk'XYZ' might look awesome sitting there in a parking lot, but that's about all it's doing at that ride height. Cars are (in my mind) modified to be better to drive first, look cool second. I'm just not thrilled by a car sitting still, no matter what the horsepower under the hood or potential speed it might possess.

So the Koni Challenge ST (Street Tuner) race was exactly my kind of event. Real world cars turned into track machines, fender to fender racing, no holds barred, all out for over two hours. One of my many "I should have done that" careers involves being a race car driver, just like the rest of the male population out there, so I was very, very, VERY excited to get a chance to participate in the VW owners corral in Lime Rock. The owners corral is a way for VW to get their car owners out to the track and maybe get a taste of just how much fun real motorsport events are. APR Motorsport, being the most serious (and successful) VW race team in the USA in a long time, is also there to give out shirts, answer questions, and give away signed race tires. Cool stuff like that.

One of the real highlights of the day were the parade laps. Included in your owner's Corral ticket was the chance to drive two laps of Lime Rock. Sure it was in a group behind a pace car, but the speeds still got up there a bit. (I think the WRS-mobile got up to 70mph at one point) Things were kept to a minimum down the front stretch, but once the pace car dipped into turn one and kit the esses, it took off, allowing the cars top single file it through the turns and really get a taste of the track. It. Was. Awesome. Leaving turn one at the top of second, hitting 3rd for just a bit before going through the esses, and so on... Even the future Mrs WRS had a blast, and she's not one for the speedy driving to say the least. Everyone was relatively well behaved, no one broke down or wrecked, and I'd imagine it gave a few other people the urge to get back out there again.

The most intense section of the track has to be the dip going-into the uphill right-hander after the no-name straight. We weren't going super fast at this point, as the organizers weren't under any illusions as to what would happen if they let Joe-VW in his street car blast through that section flat out. I was still at about 45-50mph though, so it was fast enough to be fun, and let me tell you, you can't appreciate that section of track until you drive it. As the track surface falls away you get roller-coaster stomach, which quickly changes to the sensation of you being slammed down into your seat as you blast up the hill. I would have done parade laps all day if I had the chance!

As you can see, this is a steep grade. Whatever lies over this hill is completely out of view of the driver until you are up over the top.

By the way, the race itself was awesome. APR scored pole position with the 171 car, and 181 was not too far behind. APR invited everyone from the corral to their garage area to see the cars up close and get an idea of the technical specs and rules of the series, plus meet and greet the drivers.

The threat of rain loomed all day, but it never did, and we had excellent conditions for the full 2.5 hour event. There were a good number of spins and incidents, including a very heavy wreck involving the Turner Motorsport BMW at the very beginning of the event. This was a real shame as it was a contender and would have only made the event that much more exciting.

As it was, the first three to four cars were no further than a few car lengths from each other for the entire race. It was that close. The 171 lead for what seemed like the entire race, and even when the caution came out for the 181, which died on the track right next to us with a fueling problem, they stayed out front. A win looked to be a sure thing.

Winning is anything but a sure thing however, and when the 181 went out of commission for a second time it allowed the field to group back up. The 171 battled to stay out front, but a little bit of contact with Compass360 allowed the Civic to slip by. A major shunt down the front stretch involving the other bright-orange Compass360 Civic and one of the Flat Out Mazda MX5's brought the caution out again, which is how the race ended. A second consecutive second-place finish. The team is, as Stephen said, just knocking on the door of their first win.

You would think that the guys from APR would be upset about this turn of events, considering they had the field behind them for almost the entire race, but they were anything but. In such a competitive series were the leader can be sent to the back of the pack with the smallest mistake, placing anywhere in the top 5 is a huge accomplishment. It's easy to be biased when you know a lot of the people involved, and when it's the team you're routing for to win, but Stephen, Keith and the rest of the crew are really great people, and are doing a great job of being ambassadors of the VW scene.

So with a few more races left in the season, I suggest everyone get out their calenders, go to the Koni Challenge website, and get out there to an event. I've been to a lot of much higher level (i.e. higher dollar) events in my day, but these guys lay it on the line for every lap of every race, and it's as good a show as any I've been to, if not even better. Be sure to check out the APR Lime Rock Park gallery for a TON of awesome shots from the weekend.

_WRS

(PS: APR did in fact score their first win just two weeks later, with the 181 car making up for the problems at Lime Rock and scoring first in class at Watkin's Glenn!)