LONG BEACH, Calif. — In front of ecstatic friends and family, Huntington Beach, Calif., driver Brandon Davis won his home race for the first time, earning an SCCA Speed GT  triumph Saturday at the Grand Prix of Long Beach.
GT division point-leader Randy Pobst and Andy Pilgrim finished second and third, respectively.
Starting from the pole, Davis’s No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang was beaten off the standing start by Pobst who took the lead heading into Turn 1. But Pobst would run wide, handing the lead back to Davis and falling to sixth.
Pobst worked his way back to second, but was unable to wrest the lead from Davis, who won for the first time since the 2006 Denver Grand Prix.
Davis was able to hold off Pobst through two more restarts from full-course yellows, before the fourth and final full-course yellow on lap 26 meant the 28-lap, 62.529-mile race would end under yellow. It was Davis’s second-career victory, his first coming in an SCCA Speed Touring Car in 2006 at the Denver Grand Prix.
“It really feels amazing to win here,” Davis said. “Before my dad even got into racing, when he was just a guy who liked cars, we would come out and watch Long Beach every year. Then, he started to run Trans-Am and started working with Boris [Said]. We actually got the first win for the team here in Trans-Am. I was there for all of that and to be able to be the guy that gives the team a win at Long Beach is very special.”
Davis reset the Long Beach Speed GT lap record en route to the win, lapping the 1.968-mile street circuit in 1:26.205 (82.185 miles per hour).
The finish:
Brandon Davis, Randy Pobst, Andy Pilgrim, Michael Galati, James Sofronas, Jason Daskalos, Mike Davis, Jeff Altenburg, Cindi Lux, Jeff Courtney, Tim McKenzie, Sonny Whelen, Claudio Burtin, Tony Gaples, Michael McCann, Stu Frederick, Gunter Schaldach, Phillip Martien, Joey Scarallo, Paul Brown, John Bourassa, Robb Holland, Eric Olberz, Ritch Marziale, Eric Curran, Dino Crescentini, Robert Foster, Tomy Drisi.