DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Craig Stanton used the ST traffic to his advantage and had enough momentum to blast from third to first on lap 68 of Friday’s Fresh from Florida 200 Grand Am KONI Challenge season opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway.
That was the winning move, as he led the last eight laps to take the victory under caution in the BGB Motorsports Porsche 997 that he shares with Tim Traver.
Stanton was too far ahead for Scott Maxwell to catch him with his Hyper Sport Ford Mustang FR500C near the end. Maxwell and Randy Pobst had made contact on lap 67, too, so Maxwell was happy to finish second when the battle ended a couple minutes prematurely after Andrew Danyliw hit a tire wall on lap 75.
Maxwell was a late addition to the driver roster for that Mustang, joining Joe Foster and Jeff Courtney.
Stanton took the lead with 20 minutes remaining in the three-hour race from Spencer Pumpelly. The latter had just gotten the lead only to have his TRG Porsche 997 begin smoking coming off NASCAR turn two. It ended up 70th in the field of 89. 
Terry Borcheller nailed down the final podium spot in the Blackforest Motorsports Ford Mustang GT that he shares with Scott Turner. 
The i-MOTO Racing Acura TSX team finished first and second in the ST class, but not without some difficulties afterwards.
The victory went to its No. 31 driven by Glenn Bocchino and Nick Wittmer. Its No. 32 driven by Peter Cunningham and Kuno Wittmer got the class’s pole and finished second. Neither of the cars’ fuel tanks passed the post-race inspection, however, so the team lost its prize money and was assessed a fine.  Each car lost 10 points and all four drivers were docked five points.
The Compass360 Racing Acura TSX of Karl Thomson and Travis Walker got third in the ST class.Stanton Uses Traffic To Take KONI Opener