Red Letter Dodge

Straight from the folks at Viper Headquarters, live on the ground at Virginia International Raceway:

Saturday, July 10, 2010, Alton, Virginia.–Ben Keating won the first-ever Dodge Viper Cup race today, the first of two races at the inaugural Dodge Viper Cup weekend event, held at Virginia International (VIR), Alton, Va.

Keating led from pole position and was never headed in his Dodge Viper ACR-X, finishing less than a second ahead of Jeff Courtney, who started next to him on the front row. All competitors were in the new ACR-X Vipers, introduced earlier this year by Dodge.

“I felt extreme pressure from Courtney throughout the race,” said Keating. “I did not have the fastest car. My crew built a cushion into our setup, so we would not have any trouble passing tech inspection.” Nevertheless he had the second-fastest lap of the race, just a few hundredths quicker than Courtney’s best. Keating averaged 99.848 mph for the race.

Third place finisher Ryan Schimisk had the drive of the race. He started last because of a two-millimeter misstep in his Viper’s ride-height setting, but shrugged off the penalty at the start–passing three cars with a daring wheels-off move. He proceeded to carve his way through the field, setting the fastest lap on the way, before settling just behind Keating and Courtney at the head of the pack.

“I really drove hard to fight my way through the field, and I didn’t save my tires, so I had nothing left when I caught up with the leaders,” said Schimisk.

Full race results after the jump.

The second of the two weekend races is Sunday, July 11.