Chris Keller Wins Formula Ford Double Header in Kansas National Event

September 3, 2008 - Karting star and now recent Formula Ford winner Chris Keller claimed two victories this past weekend at the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) Formula Ford event held at Heartland Park in Topeka, Kansas. Along with the strong wins, Keller also claimed a pole position and lap record to have a career weekend in his Neil Porter Racing Formula Ford car.


Thursday through Saturday would provide open practice and test sessions for drivers, and Porter Racing and Chris Keller decided to take advantage of the opportunity. Working on long race runs as well as short qualifying stints, Keller and his crew felt well prepared heading into Sunday's racing action.

Sunday did not start as planned for the Greenbrook, New Jersey pilot as a fuel pump failure would only allow Keller to turn the eighth quickest time in the Formula Ford qualifying session. Heading into the race, Keller was looking to improve and did so at the drop of the green flag. The talented pilot sliced and diced his way through the field taking the lead on the final corner of the opening lap. Turning very fast race laps, Keller set a new lap record on his way to a more than twenty second victory.

The Labor Day holiday weekend would provide more racing action on Monday and allowed Keller to get up to speed quick. The multi-time karting champion scored the pole position with a new qualifying record of 1:36.20, just over half a second quicker than the previous day's pole time.

Starting from the pole, Keller drove a mistake free race turning fast and consistent race laps. At the end of the 18 lap feature event, Keller had stretched his lead to 36 seconds and scored his second win of the weekend.

"I am looking forward to coming back to this track in October," stated Keller after the event. "I want to stand behind these records and back them up during the annual SCCA Runoffs."

"Chris Keller is a stallion driver," stated Ron Sutton. "He just needed an opportunity to prove himself. This is the second time this year that he has swept both national races in a weekend."

"This was Chris' first time at Heartland Park and we felt he did a great job," expressed Team Owner Neil Porter. "Circuiting this facility fast is very tricky and Chris made it look easy. The main idea of this weekend was to gain knowledge for the SCCA Runoffs in October and learn the track so we did not have to do it during race weekend."

Chris would like to thank the entire Porter Racing squad, Ron Sutton's Winner's Circle as well as Larry Andel for fixing his radio systems at the track. A thank you also goes out to all the great people running the Kansas region SCCA as they put on a very safe, fun and enjoyable event weekend.