The end of the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge series was about as triumphant as its beginning three years ago.  The series grand finale kept fans on edge from nearly start to finish, with a pair of races that could have been just ordinary. With a thrilling race eventually won with an impressive drive from Ben Crosland, the battle for the series crown provided several breathtaking moments.

For more on the series, check out their website www.mustangchallenge.com.

In the end, Jason von Kluge prevailed despite finishing two places behind rival Tony Buffomante to become the 2010 Ford Racing Mustang Challenge Champion. The pair arrived for the double-header at Miller Motorsports Park with von Kluge and Buffomante equal on points.

Winning race 1 from the pole, von Kluge seized the lead to enter the second race with championship nine points in his favor. However, Ben Crosland was undoubtedly the star of the first race, having been relegated to start from P20 for being one pound underweight in qualifying. The Salt Lake City 12th grader charged through the field, grabbing third place by the 12th lap and finishing the race in second.

Crosland would have started the first race from P2 and obviously decided that he liked that better than starting from the back. In qualifying for race 2, Crosland stopped the clocks at 2:07.929 seconds for an average speed of 126.239 mph. That time was 0.399 seconds ahead of von Kluge’s best attempt.

Buffomante needed to win big if he was to go home with the gold ring. At the start of race 2, Buffomante made a brilliant start, charging up the front straight, waiting for the last absolute inch to brake and took the lead from Crosland and von Kluge.

Buffomante was exactly where he needed to be, but would he keep it? Over the opening laps Crosland ducked and dived looking for any opening, while von Kluge too was intent on not letting Buffomante get out of his sight. For the first five laps the trio routinely went into corners two and three abreast.

On lap 7, Crosland got his chance and went under Buffomante through turn 5. von Kluge took a look but wasn’t close enough, and so the title rivals were running nose-to-tail. Crosland was surely on a different beat and he soon set off into the sunset.

By now, von Kluge needed only to shadow Buffomante to secure the championship title. Racing, however, is racing and keeping station wasn’t what von Kluge went there for. On lap 14 the two contenders went through turn 1 door-to-door, but without any position change. On the next lap, von Kluge tried again, but this time he went a little wide at the exit of turn 4, allowing Kyle Gimple to sneak through for the final podium position.

Finally, Crosland crossed the finish line to score his second win of the season, 11 seconds ahead of Buffomante. Two places back, von Kluge earned the title he had battled his rival all season long for… and by a margin of just five points.

With that, the final chapter of the Ford Racing Mustang Challenge has been written. Over three years, 85 different racers took part in 30 races. Many racers got a chance at a dream and many will continue to live their dream. We wish them each all the best and expect to see most of them next season, if somewhere else.