Francis takes his 4th San Francisco Region Improved Touring “B” Championship.

Jeff Francis won the 2004 SCCA San Francisco Region Improved
Touring “B” Championship, as he drove to 10 victories, 2 second
place finishes and set new track records at Infineon Raceway and Thunderhill Raceway.

A race weekend that typified Francis’ stellar season was the April
25th event at Thunderhill Raceway Park. Due to prior engage-
ments, Francis had to skip the important Friday and Saturday
practice and qualifying sessions and didn’t even arrive at the track
until the morning of Sunday’s race. Without any track time, Francis
pulled his BMW 2002 racer onto the grid and took the green flag
in dead last place. By turn four, Francis had already passed 5 cars,
as his exceptionally handling BMW carved out a path to the front. Steadily Francis passed each competitor with braking maneuvers
and high-speed cornering passes that kept spectators (and the
Public Address announcer as well) on the edge of their seats. By
the time the checkered flag fell, Francis had passed 21 cars on
the track, including spirited battles for second place and then the
lead.

Francis was awarded “SCCA Driver of the Weekend” honors
for his improbable last-to-first drive and also took the “ITB” points
lead, a lead in which he would not relinquish the rest of the season.

Jeff would like to take this time to thank his valuable sponsors,
including Sherwin Williams Automotive Paint, Selma AutoMall,
Collision Parts Network, AASI Insurance & Central Valley Motorsports
for all their support in helping achieve another SCCA Championship.