BGB
LEAVES LAGUNA AND
HEADS FOR PHOENIX
PLUMMER AND STANTON
FINISH 7th
IN MONTEREY WHILE TRAVER AND MILLER
HOLD ONTO
3rd PLACE IN TEAM POINTS
For Immediate Release
(PHOENIX, AZ-May 11, 2006) BGB Motorsports left Laguna
Seca with a strong 3rd place in the
team standings; the #83 Simplenet.com Porsche of Tim Traver
and Mikel Miller carries 57 points
into the Phoenix round, just 1 point behind the Synergy Racing
#81 Porsche 997 of Brent Martini &
Porsche Factory Driver, Patrick Long.
The #38 Porsche 996
however finished a season’s best
of 7th place with pilots Craig Stanton and Mark Plummer behind
the wheel. Mark qualified the car on the front row of the
grid at Laguna Seca last Saturday and kept the car in 2nd
during his stint. Just prior to the mid-race pit stop the
#38 Porsche 996 moved into the lead. That stop was delayed
due to the fact that the pits were closed because of an accident
at pit-in. The result was Craig Stanton’s taking the
car over in 20th position. Craig fought and clawed his way
through the heavy traffic and dealt with the low grip track’s
greasy conditions to achieve the #38 Porsche’s best
result of the season.
The #83 Simplenet.com Porsche 996 arrived
at the Laguna Seca round in 4th place in team points, and
was looking at the very real possibility of leaving Laguna
Seca in 1st position. Tim Traver qualified the car with a
personal best of 6th. Tim managed to keep out of trouble
for the first few calamitous laps that Laguna Seca is known
for, but never even saw the car that was going to change
his entire race. A car blindsided him from behind coming
into the Corkscrew, riding up and over his left rear fender.
The impact caused serious damage to the wheel and tire, requiring
a pit stop to assess any further damage. The crew changed
the tire, added fuel and saw no other major damage while
assuring the car’s
integrity. Traver was back on track and focused. Midway through
the race, Tim brought the car in for its scheduled pit stop,
handing the car over to teammate Mikel Miller. Despite pitting
before the #38, Mikel ended up one position behind Craig
Stanton in the sister car. The two worked in unison, picking
their way through the pack with Mikel running as high as
5th place. Shortly thereafter Mikel had minor contact with
a slower car, which officials deemed as “avoidable
contact.” Miller served his penalty and found himself
back in 20th position. He would then go on to finish 18th.
The
#84 Rhinestone Roxy Porsche successfully finished its first
race with BGB for 2006. During its debut race, the car was
forced into retirement at VIR because of contact beyond the
driver’s control. Grand Am Cup competitors
tried again several times at Laguna Seca. Ryan Pilla started
in 29th position after an ABS failure made his car almost
unmanageable in qualifying. Ryan had a good start, stayed
out of the accidents that plagued the first part of the race,
and had a solid pit stop. Teammate Ted Ballou’s stint
was bogged down however by the yellow flags and traffic.
Grand Am Cup’s new style of bump and run sent the car
into the pits with another broken left rear wheel and tire.
Ted hung on after the repairs with some bad toe out in the
left rear to end the day in 28th. Team Manager, John Tecce
is optimistic about continuing the momentum of the first
races of the season, and challenging for a win in the ultra-competitive
Grand Am Cup GS Class: “I think we’ve proven
that we’re back after a season in which we felt snake-bit
in 2005. We’ve regained the reliability that we’ve
been known for, the efficient pit stops and proven strategy.
What we’re really most proud of is that we have what
could be considered a ‘Customer Car’ running
in 3rd position in the points, ahead of our primary car.
It shows that all of our cars are prepared to the highest
of standards, and that any one of those cars can challenge
for a win. And believe me, that win, by any one of the cars,
is coming.”
Tape-delay TV coverage of the US Sportscar Invitational
from Laguna Seca will be televised on Speed TV at 1:00PM
ET on Saturday, May 13th.
The green flag for the Grand-Am
Cup Avondale Mazda 200 drops at 1:00 pm on Saturday, May
13th with live timing and scoring and a live web cast available
at http://grandamerican.vfx.com/Rolex/GrandAmerican_800.asp
, and tape-delay TV coverage at 1:00PM ET on Speed TV,
May 14th.
BGB Motorsports is an ambitious, professional Motorsports
business. Last year they established themselves as the team
to look out for in the Grand Am Cup’s GS class. Based
in Daytona Beach, Florida, the team operates as a customer-oriented
business, running cars under the Grand Am Cup, SCCA and Porsche
Club of America sanctioning bodies.
For more information, photos,
and videos, visit http://teambgb.com. |