Backstretch Motorsports

MILLVILLE, N.J. (August 31, 2008) — Oswaldo Negri Jr. held off Max Angelelli by .459 seconds Sunday to win the first professional feature race at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the Supercar Life 250, while Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas clinched the Daytona Prototype team championship with a ninth-place finish in a backup car.

Negri led the final 45 laps in the No. 60 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley started by Mark Patterson, scoring the second career victory for the team. Negri and Patterson teamed to win the 2006 season-ending race at Miller Motorsports Park near Salt Lake City, Utah. It was their first podium finish since they placed third at Homestead-Miami Speedway, after Negri won the pole for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

Angelelli came up short in a bid for the second consecutive triumph for the No. 10 SunTrust Racing Pontiac Riley started by Michael Valiante.

Bill Auberlen and Joey Hand took third in the No. 23 Alex Job Racing Ruby Tuesday Porsche Riley, taking their second podium finish of the season and best outing since placing second at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Pruett destroyed the primary No. 01 TELMEX Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley in a testing accident on Thursday. The team went back to its Indianapolis shop to prepare the car that last competed in their Rolex 24 At Daytona victory. The finished - coupled with a fifth-place finish by Alex Gurney and Jon Fogarty - opened a 38-point lead in the team standings with only the September 20 finale at Miller Motorsports Park remaining on the schedule. Teams may score a maximum 35 points at each event.

Joao Barbosa and JC France finished fourth for the fourth time this season in the No. 59 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley. Barbosa was running second at the final restart with two laps remaining before being bumped off course and passed by both Angelelli and Auberlen.

Gurney finished fifth - going off course in the closing laps in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing Pontiac Riley after contact with the No. 10 machine. He was followed by Brian Frisselle in the No. 61 AIM Autosport Ford Riley started from the pole by Mark Wilkins; the No. 6 Michael Shank Racing Ford Riley of John Pew and Ian James; the No. 75 Krohn Racing Pontiac Lola of Tracy Krohn and Eric van de Poele; Pruett and Rojas; and Darren Law and David Donohue in the No. 58 Brumos Racing Porsche Riley.

Donohue led 38 laps early in the event, passing Patterson for the lead on lap 20 and remaining out front through his pit stop on lap 57. Law took over but was held up in traffic and could not work his way back into competition.

Gurney led three laps after Donohue’s stop, with Negri taking over on lap 61 and pacing the final 45 circuits.

“I was never worried about losing the lead,” Negri said. “I think the key was on our pit stop, when fueler Tom Finley’s quick reaction helped me go from ninth to third.”

“This was a tough race track to hold off a group of very talented drivers, and Ozz did a magnificent job driving his way to the front,” Patterson said.

There were five cautions for 25 laps, with many of them for debris and gravel following off course excursions. The race came down to a two-lap sprint, with Negri holding on after Barbosa lost second on the final lap.

In GT, rookie Tim George Jr. scored his first Rolex Series victory after starting the No. 67 TRG Johnny Love Vodka/994 Magazine Porsche GT3. It was the 19th career class triumph for Andy Lally, who took over and held off Robin Liddell by 1.776 seconds.

The second-place finish by Liddell and Andrew Davis in the No. 57 Stevenson Motorsports Pontiac GXP.R tightened the point race into the season finale. The pair entered the event third in the team points, trailing Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards by 16 points. With Collins and Edwards finishing 10th in the No. 07 Banner Pontiac GXP.R, Liddell and Davis now trailing by only five points (337-332).

“We’re really happy with the result,” said Liddell, who scored his eighth podium finish of the season. “I was able to get around Lally at one point, but he managed to get by on the front straightaway. Then I got squeezed off by a Daytona Prototype just before the final caution, and then Andy had it in the bag.”

Nick Ham and Sylvain Tremblay entered the event second in the team points, but struggled with an oil leak to place 16th in the No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Mazda RX-8. They enter the final 12 points behind the leaders.

Ryan Phinny led 34 laps early in the event in the No. 21 Matt Connolly Motorsports Pontiac GTO.R, with Diego Alessi taking third on the final lap to give the team its third third-place finish of the campaign.

The season wraps up at Salt Lake City with SunRichGourmet.com 1000 presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels at Miller Motorsports Park.

Supercar Life 250
New Jersey Motorsports Park
Millville, NJ

POS NO. CLASS CLASS POS. DRIVER TEAM/CAR LAPS BEST LAP (#) AVG MPH SPONSORS
1 60 DP 1 Negri / Patterson Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 105 1:12.979 65 85.440
2 10 DP 2 Angelelli / Valiante SunTrust Racing / Pontiac Dallara 105 1:12.440 65 85.436 SunTrust
3 23 DP 3 Auberlen / Hand Alex Job Racing / Porsche Riley 105 1:13.026 25 85.426 Ruby Tuesday
4 59 DP 4 Barbosa / France Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 105 1:12.781 99 85.412 Brumos Porsche, Kendall
5 99 DP 5 Fogarty / Gurney GAINSCO/ Bob Stallings Racing / Pontiac Riley 105 1:12.729 65 85.405 GAINSCO Auto Insurance
6 61 DP 6 Frisselle / Wilkins AIM Autosport / Ford Riley 105 1:12.922 64 85.403 Exchange Traded Gold, Mike Direct Connect
7 6 DP 7 James / Pew Michael Shank Racing / Ford Riley 105 1:13.610 26 85.399
8 75 DP 8 Krohn / van de Poele Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 105 1:14.175 88 85.299
9 01 DP 9 Pruett / Rojas Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates / Lexus Riley 105 1:13.685 24 85.278 TELMEX
10 58 DP 10 Donohue / Law Brumos Racing / Porsche Riley 105 1:13.256 65 85.268 Brumos Porsche, Kendall
11 09 DP 11 Camirand / Cosmo Spirit of Daytona Racing / Porsche Coyote 104 1:13.744 87 84.538
12 7 DP 12 Plumb / Sigal Rum Bum Racing / BMW Riley 104 1:12.967 26 84.502 Rumbum.com, Big Vision Miami, Caramba Tequila
13 76 DP 13 Jonsson / Zonta Krohn Racing / Pontiac Lola 103 1:12.672 63 83.518
14 67 GT 1 George Jr / Lally TRG / Porsche GT3 102 1:19.718 86 82.879
15 57 GT 2 Davis / Liddell Stevenson Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 102 1:19.957 63 82.864 Stevenson Auto, Bryan Mark Financial
16 21 GT 3 Alessi / Phinny Matt Connolly Motorsports / Pontiac GTO.R 102 1:20.302 12 82.842
17 66 GT 4 Ballou / Pumpelly TRG / Porsche GT3 102 1:19.732 88 82.833 Mitchell Rubber
18 86 GT 5 Keen / Lux Farnbacher Loles Racing / Porsche GT3 102 1:20.122 87 82.827 The Media Barons, Power-Plus Porsche Performance Systems, Modified Luxury & Exotics Magazine
19 87 GT 6 Miller / Werner Farnbacher Loles Racing / Porsche GT3 102 1:20.013 87 82.816 Marquis Jet, Resorts International, Power-Plus Porsche Performance Systems, IPC, Modified Luxury & Exotics Magazine, Total Lubricants
20 32 GT 7 Barrett / Forest PR1 Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 102 1:20.102 24 82.795 Miracle Sealants, Konica Minolta, Kolliner-Long Gallery
21 27 GT 8 O’Connell / Roush O’Connell Racing / Porsche GT3 102 1:20.886 32 82.786 General Environmental Management, Inc., Taleo Grill
22 68 GT 9 Sellers / Valentine TRG / Porsche GT3 102 1:20.060 22 82.782 CRG, Maxter, Rotex, MBA Group, F1 Air
23 07 GT 10 Collins / Edwards Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP.R 102 1:20.553 11 82.777 Banner Engineering
24 69 GT 11 Assentato / Segal SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 102 1:20.511 25 82.719 FXDD
25 64 GT 12 Sugden / van Overbeek JLowe Racing / Porsche GT3 101 1:20.049 23 81.987 Porsche of the Main Line, SRS
26 30 GT 13 Taylor / von Moltke Racers Edge Motorsports / Mazda RX-8 101 1:20.496 25 81.949 Idemitsu Racing Oil, Performance Drink, P1 Groupe
27 65 GT 14 Potter / Stanton TRG/Riegel Autosport / Porsche GT3 100 1:20.585 85 81.191 Mike Wiegel Helicopter Skiing, Total-R Insulation Solutions
28 88 GT 15 Johnson / Lacey Farnbacher Loles Racing / Porsche GT3 100 1:21.511 62 81.134
29 70 GT 16 Ham / Tremblay SpeedSource / Mazda RX-8 96 1:20.106 27 77.886 Castrol Syntec, Mazda
30 26 GT 17 Jacalone / Jacalone Gotham Competition / Porsche GT3 95 1:25.405 43 76.968 Jerome Jacalone Fine Art
31 63 GT 18 Lowe / Pace JLowe Racing / Porsche GT3 94 1:20.629 61 81.247 Porsche of the Main Line, SRS
32 77 DP 14 Gidley / Jaeger Doran Racing / Ford Dallara 91 1:14.003 25 73.865 Kodak
33 40 GT 19 Dempsey / Foster / Maxwell Hyper Sport / Mazda RX-8 89 1:22.142 25 71.973
34 72 GT 20 Borcheller / Lewis Jr Autohaus Motorsports / Pontiac GXP.R 85 1:19.786 62 78.675 Autohaus Motorsports
35 42 GT 21 Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Corvette 84 1:22.916 26 74.823 Theracesite.com
36 3 DP 15 Lester Southard Motorsports / Lexus Riley 76 1:14.260 65 86.946
37 91 DP 16 Goossens / Matthews Bob Stallings/ Riley-Matthews / Pontiac Riley 46 1:14.695 22 64.571 Riley-Matthews Motorsports
38 43 GT 22 Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker Team Sahlen / Corvette 38 1:22.247 16 69.897 Theracesite.com
39 55 GT 23 Tucker / Zabinski Level 5 Motorsports / Ferrari 430 Challenge 30 1:24.938 10 66.019 Priority
40 06 GT 24 Bunting / Reese Banner Racing / Pontiac GXP.R 16 1:21.587 11 43.566 Banner Engineering
41 35 GT 25 Aquilante / Heinricy Phoenix Performance Inc. / Corvette 1 5:25.663 1 22.953 Phoenix Performance, Rockland Std Gear
42* 16 DP 0 Fittipaldi / Garcia Cheever Racing / Pontiac Coyote 0 0 0.000 Crown Royal Cask No. 16

* - Withdrew