Backstretch Motorsports

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 18, 2008) - The EMCO Gears Classic at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will mark the halfway point for the 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 Daytona Prototype competition. Brumos Racing has shown steady improvement in each race the first half of the season, with both cars top-10 finishers the last two races.

Totaling four top-10 finishes this season, the No. 59 Brumos entry is currently within five points of Grand-Am’s top five in Team Point Standings, while the No. 58 car is just three points away from the top 10, following their recent season-best second-place finish.

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BOWMANVILLE, Ontario, Canada (June 13, 2008) - There was nothing unlucky about Joe Foster’s qualifying attempt on Friday the 13th in Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Grand Sport competition at Mosport International Raceway, as the defending race co-winner took the top starting spot for Saturday’s third round.

Foster set a time of 1:30.853 (97.437 mph) on the fourth of his eight laps in the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT, besting fellow Mustang driver Jack Roush Jr. in the No. 59 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT. Foster will start the No. 55 on Saturday, while fan favorite and fellow race co-winner Scott Maxwell will finish.

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BOWMANVILLE, Ontario – After a brief two-week break, Automatic Racing’s Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal hope to repeat their victorious result from Lime Rock at this weekend’s 200-mile KONI Challenge race at Mosport International Raceway.

Lime Rock marked the first time that Automatic Racing has scored a win, and they aren’t ready to give up the taste of victory. The team had a promising run last year at Mosport: Segal and Thornton drove to a finish of second in the No. 09 BMW M3 despite fighting setup issues all weekend. And the No. 99 M3 qualified on the front row and held down second for the first half of the race.

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Maxwell Looks to Defend Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Grand Sport Race Saturday at Mosport

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Scott Maxwell gave his hometown crowd at Mosport International Raceway something to cheer about in 2007 when he and co-driver Joe Foster took the No. 55 Hyper Sport Ford Mustang GT to the team’s only Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Grand Sport victory of the season.

And the Toronto native Maxwell is looking to make it two straight for him and Foster and three consecutive for Mustangs in Saturday’s two-and-a-half hour race, which begins at 1 p.m., at the 2.459-mile, 10-turn track in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, the third round on the 2008 KONI Challenge schedule. The pair currently has 35 points - 28 points behind leaders Craig Stanton, Jep Thornton and Jeff Segal - after competing at Daytona International Speedway and Lime Rock Park.

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WATKINS GLEN, NY (June 7, 2008) – Scott Pruett took the lead with 45 minutes remaining and was never headed as he and Memo Rojas drove the #01 Telmex Lexus to 3.033-second victory in today’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen Rolex Sports Car Series race at Watkins Glen International.

The win is the fourth in six races for the Ganassi/Lexus team and gives both the drivers and the team a 36-point championship lead heading into the midway point of the season at Mid-Ohio. In addition, Lexus continued its domination of endurance racing with its fifth win in the last eight Grand-Am endurance events and now holds a 15-point lead in the manufacturer’s championship.

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By J.J. O’Malley

Max Angelelli and Jeff Segal became first-time 2008 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 pole winners Friday at Watkins Glen International, and will start Saturday’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at the front of the respective Daytona Prototype and GT class grids.

The race will take the green flag at 11:11 a.m. Saturday, with SPEED televising the event live from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. and 2:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - The Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team debuted its much anticipated new Crawford bodywork during this morning’s Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series practice session at Watkins Glen International.

Bill Auberlen was the first driver to put the newly modified No. 23 Porsche Crawford to the test. And, in the first 15 minutes of the practice session, it was clear that everyone was very pleased with the new Crawford bodywork.

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WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 3, 2008) - In 52 years of existence, Watkins Glen International has become a celebrated track and, in its 27th year, The Six Hours of The Glen has become one of the leading endurance racing events in the world. With its classic, full-course layout and endurance format, history has shown that “The Six Hour” benefits teams with professional preparation, driver skill and a keen understanding of strategy. Teams like Southard Motorsports.

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Lakeville, CT. — Kelly Collins and Paul Edwards capped off a Pontiac-strong Grand-Am GT Classic weekend at Lime Rock Park , delivering the win for the No. 07 Banner Racing GXP.R team. Runner-up honors went to the SpeedSource Mazda RX-8 team of Nick Ham / Sylvian Tremblay.
Completing the podium was the Wilmington, NC based Stevenson Motorsports/ Bryan Mark Financial sponsored Pontiac team of Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis
The 1.53-mile, seven turn, road course nestled in the Berkshire Mountain region of Connecticut saw the entire 164 Lap event run caution free and the winner’s average speed was 99.193 MPH

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News and Notes

- This is the first career KONI Challenge Series victory in any class for Jeff Segal and Jep Thornton of Automatic Racing.

- This is the first career KONI Challenge Series victory in any class for Automatic Racing, the 2007 Grand Sport champion. Automatic Racing had previously finished a team best second on several occasions.

- This is the first BMW victory of the season and fourth in the past five races, dating back to last season. Only Porsche - with Craig Stanton and Tim Traver - has won during that streak (Daytona, 2008).

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