Backstretch Motorsports

WATKINS GLEN, NY – Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas combined to lead 142 of 188 laps on the way to giving Lexus its first victory of the season in today’s Rolex Sports Car Series’ Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International.

Starting from the pole position, Pruett took the lead with the green flag and led the first 21 circuits. The #01 Telmex Lexus fell back in the field after a problem refueling on the first pit stop, but Rojas regained the top spot on Lap 62 and led the next 30 laps before handing the car back off to Pruett.

At that point, the winningest-driver in Rolex Series history went on to lead 91 of the final 96 laps to earn a second consecutive Sahlen’s Six Hours win – and the third for the team and Lexus since 2004. The dominating performance included winning the pole position on Friday and then registering the fastest lap of the race and the victory on Saturday.
With today’s triumph, Pruett and Rojas move into a tie for the Rolex Sports Car Series points lead. The win also extends Lexus’ dominant streak in endurance racing with its sixth victory in the last 11 Grand-Am endurance races of six hours or greater.

Max Angelelli and Brian Frisselle finished second in the No. 10 SunTrust Ford Dallara, moving into a tie for the title with the Ganassi duo; all four drivers have 140 points. Timo Bernard and Romain Dumas finished third in the No. 12 Verizon Wireless Porsche Riley, tying Gurney and Fogarty for third in the standings - six points behind the leaders with 134.

The Rolex Sports Car Series returns Saturday, June 20 for the EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The rare twi-night event will be televised live on SPEED beginning at 5 p.m. EDT.

Werner, Keen Win GT Class and Take Points Lead; Bernhard, Dumas Enjoy Podium Finish at Watkins Glen

Dirk Werner (Germany) and Leh Keen (Charleston, SC) captured their second GT class victory of the season and took over the points lead while Porsche works drivers Timo Bernhard (Germany) and Romain Dumas (France) grabbed a podium finish in Daytona Prototype competition during the Sahlen’s Six Hours at the Glen Saturday at legendary Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Werner drove the final segment in the #87 Farnbacher Loles Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry and took the checkered flag in the fifth Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 event of the season. Keen had broken the track record in qualifying, but the duo did not have an easy time winning their second race of the year. It was Porsche’s 59th GT victory and 247th podium finish in Grand-Am history.

Paul Edwards and Kelly Collins finished second in the No. 07 Pontiac/LRPG Pontiac GXP.R, while Wolf Henzler and Eric Lux took third in the No. 86 Farnbacher Loles Porsche GT3.

Porsche works driver Wolf Henzler (Germany) made a late pass to grab third place, giving Farnbacher Loles a one-two-three GT finish. Henzler drove the #86 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car with Eric Lux (Jacksonville, FL). “We didn’t drive away from the other competitors,” Werner said. “It was a hard battle the whole six hours. We had one lucky situation when we stayed out under a yellow and then got another yellow a little later that gave us a chance to pit when we wanted. We could do consistent lap times. It is always fun to race these guys, that’s how racing should be. You know you can’t make any mistakes, and that’s fun.”

“Right out of the box the car was excellent,” Keen said. “We had so much momentum from the past two races, and after Dirk won the pole we would only be going backwards if we didn’t win today. We have great momentum for the championship, and are looking forward to next two races. The next race is at Mid-Ohio and we won there last year, so we are feeling good.”
The GT competition was so fierce that there 19 lead changes among seven cars, but the #87 Farnbacher Loles Porsche 911 GT3 Cup led 103 total laps, three times as many as any other entry. Werner led four different times for 73 totals laps and Keen led twice for 30 laps. Werner and Keen trailed Spencer Pumpelly (Mason Neck, VA) by one point in the driver’s standings, but Pumpelly finished only fifth in the #66 TRG Porsche 911 GT3 Cup entry with teammates John Potter (Salt Lake City, UT) and Craig Stanton (Long Beach, CA). Now, Keen and Werner lead with 151 points with Pumpelly second with 143.

Robin Liddell led 31 laps in the No. 57 BryanMark Financial/Stevenson Automotive Pontiac GXP.R co-driven by Andrew Davis, and was running in the top five when he spun into a gravel trap in the closing laps - causing the race to end under caution.

Sylvain Tremblay and Nick Ham both led in the No. 70 SpeedSource Castrol Syntec Mazda RX-8, but a pit road speeding penalty dropped the team out of contention. They finished fourth. Defending Sahlen’s Six Hour winners Emil Assentato, Jeff Segal and Nick Longhi finished sixth in the No. 69 SpeedSource FXDD Mazda RX-8.

After over 8 grueling hours, R. Gordon beats B.J. Baldwin For 4-wheel Overall victory at 41st Tecate SCORE Baja 500

Norman rides Honda CRF450X to fourth Overall Motorcycle desert racing victory over 267 starters in Ensenada, Mexico

(NOTE: SCORE has stated that results will become final and official after the extensive IRC tracking data has been completely reviewed. Any infractions will modify the results and final results will be posted on the SCORE website by Thursday, June 11.)

ENSENADA, Mexico—NASCAR Cup team owner/driver Robby Gordon began his double duty race weekend with a sterling overall victory Saturday over defending race champion B.J. Baldwin in the

41st Annual Tecate SCORE Baja 500 desert race in Ensenada, Mexico. Working his way up the field after starting sixth in the elapsed-time race, Gordon covered the rugged 432.51-mile desert course in a time of eight hours, 35 minutes and 49 seconds, averaging 50.31 miles per hour in the No. 77 Team Gordon Chevy CK1500.

Battling closely the entire race with Las Vegas’ Baldwin and several other challengers, Gordon finally pulled away in the closing miles to post a narrow victory margin of four minutes, 45 seconds over Baldwin and his No. 1 Baldwin Motorsports Chevy Silverado. With no time to celebrate his ninth career race win in the marquee SCORE Trophy-Truck division for high-tech, 800-horsepower, unlimited production trucks, Gordon immediately flew back to the U.S. for Sunday’s NASCAR race at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pa.

Round 3 of the five-race 2009 SCORE Desert Series, the second-oldest desert race in the world and part of the World’s Foremost Desert Racing Series, featured 267 starters competing in 28 Pro and 6 Sportsman classes for cars, trucks, motorcycles and ATVs. It will be held Thursday through Sunday in Ensenada, Mexico. Traditionally one of the most popular events on the SCORE schedule, over 100,000 spectators enjoyed the world’s best desert racers in action at the 41st anniversary of the Tecate SCORE Baja 500.

Entries came from 25 U.S. States from Hawaii to Vermont along with the additional countries of Mexico, Austria, Canada, Denmark, England, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Japan and Portugal, Romania and South Africa.

With racing continuing in the elapsed-time race that had a 20-hour time limit until 7:12 a.m. Pacific Time Sunday, both the start and the finish line were located in the heart of Ensenada, Mexico on Boulevard Costero adjacent to the historic Riviera del Pacifico Cultural Center. It was the second time in race history that the pre-race activities and the finish were all held on this historic boulevard. Mexican tourism officials estimated the race-day crowd spread out along the course at more than 100,000.

The total number of starters (267) was the 19th most in the 41-year history of the popular race. The starting list included 136 cars and trucks and 131 motorcycles and ATVs. There were an amazing total of 195 finishers, equaling 2008 as the third most finishers in the event’s 41-year history, for a race-record 73.0 percent finishing rate.

With two victories and a second in three races in 2009 SCORE Desert Series, the impressive victory was Gordon’s fifth class win, fourth overall victory and first win in this race since 2005.

“It was a very good run for us. We had a great race with B.J. (Baldwin) – some of the better racing we’ve ever had,” said Gordon, a second-generation desert racer. “We didn’t have radio communication with our team for the last 250 miles so it was really hard. We gave up a bunch of time, probably, not being able to use the true navigation. Still, we just paced it and kept it smooth. I had a couple of strategies in place. If I was close to him and I had enough gap, I was going to stop at (Race Mile) 80 and they were going to stop at 100. That gave me track position on everybody but Rob (MacCachren) and then Rob stopped at like 130 and that gave me track position on him. But, honestly, I just cruised most of the day. Once I was the first truck on the road, I knew they had to pass me to beat me and that would be hard to do.”

Earning his fourth consecutive overall motorcycle victory was Kendall Norman, Santa Barbara, Calif., who led his team on the No. 4x Johnny Campbell Racing Honda CRF450X. The defending SCORE Desert Series Class 22 point champion used his experience and the riding assistance of teammates Timmy Weigand, Santa Clarita, Calif./Quinn Cody, Los Olivos, Calif. to overcome JCR teammates Colton Udall/Jeff Kargola, both of San Clemente, Calif., completing the course in 8:30:03, averaging 50.88mph. It was the first overall win in this race for both Weigand and Cody.

Norman and his team had to overcome a crash and other mechanical issues to come from behind against their young teammates, finishing with a victory margin of just one minute, five seconds over the JCR Honda CRF450x of Udall/Kargola.