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August 15 2008
The lap-8 restart allowed Saini to jump into podium contention and set the scene for a Mazda/Acura showdown for second in the final laps with the No. 43 of Kleinubing. Coming into Turn Eight, Kleinubing slid wide on the exit, opening the door for Saini. “I managed to pull alongside him going into The Carousel and I tried to hold the outside all the way around. We came out neck-and-neck, full-throttle heading towards The Kink and I’m thinking it’ll be glory or disaster at this point; I can’t back out now! I thought he had backed out a little bit and I’d have the run, but we went through side-by-side. “When I looked over and I saw him next to me still, I couldn’t believe it. He had the preferred line going into Canada Corner, so he came out ahead in the end, but I’ve got a ton of respect for him [Kleinubing]. He gave me room and I gave him room; we both left exactly a car width to get through The Kink and I think we ran the same lap times as any of our other race laps. It was great, clean racing. I can’t wait to see that on TV! “I can’t say enough about Tri-Point and the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder. Just to be here for this race because of them feels great; I had an awesome car. There was a lot of drafting going on, and a lot of strategy, but we just weren’t in the right place at the right time with the legs for the BMW.” Charles Espenlaub, piloting the No. 73 MAZDASPEED/StopTech/Racing Hart MAZDA6 had a long race ahead of him after a handling issue in qualifying put him in the 13th starting position. Unfortunately, he wasn’t the only top-tier driver starting from mid-pack. He would have to contend with the current Touring Car points leader Kuno Wittmer and teammate Eric Curran starting directly in front of him if he were to crack the top-10. “It was just one of those weekends,” said Espenlaub, “Kuno and I had some good, close racing for much of the race, swapping positions a few times. The competition in SPEED World Challenge is tough because almost the entire field is capable of racing hard, regardless of track position, so we weren’t able to really move up through the field. The crew guys worked hard this week and I’m looking forward to Mosport, where we can hopefully put a Mazda back on top of the podium.” Jim Daniels had a wild roller-coaster-ride of a race, running in third for much of the first half, before contact on the restart and a late-race spin would shuffle his MAZDA6 Touring Car back to 14th at the checkered flag. “The Tri-Point car was solid. I could go anywhere on the track I wanted to go; It would just rotate on the brakes like mad. I was following Jason, and Peter [Cunningham]was all over me, so on the front straightaway Peter popped out of line and I moved to defend, and that pushed me by Jason into third. Once I got by Jason I could gap them a little bit, but Jason was just awesome through The Kink, so he could close the gap partially each lap. “Right about that time we had a caution and a restart and I’m sitting behind Chip [Herr] heading into Turn One. He missed the 5th to 6th shift and I popped out to the left which put me right behind Pierre [Kleinubing] All of a sudden the Acura started coming back to me with no brake lights. I got on the brakes as hard as I could - it caught me out for sure. I hit him from behind and thankfully we were both able to gather it up without going off. I was upset because I’d hit the leader and polesitter, and we’d lost a bunch of positions and had to scramble to get back in line.” The shuffle moved Daniels back to seventh, but on the next lap he made contact with the No. 57 of Lindsey, effectively putting him out of contention. “We got through Canada Corner really close and he pulled alongside on the right and turned into my right rear going into Turn 13, which spun me off. Luckily I was able to keep two wheels out of the gravel just barely, and drive off without getting stuck. It was a great car, but it wasn’t our day.” Sunday’s race at Road America had little effect on the SCCA SPEED Touring Car Chamionship points, with Jason Saini remaining in 5th, Espenlaub in 7th, and Daniels in 12th. Mazda remains second in Manufacturer’s Championship points. The team is optimistic heading into Round Nine at Mosport, where the MAZDA6 has historically shined on the swooping curves and hills of the 2.5-mile circuit. Info Sunday’s SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car race from Road America airs Thursday, August 20th at 1:00pm Eastern on SPEED. The series now heads to the Grand Prix of Mosport in Bowmanville, ON for Round Nine of the SCCA SPEED Touring Car series, September 1-3, 2008. Sponsors The Tri-Point team is proudly supported by the following sponsors whose involvement is critical to the team’s 2008 efforts and continued success.
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