Aschenbach and Lewis win Mosport ALMS GTC race!
Monday, August 30, 2010 > Mosport, Ontario, Canada (August 30, 2010) After a wicked weekend of wrecks that plagued fellow ALMS competitors, Mosport master Shane Lewis and supersub Lawson Aschenbach were taking the checkered flag in front of thousands of Canadian and US fans on late Sunday afternoon. The Mosport Grand Prix for the American Le Mans series was the penultimate round of the 2010 season, and the Velox Motorsport team showed its teeth by coming together for their first victory, despite some pit lane errors, a hot racetrack and the toughest traffic at any event this season.

Lewis started the #88 Porsche from 3rd position after running hard for the tightest field at any ALMS GTC race yet this year, with the field separated by only 0.9 of a second from position 1 to position 5. Shane immediately shot his car to second place with a great start, and then worked the traffic for over an hour to hound the first place car of Bryce Miller lap after lap. The track, with its fast corners and massive prototype closing speeds, left Shane with few passing opportunities, so he held fast on his bumper until the first caution period an hour into the race. A miscommunication from his pit wall had him unprepared for a driver change, but he switched quickly to hand the car over to Lawson Aschenbach, his co-driver for this weekend while team principal and driver Jerry Vento was unable to make it to Mosport because of a business commitment. A fast release from pit lane left the team with a penalty to serve when the crewmen could not get over the wall fast enough. Lawson quickly served the penalty when the track went green and got down to business. Lawson was starting to run down the first place car of Luke Hines, who took over for Miller also at the pit stop, at one to two seconds a lap. Lawson was closing rapidly when a huge wreck involving first place Hines put the race under yellow. All GTC cars dove to the pits to get the last needed few seconds of fuel to finish the race, when Velox Motorsports car came out in first place, with the other GTC cars in tow. The field circulated under yellow until the race director decided to red flag the race while the guardrail was being repaired on track. The long delay allowed Lewis and Aschenbach time to plot their strategy from first place for the last 30 minutes of the race, which ended up being unused as IMSA decided the damage to the track was not repairable in the time left for the race. Lawson hopped in the car for his victory lap as the team celebrated on the pit wall.

“This was a tough win! The track is so fast, dangerous really in some ways when you are dealing with 4 different classes that are all battling for the win,” stated Lewis. “The closing speeds here are really intense from the prototype cars. To win here you not only have to be fast, but you have to work the traffic to stay in the hunt. Lawson and I were fast and smart and we used that to keep ourselves up near the front, and in the end it paid off. We did have a miscommunication in the pits, which put us way farther back than we wanted to be. We had to serve a stop and go penalty plus 20 seconds and we still rallied back for the win! The competition this weekend was really tough, but man, I sure enjoyed the fight.“

Aschenbach and Thilenius finish 12th after lug nut issues
Saturday, August 14, 2010 > TROIS-RIVIÈRES, Quebec, Canada - Owen Trinkler said he felt like a Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières victory got away from him last season. On Saturday, however, he made sure what happened a year ago did not happen again.

Trinkler and Randy Smalley earned their second consecutive GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge Street Tuner (ST) victory on the 1.521-mile, 10-turn temporary street circuit, as Trinkler took the lead from Tom Long in Turn 8 and led the final 40 minutes - or 32 laps of the 91-lap event - in the No. 198 Cruise America/4 Winds RV Mini Cooper S. The pair also won the last race at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Trinkler took over from Smalley on Lap 3, during the first of three full course cautions. Falling back as other drivers chose to stay on the track, Trinkler weaved through the field after the restart and up to third during the first hour behind Quebec drivers Jocelyn Herbert and Donald Theetge.

Most teams pitted on Lap 56, during the final caution, when Charlie Putman stopped his No. 28 Lifelock MAZDASPEED3 on the track. Among those were Herbert, Theetge and Trinkler, whose RSR Motorsports team fueled the car and changed tires to put Trinkler back on the track third.

Ahead of him was a pair of Freedom Autosport cars, including Long and Andrew Carbonell, who led the field back to the green flag. Moments later, though, contact between Carbonell and the lapped car of VJ Mirzayan - also driving for RSR Motorsports in the No. 197 Cruise America/4 Winds RV Mini Cooper S - spun Carbonell around in Turn 6 and gave Long the lead.

A few laps later, Trinkler - who passed a group of lapped cars on the restart - challenged Long in the same portion of the track for the lead. Trinkler completed the pass in Turn 8, and pulled away, stretching the lead to more than four seconds. The final margin of victory was 4.766 seconds for Trinkler, who in 2009 led 39 laps from pole only to watch his seat break during a driver change.

"We've worked so hard over the past four years and I felt like this track owed us one," Trinkler said. "Tom (Long) was really quick and if I didn't have those tires it would have been a tougher fight."

The Mini Cooper S has now won two races in a professional setting after earning its first win with the RSR Motorsports team at New Jersey.

"I've always said, ‘To win in this series, at this track would be one of my top picks,'" Smalley said. "We were fortunate enough to also win the last race, so this is really awesome."

Long and Derek Whitis were second in the No. 25 Lifelock Mazda MX-5, while Carbonell, the defending race co-winner, recovered to finished third in the No. 26 Lifelock Mazda MX-5.

Herbert led the first 54 laps after starting from the pole, which he garnered during Friday's qualifications. The Becancour, Quebec, native dueled with fellow Quebec driver Theetge of Quebec City for several laps before both pitted during the third caution. Unfortunately for the pair, however, most teams fielding Honda Civics were forced to change brake pads, leaving drivers on pit road for a lengthy stop.

Herbert and Cyril Hamelin, of Trois-Rivières, were seventh in the No. 98 Trois-Rivières Honda/Auberge Godefroy Honda Civic Si, while Theetge and Benoit Theetge were 13th in the No. 76 HPD/Auto Michel Et Frank Honda Civic Si.

Seth Thomas and Bill Heumann in the No. 81 Performance Friction/Rays Engineering BMW 328i were fourth, opening their championship lead further to 19 points (263-244) over Lawson Aschenbach and David Thilenius in the No. 74 HPD/Skunk2 Honda Civic Si, who finished 12th after Compass360 Racing made the brake change. The two driving pairs are the only duos still in contention for the Street Tuner driving championship, which will be settled in the season finale, the Salt Lake City 200, on Sept. 11 at Miller Motorsports Park.

The Grand Sport (GS) class will also crown its winner, with four drivers in contention to win the title. Charles Espenlaub and Charlie Putman lead by 10 points (254-244) over Joey Hand and Michael Marsal. Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi won Friday's GS race at Trois-Rivières, driving the No. 13 RumBum.com BMW M3 for Rum Bum Racing.