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Doran Racing
Doran-Lista Pit Crew Members to Participate
In Lance Armstrong Foundation's Charity Bike Ride
Jerry
Woods and Martin Raffauf
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ALTON,
Va., Oct. 1 - With three races on the schedule, October
is a busy
month for everyone associated with the Grand American
Rolex series, including the
pit crew members.
This
weekend the series is at Virginia International Raceway
(VIR) in Alton,
Va.
Oct.
10-11 the circuit travels to Birmingham International
Raceway in
Birmingham, Ala.
Halloween
weekend will be spent at California Speedway in Fontana.
Since
most pit crew members have full-time jobs in addition
to their weekend
duties at the race track, many of them plan to spend the
weekend of Oct. 16-17
getting caught up with their families and friends or simply
running errands,
doing odd jobs around the house, etc.
Martin
Raffauf and Jerry Woods, two members of the Doran-Lista
Racing team,
which has fielded the fastest car in every Rolex series
race held at VIR, have
other plans.
They've
been training for months now to do something else that
weekend - the
100-mile "Ride for the Roses" bicycle marathon
in Austin, Texas on Sunday,
Oct. 17 to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation for
cancer treatment and
research.
Both
men live in California; Raffauf in San Carlos and Woods
in Campbell.
Raffauf is a technical consultant for IBM, while Woods
owns a Porsche repair,
restoration and engine-building business. When Didier
Theys or one of his
co-drivers makes a pit stop in the Doran-Lista DORAN JE4
Lexus #27 on race weekends,
however, Raffauf and Woods are among the Doran-Lista crewmembers
who
man-handle the approximately 37-lb. Goodyear slicks and
send the car back on its way.
That's
all good training for the bike ride, and vice versa.
"Several
of us from here are going on the bike ride, as well as
Tom Seabolt,
Grand American's director of operations," Raffauf
said. "[Rolex series
driver] Max Papis and Don Hayward, Grand American's chief
engineer for the Daytona
Prototype class, may also go with us."
Ride
for the Roses is one of the most important events in American
cycling.
Last year the event raised more than $4.5 million for
the Lance Armstrong Fo
undation's cancer survivorship programs and grants. Each
participant must raise
at least $100, and both Raffauf and Woods will accept
donations on behalf of
the charity. Another way to support the effort is to purchase
yellow "Live
Strong" wristbands, which can be ordered at the foundation's
store on the
Internet at www.laf.org.
The
Ride for the Roses begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 17
and goes until 5
p.m. Distances range from 6 to 100 miles, with volunteers,
cycling celebrities
and cancer survivors all joining Armstrong as he leads
them on a ride through
the Austin countryside. The ride begins at the Travis
County Expo and
Heritage Center, and thousands are expected.
Raffauf
and Woods have been training to do all 100 miles. Long-distance
bicycle events aren't anything new to this pair.
Last
summer Woods did the "Death Ride," one of the
West's premier endurance
cycling events. Beginning and ending at Turtle Rock Park
north of Markleeville,
Calif., that ride consists of 129 miles over five or six
mountain passes
reaching an elevation of 16,000 feet.
For
more information on the Ride for the Roses, see www.laf.org.
For more
information on Doran-Lista Racing, see www.lista.com,
www.listaintl.com and
www.doranracing.com.
Sunday's
race at VIR is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern time.
It will be
broadcast live on SPEED.
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