FTN/Doran
Racing DORAN JE4 Ford
Is Involved in Accident
Friday Night at Watkins Glen
WATKINS GLEN, N.Y., Aug. 11 - Terry Borcheller
had nowhere to go when a
competitor he was attempting to pass got
loose on lap 31 of the Crown Royal 200
Daytona Prototype Rolex Series race Friday
night at Watkins Glen International.
The pair made contact and although both drivers
escaped injury, both of their
cars were done for the day.
Borcheller, of Vero Beach, Fla., and his
co-driver, Harrison Brix of San
Jose, Calif., ended up 23rd in the final
rundown with their Feeds the Need/Doran
Racing DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77 that carries
the colors of the Kodak EasyShare
System, Amp'd Mobile and SIRIUS.
Brix started tenth and the car was eighth
by lap nine of the two-hour race on
the Glen's 2.45-mile, 11-turn short course. He
was still eighth when he
pitted on lap 15 under a yellow for the Dyson
No. 16, and Borcheller got in at
that point. With the mandatory driver change
and pit stop already accomplished
and the excellent fuel mileage of the team's
Ford powerplant aided further by a
race that was experiencing several full-course
cautions, hopes were high for a
great finish.
After the crew's excellent pit stop Borcheller
was in 18th place and still on
the lead lap for the restart on lap 19. He
passed Tracy Krohn on the restart
for 17th and got 16th when Tommy Erdos pitted
on lap 21. He passed both Guy
Cosmo and Joao Barbosa on lap 22 to move
into 14th, with Patrick Huisman up
ahead in 13th in the Synergy Racing DORAN
JE4 Porsche.
Borcheller ran his fastest lap of the race,
a 1:09.819 for an average speed
of 126.327 miles per hour, on lap 27, and
he was doing his best to pass
Huisman. On lap 31 Huisman got loose in Turn
Eight, space ran out, they made contact,
and both drivers were forced to retire 49
minutes into the event due to the
damage their cars incurred.
"His car just pitched sideways," Borcheller
said afterwards. "I was really
close to him because I had been trying to
pass him. I had been struggling to get
by him because he was blocking a lot and
his Porsche was faster than my car
on the straights. The air from his
car was giving me an aero push behind him.
I was trying different things and I was doing
everything I could to get by
him, but when he pitched sideways there was
no way I could miss him because I
was just too close.
"I never anticipated his car reacting the
way it did; he went completely
sideways," he continued. "I checked up to
avoid hitting him, but there was no
possible way that I wasn't going to hit him
because I was too close.
"I'm totally fine physically but I feel really
bad for the team," he added.
"I think we had a top-five car and maybe
even a podium, and that was pretty
exciting for the whole team. I've thought
a lot about it since it happened but I
really don't know what I could have done
differently. When you're behind the
wheel it's your fault no matter what, but
that's hard to swallow in this case.
It's just very frustrating for all of us."
Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz went on to win
the 82-lap race, which was
broadcast later Friday night on SPEED.
The next race will be at Infineon Raceway
in Sonoma, Calif. on Saturday, Aug.
26 before an IndyCar race the following day.
The season finale is a nine-hour
race at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele,
Utah on Saturday, Sept. 2.
For more information see doranracing.com,
grandamerican.com, tborcheller.com
and harrisonbrix.com.
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