Doran Racing Finishes 13th
Saturday Night at Mid-Ohio
LEXINGTON,
Ohio, June 24 - The Feeds the Need/Doran
Racing DORAN JE4 Ford No. 77 ended up 13th
in the EMCO Gears Classic presented by KeyBank
Saturday night at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car
Course after starting 21st.
Harrison
Brix of San Jose, Calif. drove the first
stint in the car, which
carries the colors of the Kodak EasyShare
System, Amp'd Mobile and SIRIUS. He
suffered a flat right-rear tire on lap 35
of the 99-lap race after room ran out
in turn one while he and another Daytona
Prototype driver, Charles Morgan, were
trying to pass a GT car. Although Brix said
the hit was a hard one, luckily
there was no suspension or bodywork damage
and after a fast pit stop by the
Doran Racing pit crew he was on his way
again, although the entry did lose two
laps due to the contact.
It
made up one of those laps later, and continued
to make its way steadily up
the standings. Everyone involved was very
pleased when lead driver Terry
Borcheller of Vero Beach, Fla. was able
to run faster than the leaders in the late
stages of the event and stay well ahead
of the other car on its lap, the
Krohn Racing No. 75 of Nic Jonsson. The
Rocketsports Racing No. 60 slipped back
at the end too to further advance the Kodak
car at the checkered.
Brix
pitted under the first yellow on lap 11
for fuel only and ran most of
the first part of his stint in 22nd, 21st
and 20th place. He was in 20th when
the incident and flat tire occurred, and
pitted on lap 37 for fresh tires and
fuel.
The
team made up one lap just past the one-hour,
10-minute mark of the
two-hour and 45-minute race, and by lap
43 Brix was up to 19th.
He
was 18th when he pitted on lap 49 under
yellow for four sticker Hoosier
tires, fuel and for Borcheller to take over,
and the car went the rest of the
way without another pit stop. Borcheller
started his stint in 19th place and he
ran in that spot until lap 76, when he advanced
to 18th. He had a good battle
with Burt Frisselle and Jonsson in the late
stages of the race, and after
several cars ahead of him crashed on lap
85 he vaulted to 16th. Subsequent pit
stops by other drivers ahead of him put
him into 14th spot with 15 minutes
left, and he advanced one more position
at the end.
The
race ended under yellow due to a violent
flip by Joey Hand, who was
driving the BMW that was leading the GT
class. Hand's car was hit from behind and
flipped multiple times, ending up on its
roof. Hand never lost consciousness
and he was transported to a local hospital
where he was undergoing X-rays at
press time.
The
race will be broadcast tomorrow at 3 p.m.
Eastern on SPEED.
The
Lowe's Fernandez Racing No. 12 of Mario
Haberfeld and Adrian Fernandez
won.
The
next Rolex Series race is coming right up
on Thursday night at Daytona
International Raceway in Daytona Beach,
Fla., sandwiched between NASCAR NEXTEL
Cup practice and an IROC race.
For
more information see doranracing.com, grandamerican.com,
midohio.com,
tborcheller.com and harrisonbrix.com.
Driver
quotes follow:
Terry
Borcheller: "We finished, and we had
no body damage.
"The
setting sun was a big problem.
"My
stint was relatively uneventful. A lot of
stuff happened around me, but
nothing really happened to me. We just ran
hard and tried not to hinder the
guys that were fighting for position ahead
of us. It was unfortunate that
Harrison got hit, but we just tried to make
up as much ground as we could."
Harrison
Brix: "It was a good step in the right
direction. Five out of the
last 10 laps, Terry was the fastest driver
on the race track. As soon as the
temperatures came down he got more front
grip.
"We
got fantastic fuel mileage; we're extremely
happy with our Ford motors.
"One
of the Morgans hit me but there was a GT
car involved too. I think it
was a blue BMW. The GT car didn't back out
when he should have and we ran
three-wide into turn one. The GT car didn't
give the DP cars enough room, which
caused us to make contact. We got a flat
tire, but luckily there was no
suspension or body damage."
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