Trois-Rivieres Sat. AM Practice/Notes

Saturday, August 2, 1997

Welcome to round three of the Player’s Challenge for the KOOL/TOYOTA Atlantic Championship - - the eighth race of the 12-race Atlantic championship sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing. A 30 minute practice session is scheduled today between 10:40 a.m. and 11:10 a.m.. Final qualifying will be held between 4:00 p.m. and 4:30 p.m Lynx Racing drivers ALEX BARRON and MEMO GIDLEY were victims of an automobile accident Friday evening while returning to their hotel from the race track. Neither driver suffered any apparent injuries but their rental car was severely damaged. The accident occurred at approximately 8:00 p.m. as the two Atlantic series points leaders were stopped at an intersection for a red light. The driver of another car struck the Lynx duo from behind on Blvd. Des Forges and pushed them completely through the intersection. The offending driver was later tested and found to have a blood alcohol level of 2.8. (Peter Frey)

PRACTICE

11:00 a.m. Session begins under partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the upper 70s.

11:30 a.m. Session ends with no major incidents reported.

#32 ALEX BARRON, of Vista, Calif., is fastest in the Lynx Racing-Victory Circle Red Line Oil Ralt RT-41 at 1:02.449 87.047 mph.

#4 ANTHONY LAZZARO, of Acworth, Ga., is second fastest in the Phillips Motorsports-Platinum Sound/BG Products Ralt RT-41 at 1:02.842 = 86.502 mph. #43 JOAO BARBOSA, of Valongo, Portugal, is third fastest in the RDS Motorsport-Toyota of Portugal/Sega/Caetano Buses Ralt RT-41 at 1:02.962 = 86.337 mph.

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#32 ALEX BARRON (Lynx Racing-Victory Circle Racing/Red Line Oil) "We made some fairly major changes to the cars last night. We mainly ‘softened’ them. Our testing at Blackhawk showed harder was faster, but that track had more grip than Trois-Rivieres and it isn’t as curvy as the circuit here. Making the cars ‘softer’ lets us get through the turns better and eased the transition into the corners." (Peter Frey)

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SATURDAY PRACTICE SESSION Player’s Challenge for the KOOL/Toyota Atlantic Championship Round Eight - Grand Prix Player's de Trois-Rivieres

Ps. Car# Driver Hometown Entrant/Car Time Speed

1       32      Alex Barron (R), Vista, Calif.          Lynx Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:02.449        87.047
2       4       Anthony Lazzaro, Acworth, Ga.           Phillips Mtsp.,
Ralt RT-41      1:02.842        86.502
3       43      Joao Barbosa (R), Valongo, Portugal     RDS Motorsports,
Ralt RT-41      1:02.962        86.337
4       33      Bertrand Godin (R), St Hyacinthe, Que.  Players Forsythe,
Ralt RT-40      1:02.982        86.310
5       19      Memo Gidley (R), San Rafael, Calif.     Lynx Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:03.118        86.124
6       35      David Pook, Long Beach, Calif.  B.D.J.S, Ralt RT-40       
1:03.252        85.941
7       85      Steve Knapp (R), Salem, Wis.            P1 Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:03.377        85.772
8       50      Kenny Wilden, Burlington, Ont.          P1 Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:03.443        85.683
9       29      Case Montgomery, Salinas, Calif.        Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:03.461        85.658
10      96      Jeret Schroeder, Vineland, N.J. P.P.I., Ralt RT-41        
1:03.553        85.534
11      66      Alexandre Tagliani, Lachenaie, Que.     Players Forsythe,
Ralt RT-40      1:03.590        85.485
12      95      Chris Smith, Redondo Beach, Calif.      P.P.I., Ralt RT-41 
1:04.102        84.802
13      7       Cam Binder, Calgary, Alta.              Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:04.135        84.758
14      14      Chuck West, Sonoma, Calif.              World Speed Mtsp.,
Ralt RT-411:04.144      84.746
15      15      Eric Lang, New York, N.Y.               D&L Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:04.260        84.593
16      3       Michael David, Corona, Calif.           PDR Enterprises.,
Ralt RT-41      1:04.419        84.385
17      10      Mark Tague (R), Laguna Hills, Calif.    World Speed Mtsp,
Ralt RT-41      1:04.839        83.838
18      44      Carol Soucy (R), Sept-Iles, Que.        Dominic Scalzo,
Ralt RT-41      1:05.918        82.466
19      23      Martin Roy, St. Jean Baptiste, Que.     La Volant Mtsp.,
Raven RVN93     1:05.922        82.461
20      11      Ted Sahley, Cleveland, Ohio             Sahley Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:06.406        81.860
21      26      David Cutler, Medina, Wash.             Binder Racing, Ralt
RT-41   1:06.810        81.365
22      18      Bob Siska, San Francisco, Calif.        RJS Motorsports,
Ralt RT-40      1:07.060        81.061
23      9       George Frazier (R), Prospect, Ky.       Arcadia Mtsp., Ralt
RT-41   1:07.873        80.090
24      71      Joaquin DeSoto (R)(C2), Miami, Fla.     Weld Mtsp., Reynard
93H     1:09.068        78.705
25      41      Bob Thomas (R), Clarkston, Mich.        Different Drummer
Racing  1:09.142        78.620
26      99      Jimmy Pugliese (C2), Oceanside, N.Y.    Pugliese, Swift
DB-4    1:09.370        78.362
27      39      Stephane Roy (R), Saint-Sauveur, Que.   Hammerhead, Ralt
RT-40   1:10.105        77.540
28      21      Kevin Cogan (R), Plattsburgh, N.Y.      Cogan Mtsp, Raven
RVN-93  1:10.382        77.235

@ Time Greater than 115% of avg. of top three in class ** Better than the Existing Track Record

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#19 MEMO GIDLEY (Lynx Racing) "Alex (Barron) and I went out with very different set-ups this morning, and obviously his worked much better. But that’s the purpose and value of a two-car team. It allows you to experiment like that. For final qualifying, I’ll have a set-up much more like Alex‘s with just a few differences to accommodate my driving style. I’d like to have had a better set-up for this morning’s session so at least I’d have a better idea of what to expect during final qualifying. (Peter Frey)

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#14 CHUCK WEST (World Speed Motorsports-Red Line Oil/Martini Sunglasses/Harvest Group) "Unfortunately, the changes we made last night didn’t seem to make any difference. We’re still having trouble getting the power down. I get eaten up alive coming out of the corners. We’re going to have to put our heads together and come up with a plan before qualifying." (Pam Morey)

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