Minnesota TRV Qualifying Notes

Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 00:24:51 -0400

TRV Earns Eighth Starting Spot for Sunday's USRRC Race

MINNEAPOLIS, June 27 - Storm clouds that circled the 1.6-mile street course here for several hours Saturday afternoon consolidated and plopped large drops of rain onto the course while Jeret Schroeder and his fellow competitors were qualifying for Sunday's United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) portion of the Sprint PCS Grand Prix of Minnesota. The rain cut the session short, but not before the Vineland, N.J.-based star qualified eighth overall and fifth in the Can-Am class at 70.102 mph in the Supreme Exhaust System Products/Purity Farms/Summit Packaging Chevy Kudzu No. 95.

Schroeder and his teammate and car owner, Tom Volk of Blissfield, Mich., had never raced on this circuit before today. The Toledo, Ohio-based TRV Motorsport team was hoping to get as many laps in as possible before Sunday's one hour and 45-minute enduro, but the rain and a Porsche which caught on fire in a practice session earlier Saturday for a lengthy red-flag period kept their lap count down.

Schroeder went faster in the second practice session 20 minutes prior to qualifying and the storm, despite temperatures in the eighties. His best lap in that session was 71.258 mph. That was eighth overall too, but it was third in the Can-Am class instead of fifth.

"It's going to be a test of endurance," summarized Volk. "We have to try not to get into trouble tomorrow and see if we can finish."

Earlier in the day Schroeder said the course, which is laid out on city streets near the Metrodome, was quite slippery. Later in the afternoon enough rubber had been laid down that he said the car's Goodyears were gripping much better.

"It's a really nice course," said Schroeder, who has many family members cheering him on here this weekend. His father is originally from Wells and his mother from Eagle Lake.

Tomorrow's race, which is set to start at 3 p.m. Central time, is scheduled to be broadcast live on Speedvision.