USA: Cleveland race one notes

Summerton wins his third Formula BMW USA race of the season

Cleveland, Ohio. - July 2, 2004-- Taking the lead on lap seven and turning some of the quickest laps of the weekend, Jonathan Summerton (HBR Motorsport) won Round 7 of the Formula BMW USA Championship. The victory was Summerton's third of the season. He completed 16 laps of the 2.106-mile Burke Lakefront Airport Circuit in the 30-minute race and finished 3.2 seconds in front of James Hinchcliffe. Matt Jaskol finished third.

Andreas Wirth finished fourth and was credited with the fastest race lap (1:16.830). He retained his lead in the Championship. Hinchcliffe stands second, Summerton third, Jaskol fourth and Johnson fifth.

Hinchcliffe still leads the Rookie Points after a fourth second-place finish. Summerton is second, Milner third, Rahal fourth and Sutherland fifth.

As pole sitter Milner led Summerton on the first lap the action behind them was intense. Both Matt Jaskol and Graham Rahal had very good starts. Jaskol jumped into third from his fifth starting spot and Rahal moved from 10th to fifth. Daniel Herrington spun and hit the wall coming onto the front straight and brought out the yellow flag. The single-file restart came four laps later. Summerton took the point on lap 7 while Jaskol and Hinchcliffe traded the third and fourth positions. On lap 13 Milner faded to fifth as Hinchcliffe, Jaskol and Wirth consolidated their hold on the second, third and fourth positions.

"We are at the halfway point of the season now," said Summerton. "I am only two points from second and 12 points from first. Of course race wins are important, but I have to keep my eye on the Championship. I want the opportunities that come with the title."

Hinchcliffe added, "A fourth second for the season is great, but I really want to get to the top step of the podium. I touched the wall on the first lap and I think something was damaged because the steering wheel was not straight. Still I was able to run within three-tenths of Jonathan."

Jaskol said, "Third wasn't good enough because I had a car that was capable of running up front. James and I had a great battle, but I think it allowed Jonathan to get away from us. "

<pre> Race 7 - Results 16 laps:

1.   Jonathan Summerton (R)     (HBR Motorsport)                23:55.858 (84.483 mph)
2.   James Hinchcliffe (R)      (AIM Autosport)                 23:59.142
3.   Matt Jaskol                (Team Autotecnica)              24:00.695
4.   Andreas Wirth              (HBR Motorsport)                24:02.463
5.   Tom Milner (R)             (Team PTG Motorsport)           24:03.746
6.   Brian Frisselle            (PoleVision Racing)             24:04.021
7.   Billy Johnson              (Team PTG Motorsport)           24:04.949
8.   Graham Rahal (R)           (Vitesse Farm Racing)           24:07.448
9.   Lawson Aschenbach          (Team PTG Motorsport)           24:09.758
10.  Tom Sutherland (R)         (Team PTG Motorsport)           24:36.315
11.  Daniel Herrington (R)      (Jensen Motorsport)             no time
12.  Alexis Fenton (R)          (Team Autotecnica)              no time
13.  Derek Burseth (R)          (PoleVision Racing)             no time

Championship points after 7 of 14 races:

1.  Andreas Wirth       HBR Motorsport          100
2.  James Hinchcliffe   AIM Autosport           90
3.  Jonathan Summerton  HBR Motorsport          88
4.  Matt Jaskol         Team Autotecnica        79
5.  Billy Johnson       Team PTG Motorsport     50
6.  Brian Frisselle     PoleVision Racing       31
7.  Tom Milner          Team PTG Motorsport     27
8.  Joey Hand           Team PTG Motorsport     22
9.  Dominik Jackson     Atlantic Racing Team    20
10. Kyle Herder         Atlantic Racing Team    16
11. Lawson Aschenbach   Team PTG Motorsport     11
12. Federico Montoya    Atlantic Racing Team    10
13. Gerardo Bonilla     Jensen Motorsport       8
14. Graham Rahal        Vitesse Farm Racing     7
15. Trevor Daley        Atlantic Racing Team    4
16. Tom Sutherland      Team PTG Motorsport     2
17. Alan Sciuto         Team PTG Motorsport     1
18. Daniel Herrington   Jensen Motorsport       1
19. Alexis Fenton       Team Autotecnica        0
20. Derek Burseth       PoleVision Racing       0
21. Mogan Spurgas       Jensen Motorsport       0

Rookies: 1. James Hinchcliffe 90 2. Jonathan Summerton 73 3. Tom Milner 63 4. Tom Sutherland 32 5. Graham Rahal 28 6. Trevor Daley 22 7. Federico Montoya 20 8. Alexis Fenton 20 9. Alan Sciuto 16 10. Derek Burseth 14 11. Daniel Herrington 8

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