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Laguna Seca: Riley-Matthews Motorsports race report

Riley-Matthews Continues Podium Streak With 2nd Place Finish Monterey, CA (19 May 2008)-- Riley-Matthews Motorsports continued to show championship form at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Rumbum.com 250 as Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens made ...

Riley-Matthews Continues Podium Streak With 2nd Place Finish

Monterey, CA (19 May 2008)-- Riley-Matthews Motorsports continued to show championship form at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for the Rumbum.com 250 as Jim Matthews and Marc Goossens made their third consecutive Rolex Sports Car Series podium appearance with a run to second place on Saturday. The championship-leading No. 01 entry finished in third, allowing Matthews and Goossens to trim the points gap to just 19 points with nine rounds remaining in the 2008 season.

After taking a maiden victory in the 2007 season finale, the No. 91 Pontiac- powered Riley opened the 2008 season with eighth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona, and picked up the pace with a run to 4th at Homestead, a race win in Mexico City, 3rd at VIR, and then returned to the podium once again with the runner-up result at Laguna Seca.

Jim Matthews started the race from 14th and moved up in the early stages before he turned the controls over to Goossens.

"I called my driver coach Barry Waddell last week and asked him what he thought we should do to get an advantage, and he said I was crazy-that we shouldn't do anything different from what we have been, and he was right!" said Matthews. "I wasn't able to get any free space on the track during qualifying so we started further back than I wanted, but we got off to a real strong start today. It's always great to be on the podium. You always want to win, so it's a little bit of a disappointment when you finish second. My biggest moment came early in the race, when a hole opened up going into Turn 1 and I picked up a few positions. We more or less maintained position and Marc (Goossens) did an awesome job when he took over."

Goossens fought to the front and staged another battle for the lead as he also mixed it up with the championship-leading Ganassi machine before crossing the line 1.5 seconds behind the race winning SAMAX entry.

"That's what we're here for, the close racing, and it worked out pretty well," said Goossens. "We were both running real hard, trying to get the win, and that's what this series is all about. We just have to try and be on the podium every single race."

SAMAX Motorsport won the Rumbum.com 250 with drivers Henri Zogaib and Ryan Dalziel, marking the 15th consecutive win in Daytona Prototype competition for the Riley chassis (Mk XI and XX).

"The Dinan-Riley was fantastic. New guys come and go, but the Riley always ends up on top," said Dalziel in the post-race press conference.

-credit: rmm

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