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SCC: Fontana: SpeedSource race notes

SpeedSource and RX-8 Unstoppable at California Speedway Fontana, CA - Mazda RX-8's were undeniably spectacular this weekend at California Speedway's California 200 race. Four top-ten spots were filled by RX-8's, three of which were cars from ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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SpeedSource and RX-8 Unstoppable at California Speedway

Fontana, CA - Mazda RX-8's were undeniably spectacular this weekend at California Speedway's California 200 race. Four top-ten spots were filled by RX-8's, three of which were cars from SpeedSource Race Engineering. Two races into the 2005 season SpeedSource took their first win in the Sport Touring (ST) class.

After a slightly disappointing qualifying, David Haskell and Sylvain Tremblay finished first in the ST class with their SpeedSource No. 70 Mazda RX-8. Although this means SpeedSource is in the top three for driver, team, and manufacturer's standings team owner, Tremblay, sees no need to focus on that quite yet.

"We can't think about it (the championship), it is way too early to even talk about, we have to take it one race at a time. We missed the pole (this race) which was disappointing, because we worked so hard to get it and David is driving so well. During the race Dave kept his head down and drove his race. Other cars in the class had problems and we just kept our pace and ran our race . Our pit stop was the key, Sande Collins did a super fast drivers change and crew chief Matt Martin and the rest of the crew gained almost an entire lap on that stop and were able to beat the pace car out during a crucial yellow," Tremblay said of the weekend.

Tremblay also credited excellent notes from the 2004 season finale which helped SpeedSource to continue improving their setup throughout the weekend. The notes from their second place finish at last season's race elevated the team to first place on Saturday.

"It was a great win for us in front of the Fontana crowd and the Southern California rotary club," said Sylvain Tremblay of his win.

Steve Sanders with MAZDASPEED USA complimented SpeedSource on a job well done, "SpeedSource is proving that this year they can bring home the manufacturers championship. There is definitely some competition with the Cobalt but SpeedSource has developed the cars to be competitive at any track. The RX-8 has proven it's performance abilities on the street. It has the best handling and brakes in its class. There isn't as much power but the handling and brakes make up for it. The chassis is great and Tremblay and Haskell are great at strategy. Having them involved in the program is great. They are able to work the cautions to their advantage as they demonstrated this weekend, MAZDASPEED is very excited about such a successful weekend."

Other SpeedSource top-ten finishers were Scott Schlesinger, Ken Dobson, Billy Johnson, and James Hinchcliffe. Schlesinger's and Dobson's No. 68 Mazda RX-8 came in at 6th place. Johnson and Hinchcliffe came in at 9th place in the SpeedSource No. 65 car.

"Scott, Ken, Billy and James had a very strong run. Top tens are what it is all about and running 4 cars is a huge amount of work, but as always everyone on the crew did an excellent job," states Tremblay.

John Bisignano and Rich Walker finished out the race in 16th place for SpeedSource in their first race together for the season. This is Bisignano's first race with SpeedSource.

Tremblay was also proud of the speed the Southpaw racing showed this past weekend, as their SpeedSource built Mazda RX-8 was fast and consistent the entire event.

Coverage featuring SpeedSource's run during the California 200 will be aired on SPEEDTV Saturday, April 16th at 12:00 PM and 2:00 AM. It will also air Monday, April 18th at 1:00 PM. (All times EST.) SpeedSource will travel to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for their next race April 29th-May 1st.

SpeedSource is pleased to include MAZDA, Mother's Wax, Mechanix Wear, Dynamic, Racing Hart, MoTeC, Hawk, Sparco, and Goodridge as partners for their 2005 race effort.

-ss-

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