SCC: Laguna Seca: Synergy Racing qualifying report

Lucky Seven for Synergy Racing in Qualifying at Laguna Seca

MONTEREY, Calif. (April 30, 2005) -- Seven was Synergy Racing's lucky number on Saturday during qualifying for this weekend's U.S. Sports Car Invitational at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

The Rx.com No. 8 BMW Doran will start Sunday's Road & Track 250 in the seventh position after Burt Frisselle (Aventura, Fla.) turned a 1:25.504 lap averaging 94.227 mph. David Murry (Atlanta, Ga.) also turned the seventh fastest time during GT qualifying for Sunday's Rolex Series event, putting together a 1:33.621 lap at 86.058 mph at the wheel of the No. 80 Porsche GT3 Cup despite less-than-ideal circumstances.

"We had a car go off on the first lap, so I backed off on that lap to save my tires assuming they would throw a black flag," explained Murry, who will pull double duty this weekend starting the No. 80 Porsche and finishing the race in the No. 81 car.

"But they didn't throw a black flag, instead they had a yellow in the corner with the tow truck out there trying to retrieve the car. Of course, nobody was slowing down during qualifying for a yellow, so eventually they did throw a black flag. With all of that going on, it really didn't give us much time to get in a good flying lap."

Despite the trouble during qualifying, Mae Van Wijk (Houston, Texas) was able to shave three seconds off her best lap time from Friday and turn a 1:37.958 lap averaging 80.441 mph in the No. 81 Porsche sponsored by autobysite.com and pipeservicestt.com.

"I thought qualifying went really well for me," noted Van Wijk, the youngest female driver in the Rolex Series at 22 years old. "I took it down a little more than three seconds from yesterday. I'm really happy with how it went."

"She did awesome," added Murry, Van Wijk's co-driver and coach in the No. 81 Porsche. "She went out and laid the lap down when she had to which is important in this sport, especially in an instance like today's qualifying. Having better car control is where that lap came from today."

Making it a trio of lucky sevens, Synergy's Grand-Am Cup entry, the No. 81 Porsche 997 of Brent Martini (Laguna Beach, Calif.) and Kelly Collins (Newport Beach, Calif.) qualified seventh for this evening's Grand-Am Cup 200.

The Road & Track 250 will get underway at noon PT (3 p.m. ET) on Sunday, with live coverage by SPEED Channel. For additional information, visit www.grandamerican.com.

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