Grand-Am

SCC: Lime Rock: Team BGB race notes

TWO TOP-10 FINISHES FOR BGB AT LIME ROCK PARK (Ormond Beach, FL- May 31, 2008) Jon Miller and Craig Stanton finished 4th in Monday's Koni Challenge Race at Lime Rock Park while Mike Piera and Dirk Werner delivered their BGB Porsche in 6th. The ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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TWO TOP-10 FINISHES FOR BGB AT LIME ROCK PARK

(Ormond Beach, FL- May 31, 2008) Jon Miller and Craig Stanton finished 4th in Monday's Koni Challenge Race at Lime Rock Park while Mike Piera and Dirk Werner delivered their BGB Porsche in 6th. The finish was enough to keep Craig Stanton and BGB in 1st place in the Driver's and Team Championships, but now they must share the top spot in a 3-way tie. The follow up finish by the team's #38 Porsche leaves Porsche Cars North America with a 3 point advantage in the 2008 Manufacturers Championship.

During the start of the race Jon Miller and the #83 PerformanceDrink.com Porsche were able to maintain position at the front of the field, never leaving the top 5. About a dozen laps into the race however, Miller reported on the radio that the car's handling was beginning to deteriorate. Similar to other GS and GT class competitors in Monday's races, Lime Rock's bumpy surface had claimed another suspension failure and had broken the front sway bar drop link. Miller was able to earn back some spots and do damage control as he handed the car off to Craig Stanton during the race's first caution period. Resuming damage control, Stanton drove the car from a 12th place spot to finish 4th and maintain the Championship footing for both himself and BGB.

For Mike Piera and Dirk Werner, their first race together was anything but boring. A Lime Rock local, Piera held position strongly in his 2nd ever Koni Challenge race. When the first caution period occurred, Piera came to pit road for fuel, tires and a driver swap with 2007 Rolex GT Champion Dirk Werner. In their usual fashion, the BGB Motorsports crew changed tires and serviced the car and sent it back out before all of the other cars that entered pit lane along with it. What happened next didn't become apparent to anyone watching the race from pit road, race control or the announcer's booth until it was too late. At some point during the pit stop for the #38 Porsche the timing loop was triggered again, earning it another lap. The monitor showed the Porsche of Dirk Werner in 1st place and everyone was unclear as to what happened. Two race re-starts followed and a few minutes later #38 Porsche dropped from first to 14th. Nevertheless, Werner showed again why he delivered last year's Rolex GT Championship for Porsche and Farnbacher Loles. With open track in front of him, Dirk Werner was on a mission. His pace was so strong that by the time the checkered flag had fallen, he had unlapped himself and was only 40 seconds behind the leaders. Team Manager John Tecce had more to add:

"I'm really sorry this happened to Mike and Dirk. By the time the issue was sorted out it was too late. There's nothing that can be done and I'm sure the broadcast will be interesting. Both BGB and Grand-Am have already taken steps so that we're covered in the future if anything like this is to happen again. As for the #83, I heard of some other cars having similar issues breaking sway bar drop links. Lime Rock's bumps are 2nd only to surface of the moon for lacking compliancy. Craig and Jon Miller did well for what they were dealing with. With Lime Rock's high speed corners and bumpy surface, the car was probably a real handful with the sway bay bar bound up like it was and then disconnected."

Round 2 of the Koni Challenge Series from Lime Rock Park will be broadcast on Speed TV, Saturday May 31st at 11:00pm. The team heads north of the border to Mosport International Raceway near Toronto, Ontario during Father's Day Weekend for the 3rd race of the 2008 season.

-credit: bgb

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