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Lacey, Wilkins pick up first-ever win in Phoenix 200. PHOENIX, Ariz. (May 3, 2003) -- David Lacey and Greg Wilkins celebrated their first-ever Grand-Am Cup victory today at Phoenix International Raceway in the Phoenix 200 Grand Sport race. The ...

Edited: Dec 21, 2009, 5:26 AM

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Lacey, Wilkins pick up first-ever win in Phoenix 200.

PHOENIX, Ariz. (May 3, 2003) -- David Lacey and Greg Wilkins celebrated their first-ever Grand-Am Cup victory today at Phoenix International Raceway in the Phoenix 200 Grand Sport race. The duo's Doncaster Racing #7 Porsche GT3 Cup battled with the polesitting #11 Corvette of Powell Motorsports for most of race before taking the checkered flag with a five-second lead.

For Lacey, today's victory was a bit of redemption for the team's performance at the previous race in Miami. Lacey fell victim to food poisoning 20 laps into his stint and was forced to come into the pits for treatment by paramedics while his co-driver Wilkins returned to the racetrack. The extra extended pit stop slipped the Porsche back to an eight-place finish in the Miami race and dropped the pair of drivers from third to seventh in the point standings.

"I was pushing it as hard as I could. The idea was really to try and save the car early and just push it as hard as we could at the end. I passed the #11 just prior to the hairpin going back on the straightaway," said Lacey. "We had set up the car with a little bit of push in it and the car sort of came into itself during Greg's stint. He made a call just to put rears on, and at the end of my stint the car was pushing quite badly; I think the fronts were just done."

The caution-free race resulted in several different pit strategies playing out. The #11 Corvette led for the first half of the race and was one of the last teams to pit for fuel, tires and a driver change. The Corvette's pit stop came just after Lacey passed it for the lead on lap 72.

Doncaster Racing's other entry, #119 Porsche GT3 Cup that entered the race with the points lead, took third place overall.

The father-son duo of Joe and Wayne Nonnamaker picked up their second Grand Sport II win of the season in the Planet Earth Motorsports #41 Porsche 911. The victory marked the team's third win in as many years and as many classes. In 2001, Planet Earth won the Sport Touring II class and last year Joe Nonnamaker was part of Planet Earth's winning Grand Sport I effort.

"We were not by far the fastest car in the race; we started tenth," said the elder Nonnamaker. "It was a hot day. We set the car up for hot conditions, and as the race went on it was like one car at a time; 'wow, I've got a run at him.' It wasn't spectacular. It was just really great racing."

Frederick Motorsports took home second-place honors in the GS II class after its #30 Mustang Cobra R finished 28 seconds behind the winning Porsche, and Automatic Racing saw its brand new #90 BMW M3 round out the podium.

The Grand-Am Cup Series will travel next to Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Ala., for its inaugural event weekend featuring the Grand-Am Cup Barber Twin 200s. Tickets are currently on sale for the Barber Twin 200s, as well as the Rolex Series Barber 250 at The Park and can be purchased by calling 800-240-2300 or 205-327-RACE. Tickets are also available online at www.southtix.com.

Additional information on the Grand-Am Cup Series is available online at www.grandamerican.com.

-garra-

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