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St. Pete: First Motorsports event notes

St. Petersburg, FL (April 6, 2009) - What started as a promising weekend ended up less than what FIRST Motorsports expected. FIRST Motorsports driver Stefan Wilson set some fast times during the first practice session, (3rd fastest actually) and ...

Published: Jun 19, 2009, 7:49 PM

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St. Petersburg, FL (April 6, 2009) - What started as a promising weekend ended up less than what FIRST Motorsports expected. FIRST Motorsports driver Stefan Wilson set some fast times during the first practice session, (3rd fastest actually) and also during the qualifying sessions, but unfortunately a new starting order policy put a damper on the weekend.

For the first time, qualifying was broken into two separate groups with Stefan in the fastest group. Stefan qualified 7th fastest overall, but under the new policy, the fastest driver of the two groups would take the pole position, with the fastest driver of the second group taking the other front row position. Then each group would line up after the leader of their group. So, instead of starting in 7th position, Stefan had to start in 13th.

Stefan did a tremendous job working his way through the field up to 10th when a pile up in front of him blocked his way and he lost several positions, dropping back to 18th. But the talented young driver kept a cool head and rallied back to finish the 1st race in 13th.

Staring in the 17th position for the 2nd race, Stefan again showed the promises of his talent, but was collected by another car, which tore the front wing off the car. After coming into the pits to change the front nose, a bolt sheared off the oil pump pully, shutting down the engine and ending the day for the #19 flipNbags.com/Charter entry.

"It definitely wasn't what we were looking to accomplish at St. Pete," stated team owner Jon Lewis. "Stefan did a great job and nothing was his fault. We just got hung out in slower traffic and Stefan did his best to make it through. It definitely wasn't a weekend representative of Stefan's or the Team's talents. We'll look forward to Long Beach and work on better results there."

The #19 flipNbags.com/Charter entry carried an on board camera for the St. Pete Grand Prix. Watch all the action tonight at 6PM eastern on the Versus Network.

-credit: fm

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