World Speed Phoenix finals preview

World Speed Motorsports finishes top five in every race of the finals

Sonoma, CA 10/31/03 - The World Speed team arrived in Phoenix for Rounds 12 and 13 confident following two second place finishes at the Buttonwillow events.

"On Sunday at Buttonwillow we had a car that could have challenged for the lead, but I got stuck fighting for second for so long that Colin was able to put some distance on us, said Coleman. On Saturday I was thrilled to have my best finish this year, but was looking forward to moving up one step on the podium on Sunday. The car was excellent, and finishing second in both races really boosted everyone's confidence about our chances in Phoenix."

In two very tight races at Arizona Motorsports Park, Brad finished both races hundredths of a second off the podium in fourth. "Brad drove hard, and was trying his best to finish ahead of Darryl O'Young," stated Team Owner Telo Stewart. "We needed to finish ahead of O'Young to have a chance at third in the championship and if O'Young had made a mistake Brad was there. Even so he finished fourth in the points, which is very respectable for his first season in cars and second season racing at all. The top four drivers in this series proved to be formidable."

Coleman picked up his fourth place trophy and was surprised with an additional award from the series. Due to his outstanding rookie effort and consistent performances for World Speed Motorsports he was presented with the Rookie of the Year runner up Award for the Fran Am 1600 Series. Rookie of the Year went to series champion Collin Braun, also 15 years old.

At the AMP events World Speed also ran Sao Paulo's Mario Moraes. Mario, who is only 14 years old, showed up at the event with no prior testing in the Fran Am car and showed well all weekend. "It's a large step from 100cc Karts to these cars, and Mario really adjusted well," according to Mario's technician Mark Milazzo. "By the end of the weekend he was running times very close to the leaders, and at one point was fighting for 5th position with his teammate. We plan on doing some additional testing with Mario, and to possibly run him next season in one of our 1600 cars. There is no other place in the western hemisphere for drivers this young to race cars and Mario was very happy with the team and series."

-www.worldspeed.com