RACE: Mueller Motorsports June Sprints summary

Mueller Motorsports collects first June Sprints® podium

ELKHART LAKE, WI. (June 27, 2010) - Mueller Motorsports driver Michael Mueller brought home a third place finish in the WeatherTech® Chicago Region SCCA June Sprints® at Road America this past weekend. The podium finish was the first for Mueller Motorsports in the 55th running of this classic event.

A brief morning rainstorm provided some worries about weather conditions for the racers on Sunday, however bright sunshine would return in the afternoon and the cars rolled onto a dry track for the 13 lap event. Mueller started his HRP powered Red Devil from fourth position with last year's SCCA Runoffs podium finishers Patrick Gallagher, Jason Knuteson and Aaron Ellis occupying the first three spots.

After the initial attempt at a start was waved off, the field rolled slowly up the hill to take the green flag with Knuteson and Gallagher leading out of turn one. Ellis, Mueller and Robert Giesen raced closely for the first half of the lap for third position, with Mueller eventually taking the spot into turn 8. Meanwhile, Knuteson and Gallagher were putting in a blistering first lap and pulled out a substantial lead.

The early laps saw Mueller running alone in third, attempting to claw back the margin to the leaders. On the fourth lap Ellis made the pass on the front straight to take third spot away and then had it quickly turn into second place as Knuteson pulled off track in turn 3 with mechanical problems.

Mueller made a pass around the outside of the Carousel corner only to have Ellis use his straight-line speed advantage to full effect and retake the spot before start/finish on the same lap. Several laps later Ellis was boxed in behind a group of Formula Vee's exiting Canada Corner and Mueller made an aggressive pass going three wide into turn 13 to take second place back. Once again, Ellis would reclaim the spot down the front straight at the start of the next lap.

For the remainder of the race the battle for second would be much of the same with the drivers exchanging the spot in turns 5, 6 and 12 several times. At the end of the race it was Patrick Gallagher collecting his first June Sprints® victory with Ellis second and Mueller third.

The podium finish in the teams second June Sprints® start was a welcome result. The SCCA Central Division National schedule takes the month of July off, however two double regional events at Road America will provide the team opportunity for some testing in preparation for the SCCA National Championship Runoffs® at Road America this fall.

Mueller Motorsports is a family team, racing together in various forms of motorsport since 1997. The 2010 season marks the team's third year racing Formula 500 in SCCA events. Special thanks to our team sponsors: MJ Manufacturing, Fibeco and msquared design as well as the technical support of Brad Hulings of HRP Motorsports Inc.

-source: mueller-motorsports.com