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St. Pete: 3R Racing race notes

3R Racing's Tommy Archer Wins St. Petersburg St. Petersburg, Florida - Carrying over an excellent run at Sebring just two weeks ago, Tommy Archer won the second round of SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race run at St. Petersburg ...

Edited: Apr 5, 2005, 5:52 AM

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3R Racing's Tommy Archer Wins St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg, Florida - Carrying over an excellent run at Sebring just two weeks ago, Tommy Archer won the second round of SCCA Pro Racing Speed World Challenge GT series race run at St. Petersburg this morning. Teammates Phil McClure and Tim Wiens also had a competitive day coming home in sixth and seventh.

Starting from the third position, his qualifying position was corrected later Saturday; Archer sped into the lead on the first lap. Archer was only out of the lead twice for the 50-minute timed race, with the Lidell Porsche only leading for less than one lap. The close confines of the St. Petersburg street course caused five caution periods helping the Duluth, Minnesota based driver cool his tires, win the race and keep the overall series points lead.

"I had a good start and was able to get up to second by turn one," said Archer, driver of the number 1/c3controls/3R Viper. "I wanted to be aggressive from the start; if I could gain a couple of places I knew we would have a good day. On the first lap into turn ten I was able to get under Henzler in the braking zone and then the front washed out a little pushing him toward the wall; I made it stick. The five yellows helped a lot. My tires were heating up and I was getting all kinds of pressure from the Porsche. The team did a great job to stay on top of the cars setup all weekend."

Phil McClure, piloting the number 2/FirstTier Bank/3R Viper, finished in sixth from his seventh place qualifying effort. "Not a bad day. I was giving up a lot going into the braking zone in turn one. I am not quite comfortable with the Viper's brakes just yet. There was a lot of rubbing going on and I bumped the wall once. We will take it and look forward to Road Atlanta in two weeks."

Driving the number 3/FirsTier Bank/ 3R Viper is team owner Tim Wiens. Wiens had a disappointing qualifying effort, but made up for it in the race. "I had a really good start and was able to move up six places on the first lap. On lap nineteen I was setup to pass the McCann Viper into turn twelve and ended up going across the grass in thirteen, but made the pass. I touched the wall and grass had filled the radiator vent, so the motor temperature was increasing and I had a front vibration. The yellows helped or I would have had to back off and give up positions. The team had a great day. Tommy winning and Phil and I in the top ten keep us in line for the championship and Dodge there for the manufacturers' title."

The St. Petersburg race will be televised on Speed Channel, Sunday, April 10th at 2:00 p.m. EST. Round three of the SCCA Pro Racing World Challenge GT series will be run at Road Atlanta on April 17th.

-3rr-

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