Portland: Greg Pickett practice one notes

In the first practice session for Saturday's Rose City 100 Trans-Am race, Greg Pickett, driver of the #6 Cytomax Jaguar XKR, was second quickest, posting a time of 1:14:198 with an average speed of 95.291 mph. Pickett, who finished second in the season opener at Long Beach, is looking for his second Trans-Am win here.

On the first Trans-Am practice session of the weekend... "The track was very green, really slippery but it was the same for everyone. At first, I tried to get the front right which was why we pitted to make a front shock adjustment. But that hurt the balance a bit and we got a little looser.J

"Then I just decided that I needed to calm down and deal with the track conditions as they were. I collected myself and my thoughts, and settled in. The Rocketsports Racing V-8 engine was really good, just like at Long Beach, so we're right on target in that department.

"We've been checking the radar to see about the weather for this weekend. This is Portland, after all. We opted to for a wet configuration set-up. That way, we're ready to get as much time in the wet as we can and be prepared. If it's not a wet race, then we'll smile like everyone else, swap out our set-up, joyfully, and race in the sunshine.

"We knew we'd potentially compromise a couple of tenths (of a second) with this set-up, but the cars adapt quite well. Since we're only about six hundredths (of a second) off, it's not a bad start."

-wg-