Hima Maher Portland Rose Cup race notes

CALGARY DRIVER WINS PORTLAND ROSE CUP RACE

CALGARY, AB, June 14. 2005-- Calgary resident and veteran sports car racing driver Hima Maher won the Portland Rose Cup, Porsche Club of America race held at Portland on Sunday, June 12.

"It was a tight race against several top Porsche GT3 Cup cars, one of them driven by a leading Porsche team driver. "said Maher, who has previously raced at Porsche events in Portland and Laguna Secca. "We got a great start and our preparation and race strategy prevailed."

The victory comes on the heels of Maher's signing with Derhaag Motorsports to compete in the remaining eight scheduled races on the 2005 Trans-Am Series calendar, after a successful qualifying run last month in Iowa. Maher will debut on June 18 at the Rose City 100 in Portland, OR, in a Chevrolet Corvette sponsored by Centennial Motorsports of Calgary.

The move successfully caps a five-year quest for Maher, a veteran of several racing series, winner of the 2004 Sports Car Club of British Columbia Invitational and 2004 Canadian GT Championship titleholder.

"We are very pleased to be fielding a car for a driver of Hima's caliber," said Derhaag Motorsports team owner Jim Derhaag, who is also a veteran of 150 Trans-Am starts as a driver. "He should be very competitive in the Trans-Am Series."

Formed in 1999, Maher Racing Inc. is dedicated to high-performance driving and enhancing the profile of sport driving in Calgary, Alta. and is supported by the Centennial Motorsports Group of Calgary. For more information, log onto www.maharracing.com.

Based in Shakopee, Minn., Derhaag Motorsports began competing in the Trans- Am Series in 1983. The team, known for reliability, boasts one of the highest finishing records in Trans-Am.

-www.derhaag.com