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TheRaceSite.com Finds Difficulties in Miami; Takes Home Top Ten Finish
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Posted (09/22/2004) - Miami, Florida - TheRaceSite.com Racing traveled the nineteen hours to the intense heat of the Homestead Miami Speedway this past weekend. With a roster of drivers from as far north as Vancouver, British Columbia and as far south as Puerto Rico, the race brought challenges to the crew and drivers. The Miami 250 was initially postponed and held without qualifying due to the numerous hurricanes passing through and threatening the state of Florida. Despite the one week extra to prepare, intense heat caused several problems for the Grand Sport class cars. With no qualifying and points deciding the starting pole position, Joe Nonnamaker was marked first on the grid. Joe maintained the lead for five laps and after relinquishing the lead the elder Nonnamaker held the car in the top five for his entire stint in the car. A fire in the pits for the No. 44 car caused driver Wayne Nonnamaker to move to one lap down. After fighting through the field Wayne found himself at the heels of the third positioned car but did not make it any further. "The fire caused the brakes to heat up and they were used up prematurely.. There was nothing I could do. I found myself at 70 miles an hour going into the wall. Luckily, I was ok, no one else wrecked because of it, and there is only cosmetic damage to the car. We were very fortunate," stated Wayne. First time drivers with TheRaceSite.com Victor Gonzalez, Jr. and Jose Chipi took a top ten finish for the team. Gonzalez and Chipi, both from Puerto Rico, drove the No. 40 car in the Miami race. The two drivers adjusted the shocks slightly to tune the strong TheRaceSite.com Racing Porsche set up to their driving style. Despite little time to adapt to the track and team, the duo turned in a very strong performance. With high temperatures Craig Stanton and David Murry's No. 43 car faced radiator problems early in the race and were unable to recover. Buddy Stubbs and co-driver Joe Masessa finished fifteenth in the No. 42 car. Buddy drove for two hours in outside temperatures nearing 100 degrees. While professional drivers half his age were requiring medical attention when they climbed from the car, Buddy was still going strong when the crew called him in after two hours of driving. Near the end of the race, Masessa turned in a time strong time of 1:31.4 as he brought the car home to fifteenth. Kris Wilson and David Riddle shared the driver's seat of the No. 41 once again. Wilson started the car and got all the way up to seventh place from the back of the nearly thirty car field. Riddle then took two misfortunate accidents which ended the car's day. Despite the problems of the Miami race the team sees a busy but successful October ahead. Three races are schedule for the month of October. The first October race will be held barely two weeks after the Homestead race. "We have such a great crew in our shop that I know we will be ready by the Virginia race. It will be amazing, but I know that the guys will do it," state Joe Nonnamaker. The Virginia track is a favorite of TheRaceSite.com racing team. As one of the most beautiful tracks in the series, the team finished first in 2003 in a race that proved pivotal in the team securing the Grand Am Cup Championship. The team is hoping for a repeat in 2004. TheRaceSite.com's title defending campaign in the Grand-Am Cup GS class is a reality due to the amazing support from HRPworld.com, HAWK Performance, Kempthorn Auto Mall, SpeedSource, SpeedGroup International, TheRaceMarket.com, North Jersey Dermatology Center, Buddy Stubbs' Harley Davidson, Grassroots Motorsports Magazine and 9 Magazine. |
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