FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June
15, 2005
Round Three of the US Touring Car Championship, Buttonwillow, CA
Buttonwillow Raceway
located in southern California hosted round three of the Hankook US
Touring Car Championship Series. The track is one of the most
challenging racetracks in the country. Right off the bat a combination
of a fast straightaway and tight switchback turns launch the car like a
bullet through the famous esses – the long sweeping high-speed turns and
series of corners that demands finesse and concentration. This three
mile track nestled out in the California countryside is the preferred
testing bed of many successful professional racing teams because of its
diversity.
The Erickson Motorsports #12 Volkswagen GTI took to the track early
Saturday morning for the first warm up practice session to begin a tough
weekend of racing. “I noticed as I was on my out lap that the car’s
engine sounded a little off-song and had lost some of the bottom end
power,” Brett Erickson said, driver of the Bay Area Volkswagen Dealers
sponsored GTI. Despite the technical difficulties, Brett qualified the
car in 12th position out of 23 cars in the first qualifying session.
“Not too bad for having a substantial power disadvantage,” teased
Erickson. The Erickson Motorsports team spent the rest of the afternoon
troubleshooting what eventually was discovered at the end of the day to
be a mechanical engine timing issue. The proper adjustments were made
that evening and the car was ready for action.
The final qualifying session was Sunday morning, where the best
qualifying time from both sessions set the grid for the official race.
“I have one last shot to improve my time and move further up in the grid
for the start of the race,” Brett said as he was being strapped into the
#12 Volkswagen GTI. “I need to get a couple of clean laps to warm up the
car, lay down one fast lap time, and then save the car for the race.”
Brett did just this, besting his previous qualifying time by 2.3
seconds. Despite the improvement, Erickson Motorsports was sitting in
13th position on the starting grid.
The main race was a standing start scheduled for 3:45pm, at the peak of
the sweltering 95 degree afternoon heat. The long line of touring cars
followed the pace car around the track for one warm up lap and lined up
in pairs on the grid to take the green flag. All 23 engines came to a
roar when the green flag fell and the cars sprinted down to the first
turn. Two cars ahead of Erickson hit one another leading into the first
turn and shot across the track as the #12 Volkswagen GTI safely made it
through the chaos. On the fourth lap of the race, the #12 Volkswagen GTI
and Justin Elin’s #19 P1 Motorsports Civic made hard contact while going
down into the end of the esses. Both cars were significantly damaged and
had to retire from the race.
“That was unfortunate for both teams involved but we are happy to say
that both drivers came out with out a scratch,” Erickson said. “I would
like to thank the sponsors that helped make it possible for us to
participate in this race. Specifically I would like to thank the Bay
Area Volkswagen Dealers, Sias Tuning, Techtonics Tuning, Sturken Auto
Body, RiehlTek Engine Development, and Bildon Motorsport. Our focus now
is to get the car repaired, tuned, and ready to go for the next big race
on the schedule – The San Jose Grand Prix!”
For additional information about Erickson Motorsports and the USTCC go
to:
www.ustcc.com
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