Shane Lewis Draws From All Corners to Maximzie VIR Run

ALTON, Vir., October 4, 2005 - Virginia International Raceway (VIR) is rich
with history from much of sports car racing's golden age. Despite its
decades of racing history, for Shane Lewis, driver of the No. 3 PAP-Parts/
OZEXE Southard Motorsports BMW-Riley, it offers a new twist with every turn.
Entering Sunday's VIR 400 Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series race, the
Jupiter, Fla.-resident has earned two top-ten and 11 top-15 finishes in 12
DP starts this season. Two races remain including the 250 mile/ 77 lap race
at VIR and Lewis is eager to return to the top-10 as he had done earlier in
the season. VIR's 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course in southern Virginia could
be the ideal place for the multi-time Grand American-sanctioned event winner
to return to the top step of the podium. He finished ninth here last year
driving the Southard BMW DP and held the 2004 Grand-Am Cup ST track record
with a MINI Cooper S. 

 

"I really enjoy the track," commented Lewis. "It's very challenging, very
fast and technical. Every tenth [of a second] means something. It's great to
have a real drivers track on the schedule. The Rolex Sports Car Series has
such great courses and VIR is definitely on the top of that list. No matter
how much you're here, I think there is something you can learn at every
corner, every time you go out. You can gain time in almost every corner no
matter how well you thought you got through it the last time. For a driver
that is pretty cool because it never grows old. It never gets boring."

 

While Southard has not tested this season, Lewis recently completed a series
of tire tests with a Historic SportsCar Racing Series GTP car at VIR. In the
test he learned several things that the team plans to utilize this weekend. 

 

"I do a lot of testing for teams all over racing," continued Lewis. "A few
weeks ago I was here at VIR testing tires for an HSR team and learned a few
things that I think, added to what the Southard team learned at Watkins Glen
last race, will really help us. I'm pretty excited to have a few ideas up my
sleeve for VIR this weekend. We only have two races remaining in the season
and we're all working really hard to finish-off the year like we started
it." 

 

Lewis is currently ranked 15th in driver points. A strong run Sunday could
move him into the Top-10 with only the race at Mexico City remaining on the
2005 calendar. He is currently 24 points out of tenth with 35 markers
available for the win. 

 

SPEED Channel will broadcast the race live starting at 1 PM (EDT), Sunday,
October 9. Live timing and scoring can be found at
<http://www.grandamerican.com/> www.GrandAmerican.com beginning with
Friday's first practice at 9:20 AM. Qualifying is scheduled for 1:10 PM,
Saturday. 

 

For more on Shane Lewis please see www.ShaneLewis.com
<http://www.shanelewis.com/> . 

Southard Motorsports can be found at www.SouthardMotorsports.com
<http://www.southardmotorsports.com/> .