Shane Lewis Takes Best Finish of Season at VIR

Shane Lewis Takes Best Finish of Season at VIR

 

 

 

 

ALTON, Vir., October 9, 2005 - Shane Lewis drove the No. 3 PAP-Parts/ OZEXE
Southard Motorsports BMW-Riley to its highest finishing position, a sixth,
of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season here today at Virginia
International Raceway (VIR). The Jupiter, Fla.-resident took over behind the
wheel of the Southard Motorsports entry on lap 30 of 74 (one hour and 30
minutes remaining in the endurance sports car race) in 14th position. He
immediately began to fight his way towards the top-10 and took over tenth by
lap 40. By lap 60, Lewis had piloted the red, white and blue BMW-powered
entry to ninth turning the car's fastest lap of the race (1 min. 50.535
secs.) on the 55th circuit of the day. He had taken seventh by lap 65 and
then sixth, closing quickly on fifth, by the drop of the checkered flag.

 

Today's run continued Lewis' traditionally strong performances at the
3.27-mile, 17-turn road course in Alton, Vir. It marked his third top-10
finish of the year in the Daytona Prototype (DP) class and bettered the
team's performance of the year thus far by two positions. It also outshone
Lewis' 2004 finish at VIR by three having taken ninth in 2004 for team owner
Steve Southard (Powell, Ohio). 

 

"We were aggressive when we needed to be aggressive and patient when we
needed to be patient," reflected a very pleased Shane Lewis. "This
racetrack, with all the rain, if you put one wheel off, you were in trouble.
This was a thinking man's race. You had to be extremely aggressive. You had
to be hard on the power but you couldn't make one mistake. You had to be
thinking about it all the time. Sixth is a great finish for Southard
Motorsports and I am very happy with how we approached this one. It paid
off."

 

Lewis will have one remaining opportunity to win in the DP class this season
on November 6th. The Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season-finale
will mark the sports car debut of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit
in Mexico City. 

 

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/> .

 

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Digital images and bio available upon request.

Editors, please do not publish any contact information other than web sites.
Thank you.

 

Contact: Tom Moore, Shane Lewis Racing

615-778-1614 (office), 615-509-5000 (cell), tom@darkhorsecom.com