Fw: Vickers Makes Run at USAR Championship in Lakeland

Vickers Makes Run at USAR Championship in Lakeland
Sent: Monday, November 26, 2001 2:51 PM
Subject: Vickers Makes Run at USAR Championship in Lakeland




Vickers Makes Run at USAR Championship in Lakeland


   Thomasville, NC - Brian Vickers and BLV Motorsports made a run at the 2001 USAR Hooters ProCup Series Championship this past weekend at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, FL  by battling with Series Champion Bobby Gill in the 300 lap season finale. Vickers drove the #42 Engineered Machined Products Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a second place finish behind Gill and tied for second place in the Series Championship standings with Hal Goodson.

Although Vickers and the team battled a mechanical Ogremlin¹ during the morning practice session and managed to gain only 30 total laps of practice, Brian and the team qualified in the seventh position with an elapsed time of 22.246 and an average speed of 114.816 m.p.h. 

³We had a few problems in practice and really didn¹t get that much time on the track. Patrick (Crew Chief Patrick Donahue) and all the guys on the crew worked like mad to get everything right. We made some guesses on the setup from what we ran here in the past and were fortunate to be able to qualify and race really well,² Brian continued, ³We had a great car all night and the guys did an awesome job in the pits. They beat Bobby¹s (Gill) OChampionship¹ pit crew on both stops. We had a lug fall off during the OGoodyear Pit Crew Championship¹, which I know meant a lot to my guys (BLV Motorsports finished third). In my opinion, they are by far and away the best guys out there. The stops during the race got us the lead and our five bonus points. That helped us pass Mardy (Lindley) for third in points and tie Hal (Goodson) for second. All in all, it was a pretty good day. We made a run at the championship and almost pulled it off. I would like to congratulate Bobby on his third championship and Toby Robertson on his ³Rookie of the Year² title.

Vickers, the series¹ defending ³Rookie of the Year² garnered the following in 22 starts during 2001: 2 wins,11 top-5 finishes, 14 top-10 finishes, 3 pole awards, and had 520 laps led. Also in 2001, Vickers finished runner-up in the inaugural USAR Hooters ProCup Series Northern Division and tied for second place in the overall championship standings. Vickers and the team also tallied the best average finishing position during the series ending Four Champions Championship Series events with a 3.75 (3rd-Jennerstown, 7th-Myrtle Beach, 3rd-Concord and 2nd-Lakeland). 

The Alan Kulwicki Memorial USAR Hooters ProCup Series Hooters 300 from USA International Speedway in Lakeland, FL will be broadcast Thursday, November 28th at 9:00pm on Speedvision. The BLV Motorsports show car will be on display from Wednesday, November 28th until Saturday, December 1st at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in downtown Indianapolis, IN for the 14th Annual PRI Racing Industry Trade Show. To learn more about Brian and the team, log onto www.brianvickers.com.   


For More Information, Contact:

Kevin J. Steele - PR Director
BLV Motorsports