Rolex Sports Car Series Points Race Tightens In Second Half of the Season
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 8, 2002) -- The Rolex Sports Car Series released its latest point standings following the Jani-King Paul Revere 250 at Daytona International Speedway, and the points race to the championship continues to tighten as the series heads into the second half of the season. Doran Lista Racing's Didier Theys held on to the lead in the premier SportsRacing Prototype driver standings after six rounds of racing. However, rookie Chris Dyson has cut Theys advantage, once as large as 26 points, to only 13. Two-time SRP driver champion James Weaver is in third place in the standings, 15 points behind the leader. In the class team point standings, Doran Lista Racing's lead has been reduced to only nine points by the #16 entry of the Dyson Racing Team after its victory at Daytona with Dyson and Weaver behind the wheel. Despite the early exit of the points-leading #8 Nissan Lola of Rand Racing from the Jani-King Paul Revere 250, the team and its lead driver, Terry Borcheller, continue their stronghold on top of the SportsRacing Prototype II points. Borcheller has a 49-point lead over G&W Motorsports' Darren Law, who was forced to miss the Watkins Glen round due to engine failure. Rand Racing driver Anthony Lazzaro maintained his third-place standing, while defending SRPII champion Andy Lally, co-driving with Law this season, jumped up to fourth place from sixth. Kevin Buckler and The Racer's Group continue to hold the top spot in the GT driver and team standings, but their lead in the class has been reduced tremendously after Ferrari of Washington's back-to-back wins in the class. Ferrari drivers Bill Auberlen and Cort Wagner moved into second place in the driver standings, only seven points behind Buckler. The pair passed Perspective Motorsports drivers Joao Barbosa and Thierry Perrier, who the Ferrari pair now leads by two points. The Racer's Group lead has dropped to only three points ahead of Perspective Motorsports, while Ferrari of Washington remains in third place, five points behind the GT leader. Marcos Racing USA saw both its #03 and #04 entries advance in the team standings, as the #04 Marcos moved up one spot to fourth and the #03 car advanced two places to fifth. The American GT class saw lots of movement in both its team and driver standings following the Jani-King Paul Revere 250. For the first time in more than two years, Doug Goad was not behind the wheel of a Flis Motorsports entry during the Rolex Series race. But the points leaders' luck was no different, as he increased his lead in the driver standings after scoring a class victory with LG Motorsports. Goad now holds a 28-point advantage over Kerry Hitt, who advanced to second place from third. Jim Briody and Andrew Richards were both absent from the Daytona race, sliding them back in the standings, while Craig Conway moved up one place to fourth. Flis Motorsports' #90 entry kept the lead in the AGT team standings, but now faces a serious threat from Morgan Dollar Motorsports #46 car, which leapt from fourth to second place after scoring a second-place finish in Daytona. The #90 entry holds a 14-point advantage over Morgan Dollars' #46 and a 20-point lead over ACP Motorsports, in third place. The Flis Motorsports #09 car was unable to start the race, after blowing its engine in practice, and fell back to fourth place from second. Chris Bingham maintained his lead in the GTS driver standings, while his co-driver, Rodney Mall, moved up two spots to second place after the team's second-place finish in the class at Daytona. Jack Lewis, who has won the GTS class at the last two races, made a tremendous jump from 13th place to fifth in the GTS driver standings. Bingham and Mall's Park Place Racing still holds a powerful lead in the team standings over Team Greeneman and Jack Lewis Enterprises. There was little movement in the manufacturer point standings following the Jani-King Paul Revere 250. Judd and Dallara continue to lead the SRP engine and chassis standings, while Nissan and Lola dominate the SRPII manufacturer divisions. Saleen saw its GTS lead cut in half by Porsche, who now trails the California-based manufacturer by only three points. Porsche also kept its GT class lead, while Mosler moved up to second place followed by Ferrari in third. After moving into second place last week, BMW dropped back to fourth due to the absence of any M3s at the race. Chevy continues its control of the American GT ranks, with a 46-point lead over Ford. The Rolex Sports Car Series will travel next to Watkins Glen International for the Bully Hill Vineyards 250, part of the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Sirius Satellite at The Glen weekend, Aug. 8-11. Tickets are currently on sale for the event and may be purchased online at www.theglen.com or by calling The Glen's ticket office at 607-535-2481. More information on the Rolex Sports Car Series can be found online at www.grand-am.com. ************************************************************************ Rolex Sports Car Series Top-20 Driver Point Standings SportsRacing Prototype Driver Points Place Driver (Wins) Points 1 Didier Theys (3) 197 2 Chris Dyson (3) 184 3 James Weaver (3) 182 4 John Macaluso 106 5 Mauro Baldi (2) 98 6 Fredy Lienhard Jr. (1) 95 7 Jon Field 88 Buddy Rice 88 9 Clint Field 79 10 Rob Dyson 77 11 Butch Leitzinger 75 12 Elliott Forbes-Robinson 73 13 Fredy Lienhard Sr. (1) 67 14 Joel Field 56 Rick Sutherland 56 16 Georges Forgeois 50 Patrice Roussel 50 18 Tony Stewart 46 19 Jack Baldwin 45 George Robinson 45 SportsRacing Prototype II Driver Points Place Driver (Wins) Points 1 Terry Borcheller (4) 200 2 Darren Law 153 3 Anthony Lazzaro (4) 140 4 Andy Lally 128 5 Ralf Kelleners (3) 105 6 Bill Rand (2) 102 7 Nic Jonsson (1) 97 8 Marino Franchitti (1) 67 9 Jerry Nadeau (1) 35 10 Chad Block 32 Brian DeVries 32 Mel Hawkins 32 Steve Knight 32 14 Rich Grupp 30 Ryan Hampton 30 Dennis Spencer 30 Barry Waddell 30 David Sternberg 30 Bret Arsenault 30 Peter MacLeod 30 GTS Driver Points Place Driver (Wins) Points 1 Chris Bingham (3) 189 2 Rodney Mall (1) 146 3 Tommy Byrne 124 Richard Millman 124 5 Jack Lewis (2) 70 6 Bob Smith 49 7 Paul Gentilozzi (1) 35 Michael Lauer (1) 35 Scott Pruett (1) 35 Brian Simo (1) 35 Lew Bakes (1) 35 Derek Hill (1) 35 Keith Fisher (1) 35 14 Adam Merzon 32 Tom Soriano 32 Lynn Wilson 32 17 Gunnar Jeannette 30 Franz Konrad 30 19 Stephen Earle 28 Pete Peterson 28 Jacques Guenette Sr. 28 Jacques Guenette Jr. 28 Hugo Guenette 28 GT Driver Points Place Driver (Wins) Points 1 Kevin Buckler (2) 180 2 Bill Auberlen (2) 173 Cort Wagner (2) 173 4 Joao Barbosa (1) 171 Thierry Perrier (1) 171 6 Michael Schrom (2) 152 7 Cougar Jacobsen 135 8 Paco Orti 115 9 Spencer Pumpelly 97 10 Cor Euser 89 11 Steve Ivankovich 74 12 Carlos deQuesada 70 13 Jay Policastro 68 14 David Murry 67 15 Boris Said (1) 63 16 Randy Pobst 60 Kim Hiskey 60 18 Sylvain Tremblay 58 Selby Wellman 58 20 Larry Schumacher 56 Bob Nagel 56 BJ Zacharias 56 Cass Whitehead 56 Jeff Giangrande 56 American GT Driver Points Place Driver (Wins) Points 1 Doug Goad (2) 192 2 Kerry Hitt 164 3 Jim Briody (1) 155 4 Craig Conway (1) 152 5 Andrew Richards 140 6 Rob Morgan (1) 129 7 Tommy Riggins 111 8 Michael Ciasulli (3) 105 9 Stephen Richards 86 David Machavern 86 11 Steve Lisa 84 12 Dick Greer 82 Jack Willes 82 14 Bill Beilharz 78 15 Paul Menard (2) 70 16 Charles Morgan (1) 67 17 Tony Puleo 53 18 Joe Nonnamaker 47 Mandy Gonzalez 47 20 Andy Pilgrim (1) 35 David Haskell (1) 35 Lou Giglotti (1) 35 ************************************************************************ Rolex Sports Car Series Team Owner Point Standings SportsRacing Prototype Team Owner Points Pos No. Team (Wins) Points 1 27 Doran Lista Racing (3) 199 2 16 Dyson Racing Team (3) 190 3 37 Intersport Racing 94 4 6 Miracle Motorsports 90 5 20 Dyson Racing Team 86 6 87 Sezio Florida Racing 56 7 2 Crawford Racing 52 8 74 Robinson Racing 51 9 52 Powerslide Motorsports 25 10 95 TRV Motorsports 24 11 06 Jacobs Motorsports 22 SportsRacing Prototype II Team Owner Points Pos No. Team (Wins) Points 1 8 Rand Racing (4) 200 2 70 G&W Motorsports 154 3 7 Rand Racing (2) 102 4 22 Archangel Motorsport 62 5 62 Team Spencer Motorsports 30 6 21 Archangel Motorsport 28 GTS Team Owner Points Pos No. Team (Wins) Points 1 5 Park Place Racing (3) 199 2 42 Team Greeneman 128 3 72 Jack Lewis Enterprises (2) 70 4 12 K&N Filters Racing 58 5 3 Rocketsports Racing (1) 35 GT Team Owner Points Pos No. Team (Wins) Points 1 66 The Racer's Group (2) 184 2 24 Perspective Racing (1) 181 3 33 Ferrari of Washington (2) 179 4 04 Marcos Racing USA 146 5 03 Marcos Racing USA 139 6 54 Bell Motorsports (1) 135 7 34 ZIP Racing 120 8 75 Classic Motorsports 73 9 9 Marcus Motorsports 72 10 26 ACEMCO Motorsports 6011 35 ZIP Racing 56 12 57 Seikel Motorsport 30 15 Fordahl Motorsports 30 14 67 The Racer's Group 28 15 72 Jack Lewis Enterprises 24 16 39 Autosport Race Team 22 17 18 Boston Motorsports 20 American GT Team Owner Points Pos No. Team (Wins) Points 1 90 Flis Motorsports (3) 187 2 46 Morgan Dollar Motorsports 173 3 19 ACP Motorsports 167 4 09 Flis Motorsports (1) 150 5 48 Heritage Motorsports 113 6 91 Paladin 110 7 82 Dick Greer Racing 82 8 29 Sky Blue Racing 49 9 47 Morgan Dollar Motorsports (1) 35 25 LG Motorsports (1) 35 11 55 Dewey Motorsports 25