Rand Racing - Virginia advance

early start

Rand Racing is closing on two Rolex Sports Car Series championships as it 
nears the end of a dream debut season.  With an SRPII class pole and victory 
in every race it has entered, the team needs two more strong finishes to 
clinch the 2002 SRPII team and driver titles.

Rand Racing has a 51-point lead in team standings over second-place G&W 
Motorsports.  In driver points, Terry Borcheller has a margin of 52 over 
fellow Phoenix driver Darren Law.  Borcheller's co-driver, Anthony Lazzaro of 
Acworth, Ga., is a close third, 12 points behind Law.  A maximum 105 points 
may be won in the three races remaining this season.

Borcheller says Rand Racing's class win at the season-opening Rolex 24 of 
Daytona in February was critical to his championship drive.

"The 24-hour win was a big step in the right direction for the championship," 
he said.  "You need to do well at the 24-hour; otherwise, you're playing 
catch-up all year.  Normally, you don't think of the championship hinging on 
the first race of the season, but the 24-hour has so many entries, if your 
closest competitor wins the race and you DNF [do not finish], you're looking 
at a 20-point spread and it's hard to make that up."

The next Rolex Series race is set for Sept. 1 on the 3.27-mile Virginia 
International Raceway road course in Alton, Va.  Borcheller and Lazzaro will 
drive the No. 8 Rand Racing Nissan Lola in the five-hour race.  Niclas 
Jönsson of Aliso Viejo, Calif., and Ralf Kelleners of Germany will share the 
No. 7 Lola.  Both cars are prepared by Risi Competizione.

anti-terror tactics

The current focus on national security is familiar to Niclas Jönsson, who 
used his driving talent to support defense programs in his home country of 
Sweden.  Jönsson trained the Swedish royal bodyguards and secret service in 
defensive driving and anti-terrorist tactics.  His course included an 
unnerving exercise in which students learned to combine evasive maneuvers and 
car control after unknown forces shot the tires of their cars.

Jönsson noted the similarities between defensive driving and racing.  "You 
have to be very, very focused and ready for anything that might happen," he 
said.  "You need to think ahead all the time.  You need to be physically and 
mentally strong.  It all happens at high speed, so it's important to be calm 
and think it through."

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Sylvia Proudfoot
spur07@cs.com
403 287 3945