Dorricottt Racing - Portland Preview
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: James Hyneman
jhyneman@compuserve.com
DORRICOTT RACING SEEKING AN UNPRECEDENTED "FIVE-PEAT" AT PORTLAND
PORTLAND, Ore. (June 19, 2003) - Dorricott Racing returns to
Portland International Raceway on a mission never achieved in a CART
sanctioned series - a fifth consecutive win at a CART track.
Round five of the 12-race Toyota Atlantic Championship will be
hosted at Portland International Raceway, Saturday, June 21. The 35
lap/68.915 mile Atlantic sprint around Portland's 10-turn, 1.969-mile road
course will be the second time Atlantic has ever raced at Portland (the
first time being last year). The green flag is scheduled to drop at 4:00
p.m. (PT), and is the featured support race in the CART Championship G.I.
Joe's 200 on Sunday.
Dorricott Racing's fondness for Portland rekindled a couple of
months ago when its driver duo of Luis Diaz and Kyle Krisiloff ran the
fastest and third fastest unofficial lap times, respectively, during a
multi-team test session for Atlantic. Diaz completely dominated the circuit
last year in winning the pole position and the race. His goal this weekend
is to make his Portland encore as successful.
Dorricott Racing has held a monopoly on the Portland podium since
1999 including four consecutive wins and pole positions. It began in 1999
when current Champ Car star driver Oriol Servia (Patrick Racing), of
Catalonia, won the pole in the Dayton Indy Lights Championship. His
Dorricott Racing teammate, Philipp Peter, of Austria, won the race.
The 2000 Indy Lights race mirrored 1999. Dorricott Racing prevailed
with current former Champ Car and current F3000 star Townsend Bell, of San
Luis Obispo, Calif., winning his first career Indy Lights pole. His
teammate Jason Bright, of Australia, won the race after starting on the
outside pole.
Bell followed his pole position in 2000 with another pole in 2001
in setting an Indy Lights track record of 1:04.991 = 109.067 mph.
Meanwhile, Damien Faulkner, of Ireland, who started third on the
grid, led 22 of 38 laps to cross the finish line an astounding
16.134-seconds ahead of Rudy Junco, of Mexico. The 25 year-old Irishman
toured PIR at an average race speed of 76.116 mph. It was Faulkner's second
career Indy Lights victory in only his fifth Indy Lights start.
Diaz parlayed a pole position in 2002 into a flag-to-flag victory
in Atlantic's inaugural visit to Portland. Diaz cruised PIR in 40:04.588
minutes and an average speed of 103.175 mph. His victory was as dominating
as his 4.690-second margin of victory over rival Jonathon Macri.
Oddly enough, Dorricott Racing scored a "four-peat" at Portland
once before. It also orchestrated four consecutive victories with Bob
Dorricott Jr. in Sports 2000 in 1989, 1990, and 1991 (two races).
Dorricott Racing is still looking for that "kick" that prefaces a
mid-season title run. Portland may be the antidote. A.J. Allmendinger leads
the series with 67 points but his lead is far from insurmountable. A
variety of factors in concert with solid finishes for Diaz and Krisiloff
would push the defending Atlantic champions back to the forefront.
Krisiloff comes to Portland in seventh place with 32 points. Diaz is eighth
with 30 points.
The addition of 17-year-old Kyle Krisiloff, of Carmel, Ind., to
Dorricott Racing has delivered immediate dividends. His first time in a
Dorricott-prepared car was the Portland test session. His lap times spoke
clearly of his high level of ability. He then debuted with Dorricott Racing
at Milwaukee in the US Grand Prix F1 Swift 014.a and finished an
uncontested second place at The Milwaukee Mile. Krisiloff started fourth
but improved to second place within four laps of the 70-lap race start. It
was Krisiloff's career-best Atlantic finish and significantly higher than
his previous Atlantic best of ninth at Long Beach in April when he drove
for Cameron Motorsports. Krisiloff finished seventh place last weekend at
Laguna Seca.
The 2003 season hasn't been kind to Diaz yet. He opened at
Monterrey, Mexico, with a pole position (his third career $1000 Toyota
"Pole Award") but as he crossed the Start-Finish line at the race start he
was struck from behind by rookie A.J. Allmendinger. Allmendinger was
attempting to quickly improve his post-green flag position by sweeping
right-to-left from his third place grid position behind Diaz.
Allmendinger's nose cone struck and punctured Diaz's right rear tire in the
process.
Diaz dropped from first place to 15th during a pit stop. However,
he then passed four cars in the next 27 laps and claimed the race's fastest
lap on Lap 27. He then bettered that time on Lap 30. Diaz was the only
driver in the field who had descending lap times as the race progressed
Diaz was waylaid again in round two at Long Beach. After starting
fourth, Diaz struck another car that was involved in an incident in a blind
corner. Diaz dropped to 12th before mounting another aggressive to finish
sixth place.
Milwaukee was equally unkind and unfair when Diaz was sidelined
midway in the race with a "blown motor." To make things worse, Diaz's was
running the third fastest lap times of any car on the track. Laguna Seca
offered somewhat of a respite as Diaz finished sixth place.
The 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship is the 14th year that
Dorricott Racing has fielded an open-wheel racing team. Besides claiming
runner-up honors in the 2000 Dayton
Indy Lights Championship, Dorricott Racing won the 1999 and 2001 Dayton
Indy Lights Championship and the 2002 Toyota Atlantic Championship.
Detailed race results, team, and sponsor information are available on
Dorricott Racing's official web site, http://www.dorricottracing.com.
Dorricott Racing alumni have succeeded worldwide in open-wheel
racing and other highly regarded motorsports series. Former drivers include
current CART Champ Car star Oriol Servia (Patrick Racing), Casey Mears
(NASCAR Winston Cup), Townsend Bell (F3000), Jason Bright (Australian V8
Supercar), Robbie Buhl (IRL), 2002 Toyota Atlantic Champion Jon Fogarty,
Luiz Garcia Jr., Shigeaki Hattori, Sports Car standout Philipp Peter,
Damien Faulkner, Alex Gurney, Bob Dorricott Jr., and IRL driver and former
Motocross champion Jeff Ward.
Speed Channel will provide a delayed telecast of the Toyota
Atlantic Championship at Portland on Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00
a.m. PT).
Schedule: Fri. June 20: Practice 8:45 - 9:15 a.m.
(all times PT)
Provisional Qualifying, 12:50 - 1:30 p.m.
Sat. June 21: Final Qualifying 9:05 - 9:45 a.m.
RACE 4:00 - 5:00 p.m.
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