Honda Michelin Series Race 4 Results from Shannonville

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Honda Michelin Series Race 4 Results from Shannonville

DIDIER SCHRAENEN WINS SATURDAY'S RACE OF THE HONDA / MICHELIN
DOUBLEHEADER AT SHANNONVILLE MOTORSPORT PARK

Shannonville, Ontario (July 3, 2004) - In an action packed race,
veteran Didier Schraenen of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec, won Round
Four of the Honda / Michelin Series held Saturday at Shannonville
Motorsport Park. The Énergie/NAPA/RDS driver edged Montreal's Kuno
Wittmer by 1.471 seconds after a hard fought nose-to-tail 18-lap
battle. Starting from pole position alongside Didier, Kuno led the
first lap with his Honda de Sigi Civic DX Coupe, but touched both
curbs in the esses on the following lap, leaving an opening that
Schraenen quickly took to move into the lead for the rest of the
race. Nick Wittmer finished third, but he had his hands full with
Normand Boyer of Sainte-Agathe, Quebec, who finished fourth,
following the provisional race results, ahead of Montrealer Denis
Baillargeon, Ontario drivers Alex Penfold of Georgetown and Ryan
Kelly of London.

Schraenen last raced on this track in 1998 and winning the Formula
1600 race that day. ''This is a great day,'' said Schraenen who has
waited six years to step to the top rung of the podium. ''I'm
two-for-two in my last two races here, and I'm going to make it
three-for-three (referring to the second half of the doubleheader to
be run Sunday). Kuno (Wittmer) made only one mistake in this race and
I took advantage of it. Later on, I also made a one, but he was too
far behind at that point to make any kind of pass on me.''

As for Kuno, he was happy with the results after finishing 8th in the
last race at Mosport. ''This is my first podium since the opening
round of the season,'' said the eldest of the two Wittmer brothers.
''After Didier (Schraenen) passed me, I decided to follow him instead
of fighting with him because I knew that we would pull away from the
group behind us that was jostling for positions on each corner. I
often closed the gap, but when I did, he made no mistakes. We had a
lot of fun out there.''

Jostling they were and there was much bumping and grinding in the
group behind the two leaders. Starting third, Nick Wittmer was down
to sixth on lap 3 after a bad start. By lap 10, he was fifth, but on
the next one he moved first past the Pfaff Leasing Honda of Alex
Penfold and, several corners later, the Lombardi Honda of Normand
Boyer to retake the third place that was his at the start of the
race. He then fended off all of Boyer's moves to earn his first
podium of the season.

''After the bad start, I went all out for the rest of the race,''
said Nick Wittmer, who was immediately off to Saint-Eustache, Quebec
where he was scheduled to defend his lead in the standings of the
local Modified Legend Series. ''After I took third place, I knew I
was too far back to catch the leaders, and Normand was right on my
tail. He fought hard, but it was clean. There is always a bit of
pushing and shoving in this type of series because the cars are
identical. But, I prevailed and that's what matters.''

Top 5 in the provisional points standings after 4 races are Steven
Laporte with 92 points, one more than race winner Didier Schraenen.
Third place is held by Frédérick Lelièvre of Mont-Joli, Québec who
was punted off track after making a driver's mistake that sent him
down to ninth place after starting fifth. Normand Boyer is fourth
with 83 points, followed by Denis Baillargeon who finished fifth in
today's race.

In qualifying earlier...
In qualifying earlier in the afternoon, Kuno Wittmer picked-up his
first pole of the season, lapping the 2.47 Pro Track in 1:22.331 for
an average speed of 108.003 km/h. He shared his front row with Didier
Schraenen (1:22.464). The second row was filled by Nick Wittmer
(1:22.822) and rookie Alex Penfold.

Race action resumes...
Race action for the Honda / Michelin Series' Round 5 at Shannonville
resumes Sunday morning with a 30-minute qualifying session at 9:30
a.m., followed by the 18-lap Round 5 race at 1:10 p.m.

The Honda / Michelin Challenge Series is a 10-race series held over
nine weekends and is contested in Ontario (Mosport and Shannonville)
and Québec (Montréal, Trois-Rivières, Saint-Eustache and
Mont-Tremblant).

The stock Honda Civic DX Coupes are equipped with Michelin Pilot
Sport Cup tires, and provide a truly low cost form of motor racing.
The series was re-introduced to encourage young drivers to enter the
sport, but it did not deter some veterans from returning to the
series. The single-make Championship Series gives drivers the
opportunity the showcase their talent in identical cars.

The road racing series was originally launched in 1976 with the Honda
Civic Hatchback.  During its 17-year run, the series has attracted
more than 400 racers.  Among the Canadian race drivers who have
competed in this series are Richard Spénard, Tony Morris, Frank
Allers, Marc Dancose and Jacques Villeneuve, brother of the late
Formula 1 driver Gilles Villeneuve.

The series is sanctioned by ASN Canada FIA and sponsored by Honda
Canada Inc., and Michelin North America (Canada) Inc. The Honda Civic
has been the top-selling passenger car in Canada for the past six
years.  The Honda / Michelin Challenge Series reinforces the
fun-to-drive aspects of the Civic and will be further supported by
its reputation for quality, reliability and durability.

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