Hearn Motorsports Returns to Top-Five at PPIR Oval

Hearn Motorsports Returns to Top-Five at PPIR Oval

  

 


FOUNTAIN, Col., July 8, 2005 - Hearn Motorsports made its way back into the
top-five in a Star Mazda Series North American Championship event at Pike
Peak International Raceway (PPIR) in convincing style. Again showing the
prowess of the organization itself, the team overcame what could have been a
devastating last minute change to score its third top-five finish of the
five race-old season. The PPIR oval's Rocky Mountain Classic played host to
the only oval appearance of the open wheel, formula car series and one of
the most impressive runs the series has seen to date. Michael Potekhen
(Silverthorne, Col.) was a last minute replacement for Hearn-regular Brian
Thienes (Huntington Beach, Calif.) in the No. 77 Thienes Engineering/ Hearn
Motorsports Mazda and made the most of it. Starting last in the 29-car
field, Potekhen charged to the front finishing only a second behind the
winner when the checkered flag flew on the 75th lap of the one-mile oval. 

 

Potekhen's impressive run came after Thienes had qualified a career-best
second for the event. However, a minor rules violation immediately following
Thienes' qualifying run disqualified the third-year Star Mazda driver and
relegated him to the back of the field. After being directed to the garage
area by a Series official rather than to the post-qualifying technical
inspection, Thienes returned to the team's transporter following his
qualifying laps. Because he was to have gone directly to inspection, his
qualifying times were disallowed forcing the Thienes Engineering entry to
start from the back of the field. A disagreement over whether the
"punishment fit the crime" ensued and a final decision drug out over the
next 24 hours. In the end, due to the disagreement and not the original
infraction, Thienes was not allowed to compete in the event as a driver.
However, the No. 77- which passed every phase of the inspection- was allowed
to start at the back of the field. Hearn and Thienes agreed to allow
Potekhen to run the car.

 

Potekhen and the Hearn team put on an overwhelming display, slicing through
the field in the short event. As the Hearn entry entered the top-five for
the first time, a yellow flag waved late in the going. To the disappointment
of Potekhen's home state crowd, when the green flag flew with only
three-miles left in the race, he was not able to claw his way into the
top-three. Despite knowing they had one of the quickest cars on the track,
the Darrel Soppe (Phoenix, Ariz.) engineered team hoped only to make the
finish before the race started. When one considers that the agreement for
Potekhen to race was reached three hours before the drop of the green flag,
he had few practice laps leading into the race and had not driven a Star
Mazda since the season-ending race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in October
of last year, a top-five was an unexpected reward for a hard weekend.

 

Hearn Motorsports will  next race  in the Star Mazda North American
championship presented by Goodyear at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif. on
July  16 and 17th. 




 

 

Richie Hearn, owner: "If we had just finished that race after everything
that happened, I would have been happy. To come out of here with another
top-five is kind of surprising to be honest. Michael really ran a good race.
He was the only guy that was passing anyone all race long. I am disappointed
for Brian because he really was running well in qualifying and practice.
That was his best chance so far in his career to start up front and race
with the front pack. I am really pleased with the team's performance though.
Everyone worked very hard and never let down. We had the truck packed and
were ready to go home before the decision to have Potekhen run the car. As
soon as we decided to race, the team stepped right back up to the job at
hand."

 

Michael Potekhen, driver: "The Hearn Motorsports car was incredible today
and was definitely capable of winning. It's been about six months since I've
raced anything and I only had a few laps yesterday to shake off the dust.
But, having the car this good really helped me back into the flow. I have to
thank Richie Hearn and Brian Thienes for putting me in the car. If it
weren't for the caution flag at the end, we could've made the podium." 

 

For more on Hearn Motorsports and its 2005 Pro Formula Mazda Series' effort
please visit www.RichieHearn.com <http://www.richiehearn.com/> . More on
Brian Thienes can be found at www.ThienesEngineering.com
<http://www.thienesengineering.com/>  .

 

 

Eric McComb, Star Mazda, assisted in the writing of the release.