KLAUS GRAF EARNS HARD FOUGHT PODIUM
MEDIA CONTACT: Bruce Lyon brucel@rocketsportsracing.com (517) 337-2600 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE KLAUS GRAF EARNS HARD FOUGHT PODIUM IN THE CYTOMAX SPORT DRINK 100 SAN JOSE, Calif. (July 30, 2005) 2005 Trans-Am series Rookie-of-the-Year contender, Klaus Graf drove his No. 7 Jaguar R Performance XKR to his third podium finish of the year after charging from the rear of the field twice in the Cytomax Sport Drink 100. Rocketsports teammate, Tomy Drissi ran as high as third behind eventual winner Boris Said and runner-up Greg Pickett before a mechanical issue sidelined the No. 5 Four Brothers the Movie Jaguar. Working his way toward the front, Graf was running third when contact with another competitor sent him to the pits for rear tires. Exceeding the pit road speed limit, the German native was black flagged for the first of two times, the other was for a late race incident with Randy Ruhlman for avoidable contact. In a late race attempt for the victory, his Rocketsports crew brought him in for four fresh tires with seven laps to go. The gamble didn’t pay off as the black flag for contact with Ruhlman put him too far behind the leaders. “I drove through pit lane four or five times today,” said Graf. “It was a good race, I had sticker tires at the end. I wasn’t really trying to pass Randy but he braked very early and I hit him in the back and spun him around. With the black flag for that I had to drive through pit lane again then Boris and Greg were too far ahead.” Driving a smart race on the challenging 1.44-mile temporary street circuit, Drissi charged from his 11th place starting position to third on lap 11. On lap 45 mechanical issues forced him to park his Jaguar ending his streak of five consecutive top-ten finish this season. “I really thought we had a chance to win this one,” declared the Hollywood native. “If not the win at least a podium finish. I wanted to get up and run with Boris and Greg, it would have been fun to mix it up with them but something broke and ended our day early.” Watch the taped-delayed excitement of the Cytomax Sports Drink 100 from San Jose on Sunday, August 7th on SPEED Channel at 12:30 pm Eastern time. -RSR- Subscriptions: [Trans Am Press Releases] Change subscriptions: http://rocket.cmagic.com/index.php?option=com_mamml&Itemid=&action=unregistered&type=unregistered&userid=2379&test=6a5e400455253ffe31d6baa62f1590c7