SAMAX - Utah qualifying

Dave Lacey qualified the No. 17 SAMAX/ Doncaster Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup
car ninth on the GT grid for Saturday's nine-hour Rolex Sports Car Series
race at Miller Motorsports Park. He turned a fast lap of three minutes 0.90
seconds on the 4.486-mile road course for the start position. He was
disappointed with the qualifying time, after the team's strong performance
in practice on Thursday.

 

"We're a little bit disappointed with qualifying," he said. "We had a great
car last night in the dark, but overnight and as the sun's come out, the
track temperature went up by about 20 degrees, so it's significantly changed
the handling of the car. We went from a fairly neutral car last night to a
pretty oversteery car this morning. We're going to look at the data and try
to make some changes overnight again. We're just looking for a driveable car
for the race, something that's fairly neutral and will allow us to be quick
over the nine hours."

 

Lacey will drive the first race stint on Saturday, followed by Greg Wilkins
and Rob Bell.

 

race med

 

Rob Bell found a great painkiller last month – racing. He decided to warm up
for a Le Mans Series race by playing soccer, but the potential cardio
benefit disappeared with a knee injury. Two days later, he hobbled to the
track on crutches, but was quickly up to speed on the demanding Nürburgring
circuit in Germany.

 

"I decided to do a bit of fitness work with some friends and thought it
would be a good idea to play football – soccer – and within two minutes of
playing, went over on my knee and damaged all the ligaments and cartilage in
my knee. So I went to the race on crutches," he said. "The team boss wasn't
too happy, but it didn't really affect me in the car. I strapped it up and
put some painkillers on and some spray and some gel and it was cool, no
problem. We didn't win the race, but we were quick!"

 

biking in Utah

 

Dave Lacey wants to return to Utah – with two wheels instead of four. A new
recruit to mountain-biking, he says some of the best trails are south of
Salt Lake City. And the sport matches his passion for racing.

 

"Bikes these days have incredible technology," he explained. "They've got
carbon [fiber], they've got 27 gears, they've got suspensions that are
adjustable, they've got rebound and bump [mechanical adjustments] and tire
strategies, so it's a lot like racing. It's physical like racing and it
demands a certain amount of visual acuity. There are a lot of synergies that
are consistent with racing."

 

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Sylvia Proudfoot
HYPERLINK "mailto:sylvia@spurcom.ca"sylvia@spurcom.ca
403 287 3945