Tim Sauter, Lester Buildings season ends at Memphis

October 28th, Memphis Motorsports Park. Tim Sauter and the Lester Buildings team’s 2006 NASCAR Busch Series season came to a rather uneventful end with a 31st place finish at the Sam’s Town 250. 2006 Points Champion Kevin Harvick won the event, his eighth victory of the season.

Sauter qualified 36th for the race with a time of 23.37 seconds. “The car was tight throughout practice and Ricky (crew chief Ricky Pearson) and the guys changed allot of things but we were never able to get the car to roll through the corners.”

Right after the green flag flew, Sauter fell back to 41st position as the seven Cup drivers who had flown to Memphis from Atlanta had to start at the tail of the field for not qualifying their own cars began to quickly move to the front of the field. Sauter then worked his way back to 35th position when the first caution flew on lap 45.

A series of cautions occurred through the middle stages of the race including one for Sauter who was spun from behind by Juan Pablo Montoya on lap 107. Tim was nearly collected in several of the other cautions but was able to avoid contact each time. In all the caution flag flew a record tying fifteen times during the race.

“We just could not get the car to turn in the center of the corner,” Tim said after the race concluded. “We had troubles with the brakes fading once they got hot, the pedal would just come and go. So after the spin, I just tried to stay out of trouble. There was no reason to race anyone hard because were on a lap of our own for most of the second half of the race. I wasn’t going to tear up the car when there was nothing to gain.”

The Sams Town 250 was the last race for Sauter and McGill Motorsports, who will go separate ways with three races to go in the season. “The McGill’s have done a first class job of representing Lester Buildings this year,” said Lester Building Vice President Larry Lembrich. “It’s tough for a small team to be competitive with all the Cup teams that have been competing in the Busch Series this year.”

Lester Buildings is committed to motorsports marketing and is planning to support Tim Sauter again in 2007. “Lester’s been with Tim for four years, and we feel he represents our company very well. We don’t have anything signed for next year yet but we should have some things finalized shortly,” Lembrich added.

To learn more about Lester Buildings, one of the largest manufacturers of engineered, wood frame building systems in the United States visit www.lesterbuildings.com.