Intersport Racing Long Beach Report

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: johnt@c2group.com

Intersport Racing's Podium Run Thwarted by Late-Race Spin

Long Beach, Calif. – Intersport Racing fought cool weather conditions  
and overcame a late-race spin to finish fourth in the LMP1 category in  
Saturday's Tequlia Patron American Le Mans Series at Long Beach. The  
No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER of Jon and Clint Field ran  
as high as eighth overall before dropping back after a sequence of pit  
stops and a late-race spin on cold tires.

Jon Field, who qualified the car 11th overall on Friday, moved up to  
eighth in the opening laps before over braking into Turn 1 on a  
restart while on cold tires. Luckily, the veteran driver avoided any  
contact with other cars and only lost a few seconds on the track.

Field quickly climbed back into 10th before pitting at the 45-minute  
mark, handing over to son, and team owner, Clint. As Jon entered pit  
road for four Dunlop tires and a full tank of E85 fuel, his pit speed  
limiter malfunctioned. As a precaution he slowed down, so not to  
receive a speeding infraction.

"In the beginning we were running real well and then my tires went  
through a heat cycle," Jon said of his stint. "I couldn't get heat  
back in them, so I avoided an incident and went straight. Then I came  
in [the pits]. I hit the pit lane speed limiter. The throttle shot way  
past it like it was going at speed, so I slowed it down."

However, the LMP1 class-leading Audi of Lucas Luhr was coming in  
directly behind Jon. The Audi ended up making contact with the Lola  
while on pit road. No harm, no foul for either as they both pitted and  
continued without damage.

Clint then jumped into the seat of the Very Berry Exotics machine and  
continued the strong run. He pitted again at the one hour, 10-minute  
mark for fuel-only while under yellow. But as soon as he restarted,  
the front undertray came loose, forcing Clint back to the pits for a  
replacement front nose.

Once fixed, Clint went back out but suffered a spin while exiting Turn  
11 on cold tires. He was unable to reverse the car, bringing out a  
yellow. After getting assistance from track marshals, Clint rejoined  
and completed the 100-minute race, finishing fourth in LMP1.

"Dad had a really good opening stint," Clint said. "When I got in, our  
plan was to leave the tires on because we been having trouble getting  
the tires up to temperature. So we put the tires on and went back out  
and had trouble getting the temperature back in them after they've  
been worn. That's why I was struggling with the first couple of laps."

Clint continued: "We had a problem with the suspension piece again. It  
broke on the front straightaway. We came in, fixed that and the same  
problem: tires. It kept locking up, no grip, nothing. I spun coming  
out of the hairpin. It was not a good day."

Building up heat in the tires proved to be a challenge all race long  
for Intersport. Team manager Brian Alder said cooler weather  
conditions on Saturday played a factor in getting sufficient traction  
to the car on the 11-turn, 1.968-mile street circuit.

"The crew did a good job with the quick nose change," Alder noted.  
"Other than that, we were looking for a third place podium before that  
happened. And then the temperature dropped dramatically in the last  
hour and caught Clint out in the last corner. He was just trying to  
get back up to speed."

After enduring two tight and twisty street circuits, Intersport Racing  
is looking forward to getting back to permanent road course venues.  
The next round of the series takes the team to Miller Motorsports Park  
for a two-hour, 45-minute race on the outer course layout. Regular co- 
driver Richard Berry, who didn't drive at Long Beach on Saturday, is  
especially looking forward to getting more seat time in the races to  
come.

"A good old purpose-built racetrack for this car will be a little bit  
better," Clint said. "We'll try to fight with them a little more. The  
car, the engine, is great. We just got to get a little more  
development on the tires."

The Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand  
and Little America Hotels is scheduled for May 16-18. SPEED Channel  
will provide live coverage of the race starting at 3:00 p.m. EST on  
May 18.

Very Berry Exotics specializes in buying and selling some of the  
world's more exotics and hard to find automobiles. Not only do they  
sell cars already in the inventory, Very Berry Exotics will search for  
automobiles that are their customer's dream cars. Company owner  
Richard Berry founded Very Berry Exotics in 2004 and is himself a racer.

The American Le Mans Series is the premium brand of motorsport in  
North America, featuring high-tech sports cars from the most  
prestigious automobile manufacturers in the world. With its direct  
link to the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, its unique  
four classes of competition showcase exotic prototypes (LMP1 and LMP2  
classes) and sophisticated production-based GT cars (GT1 and GT2  
classes), all competing on the track at the same time. With a 12-race  
schedule in 2008, the American Le Mans Series competes at premier road  
racing tracks across North America and at selected temporary street  
circuits in major urban markets. With a television package that  
includes five network broadcasts on ABC and NBC as well as seven live  
telecasts on SPEED, plus live broadcasts across Europe, the Series  
delivers a global marketing platform that is unmatched in motorsports.  
The Series, founded in 1999 by Georgia entrepreneur Don Panoz,  
represents a mirror image to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, the  
world's most famous and authentic automobile race. The American Le  
Mans Series features elite marques such as Acura, Aston Martin, Audi,  
Corvette, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, Mazda, Panoz and Porsche, and premium  
brands such as Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho, Lowe's, EPIC, Shell, DHL,  
Hyatt Hotels, XM Radio and many others. The teams competing in the  
Series range from top professional teams such as Penske Racing,  
Andretti Green Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing to top-level  
independent teams such as Dyson Racing and Intersport Racing.

The American Le Mans Series features technical rules that not only  
allow new technology, but actually encourage auto manufacturers to  
introduce new innovations into the racing environment as a means of  
rapid development for production car application. The Series is the  
only motorsports body in the world that features multiple street-legal  
alternative fuel sources - clean diesel, E10 gasoline and E85  
cellulosic (non-feedstock) ethanol. Through partnerships with diesel  
fuel supplier Shell, VP Racing Fuels and EPIC (Ethanol Promotion and  
Information Council), the American Le Mans Series has taken the global  
leadership role in motorsports for the development of alternative fuel  
technology and its practical use in production cars.

Photo Credit: John Thawley ~ Creative Communications Group



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John Thawley  ~  Creative Communications Group ~ 248.227.0110