Conteintial Tire Series - Kinetic Motorsports BMW Has Great Start, Bad Finish

Elkhart Lake, June 24, 2011: The #33 Kinetic Motorsports BMW M3 E92 of Jade Buford and new co-driver Ben Clucas had a very promising start to the race at Road America on Friday, June 24. However, trouble ensued after a restart on Lap 28 when Buford was literally driven into a wall, putting an end to their race. Jade was hit from behind and then run into the wall by another car, causing irreparable damage to the #33 BMW.

Ben Clucas, who filled in for Bryan Sellers for the weekend, qualified the car a stellar third position in his first Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge appearance. The team was hoping to keep that pace. The start of the race, as well as Jade's stint, went extremely well. However, bad luck struck when the BMW got caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although this result was not what Kinetic had expected, no one on the team was to blame, and they plan to repair the car and be ready for another shot at Laguna.

Russell Smith, owner, Kinetic Motorsports:

"The 33 had a fantastic start to the race. Ben did an unbelievable job. He was very professional, stayed out of trouble, and we were very happy with what he did. He brought back a clean car for Jade to take over. There was a battle between some of the GS cars, and that led to a whole cascade of things going on further down the field. Everyone checked up and Jade had nowhere to go and was literally just run into the wall. He was doing very good so it was unfortunate things happened the way they did. No one here to blame, and it's a sad day for that car because it had a shot."

Jade Buford, driver #33 Kinetic Motorsports BMW M3 E92:

"We were actually doing really well running up top. Our pit stop went well and we were lucky that we were already in the pits when we caught a caution. When the race went back to green, things were going pretty smoothly, other than me getting railroaded down in turn 5, and quite a few cars got by me. After that, we all got back in line and came back on the front straight. I had a good run on the 46 car, and I could see something like an accident was happening halfway up the hill. I initially checked up, and got hit pretty hard from behind, and from there on I didn't hit the brakes again. I was up to about the door of the 97 car, and he ran out of road, too, and came over and put us both in the wall."

Ben Clucas, driver #33 Kinetic Motorsports BMW M3 E92:

"I didn't quite have the pace I had in qualifying. We dropped down to fifth when we came into the pits. For my first race with the team, I was pretty happy. I just tried to keep my nose clean and hand over the car to Jade in one piece. Overall, nothing too disappointing."