Cayman Interseries - Sandridge Takes 45-Minute Cayman Interseries Victory To Close Rennsport Reunion

MONTEREY, October 17, 2011: Mark Sandridge took control when race leader Lee Davis fell victim to lapped traffic to score a strong victory in the final race of Sunday’s Cayman Interseries doubleheader at Rennsport Reunion IV at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.

Sandridge, who drives a white and red-and-yellow striped No. 49 Cayman S that is modeled after his 1994 IMSA Champion Team Salad Porsche 911 RSR, was running second to Davis at the halfway point of the 45-minute race when opportunity knocked.

“It’s pretty rewarding,” Sandridge said. “Yesterday I was pretty down after qualifying when I ran fourth, so I went home, we studied the films, and I think we just worked as hard as anybody did, although you have to give Lee credit, he had the field covered. He would have won the thing hands up, and I would have been happy with second, quite frankly. You just had to be patient and that’s probably why I was a little slower, I was probably a little more patient than most people.”

Davis led from the drop of the green flag and was maintaining a comfortable lead over Sandridge when a lapped backmarker forced him off the track and into the wall. Davis was uninjured but his No. 33 Cayman S suffered significant left-side damage.

“You never have it won until the checkered flag falls and you come across it first,” Davis said. “It’s really disappointing, and I just have to chalk it up to one of those racing things, I guess, and be proud of what I did up to that point. I had a pretty good lead up until then, won the sprint race this morning, and now I am looking forward to Daytona.”

Henry Davis – no relation to Lee Davis – finished second to cap a strong weekend in his CARS-prepared No. 21 Cayman S that wears the classic paint scheme of the silver Martini Porsche 917s. Davis was delighted with both the podium finish and the Rennsport event itself.

“The guys at Napleton did a fabulous job,” Davis said. “What a great series they created, and I want to thank Ron Barnaba and everybody. Great event, great weather and a great track. The organization they have out here at Laguna Seca is fantastic. Nobody else has it together like these guys do, everything just runs perfectly.”

Jim Bacus, making his first race start of the year in his purple and green Cayman S modeled after the famous Martini “Hippy” Porsche 917LH, drove a smart race to finish in third place.

In the Sportsman class, Will Conniff went two-for-two Sunday when he won the 45-minute finale after also taking the morning sprint in a yellow No. 55 Cayman S themed after a David Piper Racing/Sandeman Porsche 917K.

“Top weekend,” Conniff said. “I got in this for the social aspect, but racing with Napleton, I run with a great group of guys. This was a rental this weekend but it was smoking, as good as it gets. I have to thank the crew, everyone here, and it was a perfect weekend for me.”

Conniff shared the afternoon podium with second-place finisher Tony Sitko, who drives his red No. 70 Cayman S that is a replica of the Le Mans class-winning Dick Barbour Racing Porsche 935. Randy Cassling also doubled up on podium showings and finished third for the second time Sunday in his black, yellow and red No. 18 Cayman S that pays tribute to the Le Mans winning factory Shell/Dunlop Porsche 962.

Conniff, who improved his lap times by nearly 10 seconds from Friday practice, was awarded the JRZ Suspension Engineering “Fine Tuning Award” as the competitor showing the most progress by improving car setup, on-track performance and lap times.

Lee Davis was awarded the inaugural Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) “Porsche Spirit” award as the competitor that best exemplified, on and off the track, the outstanding attributes of Porsche competition excellence and sportsmanship throughout Rennsport Reunion weekend.

Next up for the Cayman Interseries is the season-ending Daytona Continental Historic Races at Daytona International Speedway, November 9 – 13.

Noteworthy

- Among the record number of Cayman Interseries competitors racing at Rennsport Reunion this weekend was Ed Napleton, President of the Napleton Auto Group, the parent organization of Cayman Interseries organizers and owners Napleton Porsche of Westmont in Chicago. “I haven’t seen any of the other events, but all I can tell you is that I was very impressed with this,” Napleton said. “Everything here was outstanding. I think all of the people are high caliber, a nice group and they kind of mesh well together. When you put an event on like this and have a high level of the participants enjoy themselves, it is a tribute to what Ron (Barnaba) and his staff have done to make it click. It is done with our approval as a company, but the actual events take so much work. It’s Ron’s passion and I am glad to see that we were able to satisfy all of these people and make a really nice happening out here. It is like Woodstock for adults.”

- The Sebring Cayman Interseries weekend also wrapped up Sunday with Bill Riddell taking his second sprint race win of the weekend in his green No. 80 Cayman S that pays tribute to a David Piper Racing Porsche 917K. Riddell also earned the Sebring JRZ Suspension Engineering “Fine Tuning Award.” “The times kept coming down,” Riddell said. “We did some really good tuning this weekend.”