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USRRC Fast Facts; Dyson Goes for Two-In-a-Row

21 May 1999

USRRC RETURNS TO ACTION: After a long layoff of nearly four months, the United States Road Racing Championship is ready for Round Two of the 1999 season at the traditional Dodge Dealers Grand Prix of Lime Rock Park on Memorial Day Weekend, May 28-31. Competing on the weekend will be the Can-Am Championship, along with GT2 and GT3 in a two-hour, 15 minute contest. The race will be broadcast live on the Speedvision Network, beginning Monday at 2:30 p.m. (EDT).

DYSON GOES FOR TWO-IN-A-ROW: The Dyson Racing Team and its No. 16 and 20 Goodyear/Bosch/Hella Riley & Scott Fords will go for its second-straight Dodge Dealers Grand Prix win on Memorial Day, having finally won its home track race last year. While the Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based (less than one hour from LRP) team had previously won on the circuit in IMSAs GTP class, it wasnt until 1998 that it took its first win since changing to the open-top prototype formula, having previously finishing second three-straight times to a Doran Racing-prepared Ferrari. Team owner Rob Dyson, of Pleasant Valley, N.Y., said the team was glad get the monkey off its back in 1998, but felt repeating in 1999 would not be an easy task.

"We love competing against the Doran team and were always needling one another," said Dyson. "The cars are evenly matched at Lime Rock, so its going to be tough. I saw a lot of smiles on our friends faces who were there after we won. It was nice to not have to say Well, we were close, and it definitely made for a better headline in the local papers." The Dyson team comes off of its second Rolex 24 At Daytona win in three years, January 31, and will have Britons James Weaver and Andy Wallace in the No. 16 entry, with Elliott Forbes-Robinson and Butch Leitzinger in the No. 20 car.

FERRARI READY TO REGAIN CONTROL: Dyson Racing may have broken the Ferrari streak last year, but will be out to regain supremacy with the No. 27 Lista/Michelin/MOMO and No. 36 Michelin/MOMO entries of Doran Racing. Swiss driver Fredy Lienhard has his American headquarters for Lista in Massachusetts, so he will no doubt have a large cheering section for the No. 27 car he shares with Didier Theys. Jim Matthews, owner of the No. 36 entry, has yet to announce his co-driver, but will no doubt be fast in the car which led the Rolex 24 At Daytona prior to a third-place finish this year. Ferraris took the first four open-cockpit wins at Lime Rock, beginning in 1994 when now retired Gianpiero Moretti put a string of three-straight wins together with co-drivers Eliseo Salazar (1994), Wayne Taylor (1995) and Max Papis (1996). Andrea Montermini and Antonio Hermann took the win in 1997, again in a car prepared by the Cincinnati-based Doran Racing Team.

SUPPORT NET, INTERSPORT TEAMS TO MOUNT CHALLENGE: While history would show that the Doran and Dyson teams lead the way at Lime Rock Park, the No. 8 Support Net Riley & Scott Ford and No. 28 Banana Joes Lola Ford from Intersport Racing are certainly capable front-runners. Scott Schubot and Henry Camferdam drove the Support Net car to a hard-fought sixth place in 1998. Jon Field finished ninth after starting fifth in a Riley & Scott Ford, and switches to the new Lola chassis for 1999. Both cars are knocking on the door for a podium finish at Lime Rock.

BMWS LEAD GT FIELD: Defending GT2 and GT3 race champion Prototype Technology Group will field three cars to defend its 1998 GT3 win with an all-star cast of Brian Cunningham, Peter Cunningham, Boris Said, Brian Simo, Hans Stuck and Johannes van Overbeek driving the No. 6, 7 and 10 Yokohama/Flextronics/Level One BMW M3s. Other top GT3 entries include the Aspen Knolls BMW M3, Pumpelly Racing Porsche and the G&W Motorsports Porsche. In GT2, only three cars are entered, but a good battle should ensue between the Porsche GT2 of Zac Brown and Dr. Stephen Earle and the Mosler Intruder of Canadian open-wheel star Stephane Roy and Loic DePailler, son of the late Formula One star Patrick DePailler.

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