INDY LIGHTS: Casey Mears and Jason Bright threatening the series lead
22 June 2000
Posted By Terry
Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
SUNNYVALE, Calif.- For Dorricott Racing's Casey
Mears, Jason Bright, and Townsend Bell, the 2000 Dayton Indy Lights
Championship is taking shape and confirming again that Dorricott Racing's
driver trio is one of Indy Lights most potent teams' - a team that is
preparing its assault on Portland International Raceway and round four of
the 12-race series, Sunday, June 25.
The 38 lap/74.746 mile Indy Lights sprint is scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m. (PT) and is the featured support race to the Freightliner/G.I. Joe's 200, presented by Texaco, for the CART FedEx Championship Series race later that day.
Casey Mears, of Bakersfield, Calif., is taking a commanding presence in his relentless pursuit of Dayton Indy Lights Championship. A sense of "momentum" is building in the "Mears camp" particularly considering his most recent performance at Detroit where he started on the outside poll and finished third place. Mears, who is the son of legendary Off-Road World Champion and Dorricott Racing team manager Roger Mears, opened the season with back-to-back fifth place finishes at Long Beach and Milwaukee in the Dorricott Racing/Sooner Trailer Lola.
Jason Bright, of Gold Coast, Australia, is making his first competitive appearance at Portland where he has one day of testing to his credit. Bright had a disappointing weekend at Belle Isle last Sunday when he failed to finish the race after coming off consecutive second place finishes at Long Beach and Milwaukee. Qualifying, however, has been a season-long strength as evidenced by starting third at Long Beach, second at Milwaukee, and fifth at Detroit. Bright believes his single test day at Portland provided him with the needed basics to run a solid race around the 1.967-mile permanent road circuit.
"Dorricott Racing was involved in a two-day group test at PIR awhile back," said Bright. "I could only participate on the first day. It was a half and half weather day at Portland when I tested last month. It was wet in the morning but then we ran about three hours on a dry track in the afternoon. It was the best of both worlds. We missed out on a full second day because I had to fly back in Australia for our announcement about running in the Honda 300 in Queensland. I don't think it hurt us too much. The car was quick and I adapted to the track fairly well. We have a good set-up for Portland and I enjoy that style of road course."
Townsend Bell, of Costa Mesa, Calif., is beginning to showcase his abilities and Portland is the type of circuit he could readily outdistance many in Indy Lights. Bell is coming off an outstanding driving display at Detroit where he started 12th and finished seventh place. His momentum began building in round two at Milwaukee where started eighth and finished sixth in the Dorricott Racing prepared DirecPC Lola. Milwaukee and Detroit were essentially error free races and with little interference from other drivers. His Indy Lights debut at Long Beach was poisoned, however, when he was struck by another car early in the race and forced to retire in 17th place.
By virtue of scoring his sixth career podium finish in Indy Lights competition at Detroit, Mears is in second place in the Indy Lights championship with 34 points. Bright is close behind with 32 points and tied with Jonny Kane for third place. Bell is ninth place in the championship with 14 points.
ESPN2 will provide a delayed telecast of the Portland Indy Lights race, Saturday, July 1, from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. ET (2:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. PT).
Text provided by James Hyneman
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