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CART: Bryan Herta Post Race Notes and Quotes, Portland

26 June 2000

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

Bryan Herta

#55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard
Freightliner/G.I. Joes 200 Race Notes/Quotes
Round 8 of 20 on the 2000 CART FedEx Championship Series
Saturday, June 25, 2000 -- At Portland International Raceway Bryan Herta brought the #55 Hollywood/Mo Nunn Racing Mercedes-Benz Reynard home in 16th place in todays Freightliner/G.I. Joes 200 at Portland International Raceway. Herta, who is subbing for the injured Tony Kanaan, started 20th and quickly moved up to 15th after successfully getting through a multi-car pileup on the first turn of the very first lap. He lost two laps during the opening round of pit stops, however, when the buckeye flap on the fuel filler got stuck, necessitating a lengthy second stop one lap later to free the device and fill the fuel tank. He lost a third lap on the second round of pit stops after a pit lane entry line violation, for which he was penalized with a drive-through penalty.

Gil de Ferran won his second race of the year today, with Roberto Moreno finishing second and Christian Fittipaldi.

The next stop on the 20-race schedule is next weekends Round 9, the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland.

BRYAN HERTA

"Overall, it was a disappointing weekend for us. It was hard to have very high expectations coming in, since I hadnt had a chance to drive the car until the first practice session on Friday morning. We were struggling with the set-up from the get-go. Still, we made slight gains as we went along. Coming into the race, I though we had a car that I could run hard, stay out of trouble with, and score some points. Unfortunately, that didnt happen, for, among other reasons, because we didnt have very good luck. We had opportunities where I thought we could have made some gains on the racetrack, but they went away before we knew it. I think we learned a lot in the race itself ... things that hopefully will help us in a big way next weekend."

MORRIS NUNN

"What can you say after a weekend like we had? The silver lining is that we were running very competitively as the race went along. Bryan did a very good job. He had one of the fastest laps in the race before all was said and done, so thats definitely something to build upon as we head to Cleveland. As for all the bad breaks weve had, lately, well just leave that here on the West Coast."

Text provided by Laz Denes

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