Fort Worth Star-Telegram from Fort Worth, Texas • 34

14C Monday March 5 2CX)1 star telegram com MOTORSPORTS Galati overtakes Said wins World Challenge GT race By Lfn Hawwkd Star Telegram Slaft Wnter FORT WORTH Michael Galati equaled his victory total of a year ago for the Speedvision World Challenge GT Senes on Sunday in the Leather Center Grand Pnx of Texas Galati drove his Audi S4 past a slowing Bons Said on GRANI1 PRIY aP 23 to win the 28-lap race for unr modified production sports cars on NOTES the 2 324-mile road course inside Texas Motor Speedway The race ended under caution after Greg Merrill hit the wall in NASCAR Turn 1 was working my butt off to stay with said Galati who earned his 10th career World Challenge victory sometimes had four wheels on the dirt It was good racing and our car stayed consistent all day long Galati started third and took the lead on Lap 4 but three laps later he lost it to Sud a road-racing specialist who has also dnven in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Senes Said drove from 20th to first the opening seven laps in his Ford Mustang Said led until his tires began to wear and Galati took the lead as the two dnvers exited the infield portion of the road course On the same lap Said lost a wheel entering the chicane at the end of the frontstrcteh and was relegated to a 24th-place finish Galati was not challenged the rest of the event and crossed the finish line under the caution two laps after Merrill's wreck Merrill walked away from his heavily damaged Porsche 9 1 1 GT3 Coupe Pole-sitter Peter Cunningham was second in his Acura NSX Randy Pobst finished third in a car he had not dnven all weekend Pobst started 3 3rd and drove a 91 1 GT3 Cup for KcewaydinToad Hall Racing to the podium Pobst also competed in the Amencan Le Mans Senes race earlier the day Stan watching David Starr was wowed by the technology of the ALMS cars at the Leather Center Grand Pnx of Texas but he would rather have been in Flonda Starr said Sunday that Saginaw based TKO Motor-sports which fields the trucks he dnves in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Senes has shut down for an indefinite penod of time The Track Senes raced at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Flonda on Sunday Starr said the team is intact but Fort Worth businessman Mike Fams has not been able to secure a pnmaiy sponsor and was forced to shut down the team frustrating for me as a dnver frustrating for my crew chief Todd Starr said I know frustrating for Mike Fams because he built this track team that I consider to be one of the top five teams the Track Starr said he will not search for another nde in the senes adding that he is focusing his efforts on finding a sponsor for the TKO team He added he does not know when the team will return to racing Attendance a mystery At the TMS media day in January ALMS senes founder Don Panoz said he was expecting better attendance for this version of the Texas Grand Pnx than the 1 1000 who braved the heat for race Panoz said in January a crowd of 30000 would be doing as he attempts to grow the senes in this market Neither Panoz TMS officials nor ALMS media representatives would provide an attendance figure for race The temporary infield grandstands were filled to capacity Also the backstretch grandstand held an estimated 2000 fans along with fans scattered along the NASCAR Turn 1 grandstands The paddock or garage area also saw a lot of fan activity First victory Steve Pfeffer drove from fourth to first the first three laps and led the rest of the way in the 26-lap Speedvision World Challenge Touring Car race Pfefter led a BMW sweep of the first three positions in the senes featunng showroom stock sedans Pole-sitter Neal Sapp last senes rookie of the year was second and Alfred duPont finished third Pierre Klemubmg drove his Acura Integra Type to fourth and Dan Salama was fifth Close one Scott Bradley defeated Matt Beardsley by 0016 seconds in an exciting finish to the 25-lap StarMazda race The two dnvers raced side by side exiting Turn 7 of the road course with Bradley edging Beardsley at the finish line Chad Block was third and Oliver Rowen finished fourth The race also featured three Texans with Doug Peterson taking 1 1th Quad Boenker of Fort Worth was 26th and his father Al ended up 32nd to give the Amencan manufacturer a repeat TMS victory Audi also repeated in the Le Mans Prototype class as the No 1 R8 Prototype of Rinaldo Capello and Tom Kristensen center sped through the road course to lead a 1-2 sweep The Audi of Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro shown last in the three-car line at left stormed from the rear of the field to finish second Biela and Pirro won the September race Facing temperatures some 55 degrees cooler than dunng its Texas Motor Speedway debut in September the American Le Mans Series returned to TMS for the Leather Center Grand Prix of Texas However not much else changed this time around including the winners In the Grand Touring Sport class the Corvette driven by Canadian road-racing ace Ron Fellows above and above left teamed with Johnny Star TelegramRAi ph Laui-k LEATHER CENTER GRAND PRIX OFTEXAS Mech 32 (24) Rick Knoop (R) Portala Calif Corvette C5 0 DNS 33 (31) Carol Hoilfelder (R) Covina Calrf Ferrari 355 0 DNS Race statistics Time of race 50 minutes 2 493 seconds Average speed 78 021 mph Margin of victory 73900 second under caution Lap leaders Peter Cunningham 1 2 Michael Galati 3-6 Boris Said 7 Galati 8-9 Said 10-22 Galati 23-28 Fastest lap Bons Said 1 33 138 89 828 mph) Fastest qualifier Peter Cunningham 1 33 320 (89 652 mph) Cautions 2 for 6 laps SCCA Touring Car Championship 1 (4) Steve Pfeffer BMW 3281s 26 2 (1) Neal Sapp BMW 328is 26 3 (3) Alfred duPont BMW 328is 26 4 (2) Pierre Klemubing Acura Integra 26 5 (7) Don Salama BMW 326is 26 6 (6) David Leslie Mazda 626 26 7 (6) Terry McCarthy BMW 328is 26 8 (12) Mike Fitzgerald Acura Integra 26 9 (11) Taz Harvey Acura Integra 26 10 (15) Ken Dobson BMW 328Ci 26 11 (13) Roger Foo Honda Civic Si 26 12 (9) Hugh Plumb Acura Integra 26 13 (19) Rob Hines BMW 328is 26 14 (18) Walter Derek Bell England Audi S4 Comp 28 14 (7) Stu Hayner Yorba Linda Calif Corvette Z06 28 15 (23) David Farmer Albemarle NC Corvette C5 27 16 (25) Michael Culver (R) Westport Conn BMW M3 27 17 (26) Charlie Barns (R) Dallas Viper GTS 27 16 (32) James Sofronas Newport Beach Calif BMW M3 27 19 (30) Joe Blacker (R) Columbia Md Audi S4 27 20 (18) John Young (R) Woodside Calrf Saleen SR 27 21 (28) Caroline Wright (R) Shoreacres Texas Corvette 26 22 (22) Greg Merril (R) Chevy Chase Md Porsche 911 Cup 25 Mech 23 (21) Bob Taylor Jr Parker Colo Corvette C5 25 24 (20) Boris Said Carlsbad Calif Ford Mus tang 24 Crash 25 (27) Tommy Safar Point Pleasant NJ Saleen SR 21 Mech 26 (13) Jimmy Adams Suffolk Va Porsche 911 Cup 19 Mech 27 (16) Johannes van Overbeek Danville Calif Porsche 911 Cup 15 Mech 28 (15) Anders Hamer (R) Hidden Hills Calrf Porsche 911 Cup 11 Mech 29 (17) Bobby Sak (R) Kalamazoo Mich Corvette C5 8 Mech 30 (29) Anthony DeMonte Dix Hills Ford Mustang 1 Mech 31 (8) Daniel Eastman Miami Porsche RSR 1 Markes Jr BMW 328i 26 15 (14) Keviry Schrantz Mazda 626 26 16 (21) Shauna Mart nus BMW 328s 26 17 (16) DrewHagestad VW Jetta 26 18 (24) Carlos Steyer Acura Integra 25 19 (17) Mike Buz2etti Acura Integra 25 20 (25) Manny Matz BMW 326i8 25 21 (26) Mark Hem Acura Integra 25 22 (22) John Green Acura Integra 25 23 (23) David Wall BMW 326 25 24 (28) Fred Meyer Acura Integra 25 25 (29) Peter Bovenberg Honda Civic Si 24 26 (10) Ed Schairbaum Nissan 240 SX 16 mechanical 27 (30) Nick Vitucci Acura Integra 8 mechanical 28 (20) Paul Bonaccorsi Mazda Protege 8 mechanical 29 (5) Will Turner BMW 328is 2 mechanical 30 (27) Paul Lambert Audi A4 Quattro 0 DNS Race statistics Time of race 43 minutes 47 577 seconds Average epeed 62 785 mph Margin of victory 2 2619 seconds Lap leaders Laps 1 2 No 65 Neal Sapp laps 3 26 No 26 Steve Ptefter Fastest race lap Steve Ptefter 1 40 242 (83 462 mph) Fastest qualifier Neal Sapp 1 40 437 (63 300 mph) Cautions None i (At Toxa Motor Speedway) results American Le Mane Series 1 (1) RmakJo Capello Tom Kristensen Audi R8 117 2 47 55 2 (22) Frank Biela Emanuele Pirro Audi R8 117 3 (2) Jan Magnussen David Brabham Panoz LMP 07 117 4 (4) Andy Wallace Dorsey Schroeder Audi R8 117 5 (3) Klaus Graf Guatter Salles Panoz LMP 1 116 6 (5) Richard Dean Jay Cochran Panoz LMP 1 113 7 (6) Ron Fellows Johnny Connell Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 108 8 (8) Lucas Luhr Sascha Maassen Porsche 911 GT3 RS 108 9 (9) Randy Pobst Christian Mertzel Porsche 911 GT3 RS 107 10 (16) Bons Said Hans Stuck BMW M3 107 11 (13) Michael Peterson Bob Wollek Johnny Mowlem Porsche 911 GT3 RS 107 12 (10) JJ Lehto Jorg Muller BMW M3 107 13 (11) Chnstophe Bouchut Anthony Lazzaro Porsche 911 GT3R 106 14 (12) Bill Auberten NtclasJon-sson BMW M3 106 15 (18) Enk Messiey Terry Borcheller Dodge Viper GTS-R 106 16 (20) Tony Burgess Stefano Buttiero Porsche 911 GT3 RS 102 17 (15) Owen Trmkler Jeff Altenburg Chevrolet Corvette C5 98 18 (17) Rick Polk Cort Wagner Porsche 911 GT3 98 19 (21) Tom Wetkardt Joe Ellis Dodge Viper GTS-R 96 20 (7) Andy Pilgrim Kelly Collins Chevrolet Corvette C5-R 61 accident 21 (14) Mel Hawkins Steven Knight Lola B2K Nissan 23 body dam age 22 (19) Shane Lewis Vic Rice Callaway C-12R 14 broken axle Speedvision World Challenge GT 1 (3) Michael Galati Olmstead Ohio Audi S4 Comp 28 2 (1) Peter Cunningham Bend Wis Acura NSX 28 3 (33) Randy Pobst Melbourne Fla Porsche 911 26 4 (2) Mike Fitzger aid Phoenix Porsche 911 Cup 28 5 (5) Jeff McMillin Erie Pa BMW M3 28 6 (10) Bob Miller (R) Oakton Va Porsche 911 Cup 28 7 (6) Justin Jackson Alpharetta Ga Porsche 911 Cup 28 6 (12) Mennen Austin Texas Corvette C5 26 9 (9) Justin Marks (R) Woodside Calif Porsche 911 Cup 28 10 (11) BtH Cooper Bozeman Mont Corvette C5 28 11 (19) Walter Swick Concord Ohio BMW M3 28 12 (14) Phil McClure Florts Iowa Corvette C5 28 13 (4) ALMS From Page 1C to the But I must admit I think around 10 or eight minutes to the end I asked again At that time I was just looking after my tires because I was told he Brabham was going to pit But I was a little bit concerned because it dragged on and The third-generation Panoz named after series founder Don Panoz led Laps 91-108 and admittedly threw a huge scare into the stoic Audi camp Brabham a consultant in the design of the infield road course here began his stint with a 16 617-second lead only to see Kristensen slice the advantage to 8 446 seconds with 10 minutes to go just before Brabham pitted had to stop because I was carrying a light fuel load and tried to push as fast as I said Brabham who noted that Corvette dnven by Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins was not as fortunate as the latter rode out a massive crash into the Turn 4 wall after cutting a right rear tire Collins was uninjured First-time teammates Luhr and Maassen dnving the No 23 McKenna Porsche led a 1-2 GT sweep in the 911 GT3 entered by Alex Job Racing Teammates Randy Pobst and Christian Menzel placed second and ninth overall in the No 22 Porsche was said Luhr who scored his fifth ALMS victory the start I was able to make a gap between me and the others Then Sascha had the most important part to bring the car John Stiirbin (817) 370-74(18 sturhdP star telegram am the swoopy all-white car was completed last week the position we are in for us to come here and finish third and to lead the race was just The GTS-winmng No 3 GM Good-wrench Corvette overcame a flat right rear tire 26 minutes into the race and a resulting stop-and-go penalty for excessive speed against to register its third ALMS victory said the track was with stones and gravel and led to his tire puncture got my second set of Goodyear rubber and know for both Ron and myself we want to push hard and win said I just pushed as hard as I could so that I could give him the car in as good a condition and as good a position as I The teamfactory-backed No 4 Eighth overall but first in Grand Touring (GT) was the Porsche 911 GT3 RS co-dnven by German wunderktnds Lucas Luhr and Sascha Maassen Kristensen assumed the lead for the final time on Lap 109 of 117 of the 2-hour 45-minute timed event when Brabham was forced to the pits for a splash-and-go fuel stop that took 13 seconds The stop dropped Brabham to third behind the No 2 Infineon Audi dnven by Pirro Knstensen said it was a pit stop he had been anticipating forever team told me when it was about 20 minutes left that they the Panoz had to said Knstensen dnver of the No 1 Infineon R8 and member of winning team at the 24 Hours of Le Mans last June that time I trusted them And so I said let me just stay here and do it Emanuele Pirro who along with Frank Biela won last ALMS race here finished 7 551 seconds behind Kris-tensenCapello A Chevrolet Corvette C5-R co-dnven by Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona overall champions Ron Fellows and Johnny finished first in Grand Touring Sport (GTS) class and seventh overall It was the second consecutive victory at TMS for the which scored its initial ALMS victory with Fellows here in September vumpm.