MMP 2008 schedule announced

Miller Motorsports Park Announces 2008 Racing Schedule

TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (November 12, 2007) -- As Miller Motorsports Park prepares to wave the checkered flag on the 2007 season, preparations are already well underway for 2008.

The schedule for the 2008 racing season will be similar to that of 2007, with a few date shifts and a couple of notable new events. As before, in addition to the professional events, the four amateur series based at Miller Motorsports Park -- the Miller Park Racing Association, the Honda Presents the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains Series, the Plaza Cycle Utah Supermoto Championship Series and the two karting series, the Icebreaker Kart Championship Series and the Utah Kart Championship Series -- will remain intact and will hopefully continue to flourish.

The first big spectator event of the season will take place over the weekend of May 16-18, as the American Le Mans Series will bring the world's most sophisticated prototype and GT racing cars back to Utah for a third consecutive year for the Utah Grand Prix Presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels. The 200mph diesel-powered, twin-turbo V10 Audi R10s will once again face off against the factory Porsches and Acuras for the overall race win, while the Porsche 911s and Ferrari F430s will duke it out in the GT class. Support races will include the SCCA SPEED World Challenge Championship, the STAR Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, the IMSA GT3 Cup Presented by Michelin and the IMSA Lites presented by Hankook Tires.

Miller Motorsports Park will have only two weeks after the American Le Mans Series packs up their trailers to prepare the facility for the biggest event in the track's brief history, and the biggest international sporting event in the State of Utah since the 2002 Winter Olympics, as the FIM SUPERBIKE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP presented by HANNSpree returns to North America for the first time in four years over the weekend of May 29-June 1. The international stars and teams will share the facility with the Honda Summit of Speed featuring the AMA Superbike Championship, which will include the AMA Superbike Championship presented by Parts Unlimited, the AMA Pro Honda Oils Supersport Championship presented by Shoei, the AMA Lockhart Phillips Formula Xtreme Series and the AMA Superstock Series presented by Dynojet.

The variety of motorized entertainment will continue four weeks later, when GT LIVE West returns to Utah over the weekend of June 27-29. This "interactive motorsports festival" was a huge hit last year, providing young enthusiasts of Japanese "tuner cars" with an event that combines drifting, racing, karting, stunt bikes, car shows and music. Although the content lineup has not been determined, it is likely to be very similar to the 2007 event, which included the Falken Drift Demo Team performing radical formation drifting; the XDL U.S. Stunt Riding Championship, an invitation-only event featuring the best motorcycle stunt riders in North America; and Redline Time Attack, with some of the world's hottest tuner cars vying for fastest lap times. No-cost interactive attractions included the GT Sim Race, where fans could take rides around the track in professional Time Attack cars; the Falken Drift Experience, where fans got to ride in the Falken Drift Demo Team cars; and the GT LIVE West Karting Zone, in which fans could drive racing karts on the Miller Kart Track. Other, fee-based interactive attractions include Drift Day, in which fans could learn to drift either in their own car or a rented car; and Tarzan's Lap Battle, in which fans were able to lap the track in their own cars and enter a raffle to win coaching tips from world-famous drifter and Time Attack star "Tarzan" Yamada.

Tooele Valley will rumble with stock car thunder once again over the weekend of August 1-3 as the NASCAR Grand National West series makes its second trip to Miller Motorsports Park. When the series made its inaugural visit this past July, it was hard to tell whether the fans or the racers were enjoying themselves more. Another crop of up-and-coming future NASCAR stars will join the returning veterans to try to tame the 3.08-mile MMP Perimeter Course. Support races will include the Pacific F2000 Championship and the Formula TR Pro Series.

As has been the case for the past two years, the final major event of the season will be the third annual Sunchaser 1000, featuring the exotic Daytona Prototypes and GT cars of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. This year's thrilling, down-to-the-wire championship battle will be hard to beat, but don't be surprised if the world's most competitive professional sports car racing series does it again. Support races will include the first-ever appearance at Miller Motorsports Park by the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda plus the KONI Challenge Series, the new Ford Racing Mustang Challenge for the Miller Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires, the SIRIUS Satellite Radio Mazda MX-5 Cup Series, Formula TR Pro Series and SCCA Spec Miatas.

Other events that will appear at Miller Motorsports Park throughout the 2008 season include the Snap-On Stars of Karting presented by the Indy Racing League, April 25-27; the SCCA Utah Region "Great Salt Race" Double National, May 23-25; WERA Motorcycle Roadracing, June 6-8; the National Auto Sports Association (NASA) Regional, June 13-15; Nostalgia Racing's "The Thriller at Miller," July 4-6; the SCCA Utah Region Regional, August 8-10; the American Historic Motorcycle Racing Association (AHMRA) Bonneville Vintage GP, September 5-7; the Historic Sportscar Racing Ltd. Heroes of Speed Presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels, September 12-14; and the Intermountain Region Porsche Club of America Regional, September 26-28.

Miller Motorsports Park's popular locally-based series -- the Miller Park Racing Association, the Honda Presents the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains Series, the Plaza Cycle Utah Supermoto Championship Series and the two karting series, the Icebreaker Kart Championship Series and the Utah Kart Championship Series -- will also be back in action and continuing to grow in 2008. The Miller Park Racing Association, the Honda Presents the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountains Series and the Plaza Cycle Utah Supermoto Championship Series will contest seven rounds. The two karting series, the Icebreaker Kart Championship Series and the Utah Kart Championship Series, are scheduled for five and 10 rounds, respectively.

"We were tremendously pleased with our second season of racing at Miller Motorsports Park," said MMP CEO/General Manager Alan Wilson, "and we're extremely excited about our prospects for 2008. The addition of our new races to our existing slate of events gives us what is perhaps the best schedule of any road racing track in America, with something for everyone. We'll be working hard over the winter to make further improvements to our facility, and we look forward to seeing everyone again in 2008."

-credit: www.millermotorsportspark.com.