Homestead: Beyer Racing preview

Homestead, Florida - October 8th, 2009 - The Beyer Racing team will wrap up its first full season of Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series competition this weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway with a two car assault featuring new colors and a driver swap between their #5 and their #13 Daytona Prototypes.

Jordan and Ricky Taylor will reunite behind the wheel of the #13 Brach's Chevrolet Riley car which will feature the colors of the brothers' long time sponsor, Brach's. "Farley's & Sathers Candy Company have been supporting Ricky and Jordan since their karting days and we are extremely excited and proud to be a part of their first run together as a duo at this professional level of motorsports," said Steven Luitjens, Senior Vice President Sales & Marketing for Farley's & Sathers Candy Company, Inc, which owns the Brach's brand.

The Taylor brothers both got their first taste of competition around the 2.3-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway road course in a Skip Barber open wheel car which should be a stark contrast to the 500hp machine that they will drive this weekend. The last time the Taylors shared a car was in June when Jordan joined Ricky and Mike Forest for the Six Hour event at Watkins Glen and finished tenth.

Mike Forest will join Jared Beyer in the #5 Lennox Chevrolet Crawford which has been in hiatus for the last two events. The duo dusted off their Crawford chassis last week when they completed a successful two-day test at Sebring International Speedway. Both of them have previous experience at the south Florida track; Forest made his Grand-Am debut in 2008 with a GT and Beyer took part in a private test behind the wheel of a DP car.

The Beyer Racing squad will be looking to extend a string of top ten finishes during the fall that included the team's best ever result of fourth at Montreal in August.

Ricky Taylor #13 Brach's Chevrolet Riley

"It's been a great year so far, the team has improved every race weekend and I think that this weekend in Homestead we can take another step forward to end the season on a high note. It has been great teaming up with Mike all year and we have had some good runs but I'm excited to be driving the Brach's car with Jordan this weekend, we drive very similarly and I think we can have a good race together."

Jordan Taylor #13 Brach's Chevrolet Riley

"Homestead is actually the place where I had my first car race, which was in Skip Barber. I think we will be pretty strong for this race, the Beyer guys have been doing a good job developing the set up of the car throughout the last few races and it has shown with their results. I am looking forward to getting back into the Riley with Ricky, the last time was at Watkins Glen where we had a pretty good race. The car will be in all Brach's colors which will be cool, I am really looking forward to it."

Jared Beyer #5 Lennox Chevrolet Crawford

"It was very important to get back in the car at Sebring because I hadn't driven for a while. It was also great to get to work with all the guys again and get more acquainted with the car. It was a good test overall, we got to do a lot of work with the car and I think we can be very competitive this weekend.

Driving with Mike has worked out great, our driving styles are very similar, we like the same things in the car. We both like to have a solid platform and a very responsive front end. I'm excited to drive with him this weekend I think we are going to have a good car right out of the box and we've both been to this track before so I'm looking forward to a very successful race and a strong end to our season."

Mike Forest #5 Lennox Chevrolet Crawford

"2009 has been a busy but very enjoyable year for me. It was amazing to get to drive a Prototype, it wasn't something that was planned on and it just kind of came up so a very pleasant surprise. It has been great working with the guys at Beyer Racing and driving with Ricky Taylor. Every season has its ups and downs but overall we as a team have made progress and the highlight would have to be the fourth place in Montreal.

It will be a challenge getting up to speed in the Crawford with such limited track time at Homestead. Everything from the feel of the car to the seating position seemed to remind me more of an open wheel car then the Riley, which is comforting to me as that is my background. In testing the car was very responsive and stable, we fixed a few items that should really make the weekend go a lot smoother.

Homestead was the site of my first race in Grand-Am. It was in a GT car in 2008, from what I recall that race had a huge number of yellow flags so hopefully that won't occur this year. Homestead is a very different track than Sebring, but often in racing you have to confront situations where very little is known, there is little practice time, or the car is new. It's about meeting the challenge and going out and having a hard fought race regardless of the situation."

-credit: br