Millville: Sigalsport race report

RUM BUM RACING NEW JERSEY RACE REPORT

Hawthorne, CA. (Sept 3, 2008) -- Rum Bum Racing, with drivers Gene Sigal and Matt Plumb, finished 12th last Sunday in the inaugural Supercar Life 250 at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Matt Plumb qualified sixth which is the best qualifying performance of the season for the team showing that the Rumbum.com / Big Vision Miami / Caramba Tequila / Dinan BMW Riley is quick and competitive. In the race, Plumb ran 40% of the race in the top five confirming his competitiveness and talent and that he had a good car.

The first two days of practice were almost lost since the team spent lots of time fighting the same problem that started at Watkins Glen mid-August. On Friday night, the team finally found the source of the problem; a pinched fuel line and a damaged fuel filter. On Saturday morning the 7 car practiced without incident confirming that the problems were fixed for good.

Because of all that time lost trying to fix the problem, Gene Sigal, who is racing his first season in Daytona Prototype, was not able to practice more than 15 minutes. That was not enough time knowing that the New Jersey track is one of the most difficult tracks of the season to learn. Due to the lack of time behind the wheel and also because the engineers knew the car would be fast, the team decided to let Matt Plumb qualify the car for the race. Plumb did a great job and qualified sixth, the best qualifying performance for the team this year so far.

In the race Matt Plumb, who won the race in the Koni Challenge ST class the same morning, took a very good start then ran as high as fourth and in the top seven most of his two-hour stint. After 78 laps, Matt handed the car to Gene for the last 35 minutes. Gene tried to keep the car on track due to the difficult conditions and run as quick as he could, but at the end of the day the Rum Bum Racing machine co-driven by Matt Plumb and Gene Sigal crossed the finish line 12th, not too bad considering his lack of practice behind the wheel.

This finish was not really what the team hoped for in terms of regaining the top ten 2008 team point standings. After the New Jersey race, Rum Bum Racing is still 12th but lost precious points versus its main competitors making a top ten finish in points almost impossible with only one race to go in the season.

-credit: sigalsport