SCC: Lime Rock: Burrow, Hopwood preview

Back to Lime Rock Park for Burrows and Hopwood

Lakeville, CT (24 May 2010)--Every race is a big one, but for Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood, round five of the 2010 GRAND-AM Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship at Lime Rock Park is a particularly anticipated event as the two make their racing return the Northwest Connecticut facility for the Memorial Day weekend Grand Prix. Burrows and Hopwood will be sharing the No. 12 Kia Motors/Infinity Audio Kia Forte Koup for Kinetic Motorsports as they look to build on their best result since being signed to the all-new factory Kia Motorsport program.

Burrows calls nearby Canton, Connecticut, home, and has experienced Lime Rock Park in scores of different forms of racing machinery through the years. He has been a frequent visitor to the track for over a decade, having previously worked at the Skip Barber Racing headquarters in Lakeville.

While the commute is a little bit longer for Portsmouth, NH-area resident Hopwood, Lime Rock Park is no less closer to his heart. Hopwood, who has raced everything from huge-horsepower GT1 machines to Spec Racers, made his very first Continental TIre race start in 2006 at Lime Rock Park.

Lime Rock was also the track where the two first linked up with Kinetic Motorsports, as the Georgia-based team gave them a run in the top GS class in 2008. The race saw the two show impressive pace, something that the team took notice of.

That one-off weekend ended up turning into a new career break for the previous champions as the team called on their services to be pilots for the factory racing program ahead of the 2010 season.

"Even though they had not raced or even driven a GS car before that weekend at LIme Rock, we were impressed with what the boys could do straight away, " said Kinetic Motorsports Team Principle Russell Smith. "So when it came time to look for drivers for this Kia program, they were straight at the top of the list along with Nic (Jonson) and Andy (Lally). They've shown this season that our confidence in them was well-placed, and hopefully this weekend will be another one to remember for Kia!"

Just like a story that keeps getting better, the 2010 season has been a strong momentum builder for Burrows and Hopwood, who brought the Kia its first race finish in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway in January. Fast forward to the most recent round at VIR, and the duo scored a top-ten finish as Kinetic celebrated both team Kia entries taking top-ten results for the first time.

"VIR was a great weekend for the whole team, and hopefully we can keep improving our results again at Lime Rock," said Hopwood who has intensified his training regimen ahead of the 2 hour, 30 minute race. "This is the home race and you just want everything to go right. We'll both have a lot of friends and family here and I'm just looking forward to driving this Kia at Lime Rock."

The race will see the ST-Class machines run a solo class race for the first time this season, as the Continental Tire races take place on Saturday ahead of the Rolex event on Monday.

"It's good to be headed to Lime Rock again! This a momentum, not a horsepower track, and we are hoping that we have the right combination to be quick," said Burrows, who took a breakthrough pole position at the 1.5 mile course on his way to a championship season. "The brakes and handling of our Forte Koup are great, and the new gearing has really changed dynamics of the the car, so I'm cautiously optimistic about the weekend. I'm looking forward to running on Saturday morning, and also very excited about the Rolex Series coming to race on Monday. I'll be up on the hill taking it all in. Getting to race, and then come back as a fan to watch, will round out a perfect weekend!"

The race will mark the front end of a quick turn-around as round six will quickly follow when the series returns to Watkins Glen International for the Continental Tire 150 on June 5th as part of the Sahlen's Six Hour event weekend.

-source: sgm