SCC: Utah: BGB Motorsports race notes

MILLER AND TRAVER FINISH 6th WHILE STANTON BATTLES BACK TO FINISH 13th

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL - September 1, 2006) Mikel Miller brought home the #83 SimpleNet.com Porsche for BGB Motorsports in 6th place for the penultimate round of the 2006 Grand-Am Cup season at Miller Motorsports Park. The #38 Porsche 996 however didn't share the same good fortune; for the second race in a row it was forced to pit prematurely due to contact with another car, similar to the contact that sent them into the pits early at Trois-Rivieres. Tim Traver and Mikel Miller have been able to deliver consistent finishes all year and that's why they sit in 5th place in the 2006 team championship, 20 points behind the #96 Turner Motorsports M3 and 12 points in front of their teammates Mark Plummer and Craig Stanton.

Mikel Miller made his intentions known early in the weekend when he put his Porsche on top of the sheets during the first official practice and it sat there for most of the session until dropping down to 4th place. Miller was able to dial in a good car for teammate Tim Traver. Unhappy with his 17th place qualifying, Tim Traver had something to prove as he executed probably one of the best drives of his Grand-Am Cup career. Despite shuffling back a few spots in the opening laps, Traver put his head down and came up through the field. Late in his stint he caught up with the #38 Porsche of Mark Plummer who qualified 14th. The two of them occupied the 10th and 11th spots and ran together but Traver had more to go. Tim drove the car further up the order and delivered the car to the BGB pits in 4th place where a quick pit stop sent them back out in 12th place. Mikel conserved his car well for his late race charge hoping a yellow would come out. With 20 minutes to go though the team decided that it was now or never and Mikel went to work. The result was a strong 6th place finish that allows the #83 Porsche to hold its ground in the championship.

Just like Traver's, Plummer's intentions were to deliver to his teammate a good car so that the team could rely on a quick pit stop for a race that wasn't predicted to go yellow. Contact with another GS car at the 50 minute mark forced Plummer into the pits. This early stop was needed to recycle the car's ECU and assess damage. Stopping this early however with a limp back to the pits shuffled Stanton down to 32nd place and required another fuel stop at the end. Stanton's strong drive delivered him to 12th place when he had to pit for his late race splash. It's unfortunate because Stanton was running consistent laps during his stint that would have landed him in the top 5 had the incident not occurred.

Team Manager, John Tecce had more to add:

"It's unfortunate because I think that Craig had a strong car-- not a winning car but a strong car. I was impressed by Tim's drive. That was definitely one of his best."

-credit: bgb motorsports