SCC: VIR II: BGB Motorsports preview

BGB PORSCHES READY FOR 6 HOUR RUN INTO THE NIGHT

(DAYTONA BEACH, FL - October 5, 2006) Grand-Am will return to Virginia International Raceway this weekend to close the books on the 2006 season for the Grand-Am Cup. With the Rolex series dormant for over a month now, the Grand-Am Cup series will headline the GT Live Weekend at VIR with twin 6 hour finales for both the Grand Sport and Street Tuner classes. Returning for the 2nd time this year to VIR for Grand-Am Cup action will be the #83 SimpleNet.com Porsche 996 to defend its 5th place points position for season-long pilots Tim Traver and Mikel Miller; the #83 sits 20 points behind the #96 Turner Motorsports M3. The 2nd BGB team car driven by Mark Plummer and Craig Stanton trails the #83 Porsche by 12 points. Joining Plummer and Stanton in the #38 Porsche is BGB driver Ted Ballou who missed 2 races following the Barber Motorsports Park round.

The first Grand-Am visit to VIR this year showed the Cup entrants an indication of things to come for 2006; field counts were at an all time high and car contact plagued the race with cautions. The race featured only 12 laps of green flag running. Realizing that the explosive car counts were costing drivers, entrants and fans good racing, Grand-Am chose to split the fields and have two separate finales. With split finales come hard fought battles for championships and bragging rights. Whatever happens this weekend will be the freshest in everyone's minds until the 2007 Test Days at Daytona.

One thing that's for certain is that every entrant this weekend is playing for keeps. During the April VIR round, Mark Plummer and Craig Stanton drove their #38 Porsche up to 4th place before getting shuffled out with fuel stumble issues. Mikel Miller and Tim Traver however delivered their season best finish of 4th in their #83 Porsche. Both cars will be gunning for the top step of the podium as a statement for this race and this season. You can bet on a little competition among teammates as each team tries to deliver BGB their first win of the season. There are no team orders. It's going to be mad dash for the checkered and whoever executes their abilities in the pits and on the track wisely, will be there.

Qualifying for Saturday's 6 hour Grand Sports finale is on Saturday morning at 10:05am. The green flag for Saturday's race drops shortly afterwards at 3:00pm. With a predicted 2.5 hours of night racing, it should certainly make for the best event of the 2006 season.

-credit: teambgb.com.