ACRL: Mid-Ohio, Saturday race

Lexington, OH, June 3, 2000 -- The American City Racing League ran the first race of a doubleheader here this afternoon, and first-timer Andy Lally, subbing for Team St. Louis driver Duke Johnson, took the win after a race-long dice with local favorite John Fergus of Team Columbus. Lally's Carbir led from a track-record pole with Fergus, also in a Carbir, hot on his heels. A.J. Smith of Team Philadelphia slotted into third ahead of Team Chicago's David Downey, but Downey repassed him on lap three. Fergus took the lead at Turn Eight on lap 1, but could not break contact with Lally. The pair ran nose to tail, sometimes side-by-side, until lap 15, when Fergus's overheated front tires made him run a little wide in turn 8, and Lally shot by into the lead. Behind them, Downey's Lola ran all alone in third, with a three-car battle for fourth through sixth raging behind him. Smith held on for fourth spot, with Dan Dubrovich of Team New York a close fifth and Columbus' Craig Chima in sixth after a bumping incident with Smith in the esses. Another race-long battle between John Burke of New York, Washington's David Dullum and Jeff Clinton of St. Louis ended with Burke in seventh at the checker, Dullum in eighth, and Clinton ninth. David Ferguson of Team Salinas was 10th, the last car on the lead lap, after suffering radiator and oil pressure problems. Bob Liebert of Team Columbus worked his way up to 11th after a heroic effort on the part of his crew to repair suspension damage incurred in the morning's qualifying session.

Team Boston continued their domination of the Sports 1600 class, occupying all three podium positions just as they did in the Miami season opener. Once again, young Adam Burrows took the point, qualifying on the pole and taking the win in convincing fashion. Darius (Dag) Grala joined the team for the weekend, and took second with John Faulkner third. Faulkner spun at the checkered flag, but it wasn't a victory donut, merely coolant on the tires from an overheating engine. Jack Banha, the lone Classic Sports 2000 entry, suffered a broken header halfway through the race put pressed on, adding enough points to bring home the team title for Philadelphia. The other two points-scorers for Philadelphia were A.J. Smith in fourth and Darryl Schoff in 13th. Team Boston took the season City Points lead with 352 to Columbus's 351. The American City Racing League Eastern Division will race next with the Grand American series at Road America July 7-9. The ACRL series, using a unique team racing concept, races Ford-engined Sports 2000, and Classic Sports 2000 cars, as well as Toyota-powered Sports 1600 cars, with drivers required to run Hoosier ACRL-stamped R-45 compound tires and a spec fuel.

<pre> Mid-Ohio Saturday RaceResults: Finishing position, start position ( ), driver, team, chassis, class, laps

complete, qualifying time, best race lap, reason out (if any). 1 (1) Andy Lally, St. Louis, Carbir, S2, 20, 1:25.449, 1:26.186 2 (2) John Fergus, Columbus, Carbir, S2, 20, 1:25.939, 1:26,763 3 (3) David Downey, Chicago, Lola, S2, 20, 1:26.514, 1:27.072 4 (4) A.J. Smith, Philadelphia, Pratt-Miller, S2, 20, 1:27.274, 1:28.185 5 (5) Dan Dubrovich, New York, Doran, S2, 20, 1:27.918, 1:28.164 6 (6) Craig Chima, Columbus, Lola, S2, 20, 1:27.927, 1:27.676 7 (7) John Burke, New York, Carbir, S2, 20, 1:28.393, 1:28.967 8 (8) David Dullum, Washington DC, Lola, S2, 20, 1:28.509, 1:29.433 9 (9) Jeff Clinton, St. Louis, Lola, S2, 20, 1:28.893, 1:29.192 10 (14) David Ferguson, Salinas, Swift, S2, 20, 1:31.247,1:29.902 11 (11) Bob Liebert, Columbus, Miller RM-2, S2, 19, 1:30.296, 1:30.432 12 (13) Adam Burrows, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:31.066, 1:31.597 13 (17) Darryl Shoff, Philadelphia, Swift, S2, 19, 1:32.825, 1:33.426 14 (15) Darius Grala, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:31.715, 1:33.698 15 (18) John Faulkner, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:33.389, 1:33.136 16 (19) Steve Knight, Portland, SVC, S16, 19, 1:34.941, 1:33.978 17 (12) Jack Banha, Philadelphia, Swift, CS2, 18, 1:30.891, 1:32.412 18 (16) Mel Hawkins, Portland, SVC, S16, 18, 1:32.326, 1:36.379 19 10) Jim Ballard, Philadelphia, Lola, S2, 11, 1:30.273, 1:30.086, Mech.

Race Time: 30.01 minutes Race Length: Miles: 45 Track Length: 2.25 miles S2 Margin of Victory: 1.803 seconds S16 Margin of Victory: 47.184 seconds

S2 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:25.449 (Lally) New qualifying Record. S2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:26.186 (Lally) New Race Record CS2 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:30.890 (Banha) New Qualifying Record CS2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:32.412 (Banha) S16 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:31.066 (Burrows), New Qualifying Record S16 Fastest Race Lap: 1:31.597 (Burrows) New Race Record 

S2 DRIVER POINTS CLASSIC S2 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 2 RACES: AFTER 2 RACES: 1 John Fergus 195 1 Alain Nadal (R) 102 2 Dan Dubrovich 186 * Jack Banha (R) 102 3 A.J. Smith (R) 177 4 Duke Johnson 157 * 5 Craig Chima 156 6 Jeff Clinton 143 7 Bob Liebert 134 8 David Dullum 140 9 Jim Ballard 119 10 Darryl Shoff 119 11 Andy Lally 102 12 Martin Ryba 88 David Downey 88

S1600 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 2 RACES: 1 Adam Burrows 204 2 Mel Hawkins 202 * 3 Steve Knight 188 * 4 John Faulkner 181 5 Darius Grala 93 6 John Warner 88

* Denotes Western Division crossover points

TEAM POINT STANDINGS (AFTER 2 RACES) 1 Boston 352 2 Columbus 351 3 Philadelphia 349 4 St. Louis 315 5 New York 237 6 Portland 198 7 Chicago 176 8 Washington DC 143 9 Salinas 64 10 Miami 61