RACE: Carl Skerlong Portland Rose Cup summary

Skerlong savors SCCA success at Portland

Mukilteo, Washington (June 12, 2006) - Carl Skerlong mixed things up at the weekend, 10-11 June, competing in the SCCA Rose Cup at Portland International Raceway. The 17-year-old from Washington entered his Pro Mazda car in the Formula Atlantic class and duly claimed his first SCCA National win on Saturday before going on to score a dominant regional win from pole on Sunday.

The weekend was far from easy for the reigning Formula TR 1600 Champion and current Formula TR 2000 points leader! Heading into first qualifying on Friday Skerlong's racer was deemed to be over the noise limit set at 103db. Without the opportunity to test the added baffle on the exhaust, tightening it too much in order to comply with the regulations subsequently restricted the power available to Skerlong. Despite the set-back Carl qualified 11th from a field of 36 entries.

A quick test lap on Saturday morning allowed a priceless opportunity to monitor the noise level of Carl's Pro Mazda, the team successfully keeping within the noise limits while opening up an increase in horsepower heading into the day's race. With some ground to make up Carl put his head down and his foot to the floor to catapult himself through the field to fourth at the start and up to third overall and first in class by the second tour of Portland International Raceway. He held station from there to claim his first SCCA National win.

Sunday's regional race allowed the teenager to showcase his skills further as he qualified on pole and stormed to victory leading all the way to the checkered. Carl's efforts in his Pro Mazda, taking on the more powerful Formula Atlantic cars, underlined his potential as one of the country's most promising young open-wheel racers.

Reflecting on a challenging but ultimately successful SCCA weekend in Portland Carl said:

"Well at the start of the weekend we weren't sure what we were up against but we overcame our noise issues eventually freeing up some of the power in the car. I couldn't even make top gear in qualifying so to finish the session 11th from 36 cars wasn't a bad effort! Thankfully we fixed all our problems and I was able to move up and score the class win on Saturday. Sunday was a less stressful day and I enjoyed having a clear track ahead of me to take the win!"

Carl returns to the Formula TR 2000 Series at the Reno-Fernley Raceway, in Nevada, June 24th-25th for Rounds 9 & 10 where he hopes to further stretch his championship lead, currently standing at a sizeable 67 points courtesy of seven wins from eight starts - www.formulatr.com

-www.cskerlong.com (Coming Soon)