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RACE: Mueller Motorsport Road America National summary

Mueller Motorsports takes win and second at Road America Double National ELKHART LAKE, WI. - Mueller Motorsports scored a victory and second place at the SCCA Milwaukee Region Siamese CAT Double National at Road America this past weekend. The win ...

Mueller Motorsports takes win and second at Road America Double National

ELKHART LAKE, WI. - Mueller Motorsports scored a victory and second place at the SCCA Milwaukee Region Siamese CAT Double National at Road America this past weekend. The win for driver Michael Mueller and team was the first National event victory at their home track.

Bright sunshine and temperatures in the 80's greeted the racers for the second race of the weekend on Sunday, a welcome departure from the rain and heavy fog on Friday, which condensed the weekend schedule. A combined qualifying session for both races resulted in Mueller driving his HRP powered Red Devil to pole position with a lap of 2:25.936 around the famed 4-mile course.

Sunday's Race 2 saw Mueller and Bob Giesen lead the field to the green flag with Mueller maintaining position and leading out of turn 1. By the end of the first lap defending National Champion Jason Knuteson had worked his way into second and teamed up with Mueller to begin pulling out an early lead on the rest of the field. On lap 3, Knuteson moved around Mueller to take the lead. For the next several laps Mueller followed closely in Knuteson draft as the two drivers raced inches apart.

At the start of lap 6 Mueller made a pass for the lead under braking for turn 3. After navigating Formula Vee traffic for several laps Mueller was able to build an advantage of only a handful of car lengths. On the final lap Knuteson had erased the advantage and moved out of the draft to take the lead into turn 5. The lead was short lived however, as Mueller moved alongside up the hill and retook the lead under the bridge into turn 6. At the checkered flag it was Mueller crossing the line first, 0.553 seconds ahead of Knuteson with Aaron Ellis bringing home third.

Race 1 on Saturday proved that no lead is safe. At the start Aaron Ellis got a great launch and took the lead on the approach for turn 1 but Mueller took the spot back around the outside and led the first lap. Jason Knuteson powered past Mueller on the front straight at the start of the second lap to take the lead. One lap later Mueller attempted to take the spot back into turn 5, however got loose in the corner and had to chase the car onto the rumble strips at the exit, allowing Knuteson to retain the spot. Knuteson pulled out a lead but slowed in turn 6 on the 5th lap giving the position back to Mueller.

At the start of the final lap Mueller had nearly a 5 second lead over Bob Giesen in second and seemed to be headed to the win. The condensed weekend schedule meant this race would only run 7 laps and Formula Vee traffic would play an integral part in the last lap. Mueller caught several cars in turn 6, which he was not able to safely overtake until turn 8. Giesen was closing quickly and as Mueller exited the Carousel a group of 5 more cars appeared ahead. Mueller caught the pack turning in for Canada Corner and was only able to pass 2 cars on the approach to turn 13. A failed attempt to go around the outside of the remaining traffic into turn 14 meant that the traffic couldn't be cleared until the final straight. Giesen was able to get a big draft coming up the hill one last time and moved alongside Mueller at the flag, inching past to take the photo-finish victory by 0.038.

Overall it was a great weekend for the team with very positive results and important lessons learned. The schedule now moves towards the biggest race of the regular season, the 55th Annual SCCA Chicago Region June Sprints at Road America.

Mueller Motorsports is a family team, racing together in various forms of motorsport since 1997. The 2010 season marks the team's third year racing Formula 500 in SCCA events. Special thanks to our team sponsors: MJ Manufacturing, Fibeco and msquared design as well as the technical support of Brad Hulings of HRP Motorsports Inc.

-source: mm

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