Gil de Ferran and Simon Pagenaud made for popular debut podium winners
Audi
Porsche
Acura
Miller Motorsports Park
Click a link to go directly to that story!
Audi
Contacts prevent Audi from winning at Salt Lake City
Both Audi R10 TDI cars involved in collisions just before the end
Lucas Luhr/Marco Werner win LM P1 class
Frank Biela/Emanuele Pirro third in class despite retirement
Ingolstadt/Salt Lake City -- Team Audi Sport North America's pair of Audi R10 TDI prototypes had the chance to clinch another overall victory in the exciting fourth round of the American Le Mans Series near Salt Lake City (US state of Utah). After a dramatic finish, however, Audi had to be content with victory in the LM P1 class.
The start at the Miller Motorsports Park was once again an impressive demonstration of the performance of Audi TDI Power: Starting from rows three and four, Marco Werner and Frank Biela were able to use the torque of the V12 TDI engine to overtake all cars in front of them, diving into the first corner in first and second positions.
Despite using an early caution period for refuelling, both Audi R10 TDI cars were running at the front of the field at half-distance of the 2hour 45minute race. Still the final score was just a class victory.
A problem during the second pit-stop cost Marco Werner and Lucas Luhr 25 seconds and the lead. Despite that, Luhr was able to catch the leading Porsche again before he was hit by a slower GT2 car. This cut the right rear tyre of the Audi R10 TDI. Luhr spun and lost the chance to fight for the overall victory. It was quite a surprise that a stop-and-go penalty was imposed on Luhr for "avoidable contact".
Only two laps later, also Emanuele Pirro was hit by a GT car. The Italian stopped off the track with a broken left rear suspension. At that time he was running in second position only 16 seconds behind the eventual winner.
Despite the retirement, Frank Biela and Emanuele Pirro were classified third in the LM P1 class. Lucas Luhr and Marco Werner finished the race in seventh place overall and scored the maximum points in the LM P1 class for the third consecutive time, thus further extending their lead in the Drivers' Championship.
Dr Wolfgang Ullrich (Head of Audi Motorsport): "It was a great effort of the drivers and the team to get into the lead from these difficult starting positions. That's why it's even more disappointing having had so much bad luck in the end and losing the chance for victory just before the finish."
Lucas Luhr (Audi R10 TDI #2): "It was a great and exciting race. We were in a strong position until a slower car hit me in the right rear. I got a puncture and additionally a stop-and-go penalty. I can't understand these rules. At least we were able to clinch another LM P1 victory. And we had the speed to win."
Marco Werner (Audi R10 TDI #2): "Of course we are disappointed. At the beginning things were running well. We had the pace. You can't do more than come to the pits after your stint as the leader. But from that moment on everything went wrong. First the car did not start properly and Lucas (Luhr) had a very slow first lap that cost him a lot of time. Then there was contact with a GT car which touched him in the rear. He got a stop-and-go penalty for that. You can discuss about this, for me this was not okay. It destroyed our race. It's a shame. We had the victory in our hands but could not bring it home. We can just be happy having scored maximum points in LM P1."
Frank Biela (Audi R10 TDI #1): "At the beginning the car felt very good. I was on the used tyres from qualifying which were very consistent. After the caution period a got a little bit more under-steer on the second set of tyres and had to fight a bit harder. Despite that things went well. The victory was still in reach. What happened in the end was a shame. But you always have to take risks in these races, so things like this can happen."
Emanuele Pirro (Audi R10 TDI #1): "We had a very fast car and we were trying to win the race. Frank (Biela) drove excellent in the first half. We were unlucky to pit under green. But still we were catching up and I was confident to catch the leader. In the worst case we would have been second. Unfortunately there was a collision when I was overtaking a slow car which I could not avoid. This was very unfortunate."
Dave Maraj (Team Director Audi Sport North America): "Unfortunately this was not our race. We were fast but we had some bad luck on the track with contacts. We are looking forward and try to win the next race."
Audi had a disappointing day
Porsche
SECOND ROAD RACING COURSE; SECOND OVERALL WIN OF THE SEASON FOR PENSKE PORSCHES; FLYING LIZARD PORSCHES TAKE ONE-TWO IN GT2 IN UTAH
After no one on the Penske Porsche Racing team thought that the Larry H. Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix presented by The Grand and Little America Hotels feature race could possibly match the excitement of qualifying the day before, a combination of flawless driving and incisive pit strategy gave the team's Porsche RS Spyders a one-two overall win at Miller Motorsports Park.
Romain Dumas (France) and Timo Bernhard (Germany) took the lead for good with 35 minutes to go in the two-hour, 45-minute event after the leading de Farran/Pagenaud Acura had to pit for fuel and tires. The #7 Dumas/Bernhard Porsche had done its normal pit stop duties with a little more than an hour to go, and was poised for a non-stop finish. The #6 Penske Porsche RS Spyder, with Sascha Maassen (Germany) and Patrick Long (USA) also made up a place in class when the Acura stopped, and move up two places overall to second when both LMP1 Audis had incidents on the course.
Tim Cindric, president of Penske Racing, was very proud of the team effort and the strategy that resulted in victory. "It's been a while since our historic win at Sebring, and it was great to have another overall victory, but, more importantly, it was important to extend our lead over the Acuras, which have shown again that they are very competitive. We now have a good LMP2 points lead, but it took a perfect stint from each of our four drivers to get a one-two finish plus a good strategy and great pit work," said Cindric.
Romain Dumas, who took the checkered flag for the winning #7 car, pointed out this is their third win in class out of four events, and, while the overall wins are nice, they are just being in the right place at the right time. "We get important points and win championships by defeating our competitors in class, but we enjoy the satisfaction of besting the Audis. It was fun racing with Lucas and the Audi, but, at the end, we had to be careful to make sure we finished.
Timo Bernhard, who shared the LMP2 title with Dumas in 2007, said it was tough for the drivers to follow the strategy when they saw the competitors ahead of them on the track. "The strategy at the beginning was to take care of the car, and the race would come to us. It was very tough to stay to the strategy when there were times we didn't feel it was going to work, but we trusted team and, as usual, they were right," said Bernhard.
Maassen and Long were caught in the frenetic dash to turn one at the beginning of the race, and found themselves in ninth place after only 2,500 yards, but they too stuck to the strategy, moving up two spots when two Acuras collided in that turn, and more spots when Audis had their problems. Finally, with 15 minutes left, Long lead the de Farran/Pagenaud Acura by ten seconds, a lead he was able to maintain until the checkered flag was in sight, when he slowed down to earn a four-second win.
"We were conserving fuel when Pagenaud was catching us, but we turned several equal laps to make sure he knew we could so it if pushed. Sascha really kept the car out of danger in a very difficult first stint," said Long, the only American Porsche factory driver.
The RS Spyders of the Dyson Racing team was in contention for a podium finish all day, with the #20 Porsche of Butch Leitzinger (USA)/Marino Franchitti (Scotland) at the helm, was fourth overall and fourth in LMP2, while the #16, driven by Guy Smith (England)/Chris Dyson (USA) wound up sixth overall and eighth in LMP2. Dumas/Bernhard now lead the Scott Sharp/David Brabham Acura drivers in the LMP2 championship by 28 points (86 & 58), with both Dyson Racing team driving pairings in hot pursuit (Leitzinger/Franchitti with 46 points and Dyson/Smith with 43 points).
In the manufacturers championship for LMP2, Porsche has a 21-point lead over Acura, and in the team championship, Penske Racing leads Acura's Highcroft Racing by 28 points, with Dyson Racing only four points behind.
In GT2, Flying Lizard Motorsports had a momentum-builder for its upcoming appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans next month by finishing first and second in class with their Flying Lizard Motorsports Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs. Wolf Henzler (Germany) and Joerg Bergmeister (Germany) got a break early in the race when they received the "wave-by" from the pace car (a courtesy extended by the sanctioning body when the pace car is looking to pick up the leader when re-forming the field based on a car's position on the track).
The team maintained its lead throughout the event, using its large lead to plan fuel stops and driver changes; keeping the other competitors at bay. "We knew after warm-up that the car was very fast and would be good over the long run. The wave-by turned out to be the key to winning the race. Over my stint, I was able to stay out of the rest of the GT2 traffic and was very careful to stay out of trouble. When I caught the GT2 pack - there were four or five of them who were a lap down - they were all fighting for position and I had to work my way carefully through them, one by one. Thanks to the crew for a fantastic race. We are now back in the lead in the championship and I'm looking forward to the rest of the season in such a strong Porsche," said Henzler.
Patrick Pilet (France) and Johannes van Overbeek (USA), in the Team Lizard Porsche, finished second, moving up from fourth after the Farnbacher Loles Porsche of Werner/Basseng had to come in for fuel on the last lap and the Tafel Ferrari of Mueller/Farnbacher needed a late- race pit stop as well.
The Farbacher Loles cars was later excluded from the points for having a fuel cell that was determined to be over the 90 liter capacity dictated by the rules. Henzler/Bergmeister now lead Mueller/Farnbacher in the GT2 driver standings by one point, while the Flying Lizards lead Tafel by nine points and Porsche leads Ferrari in the manufacturers championship by six points.
Porsche won on a track that seemed more suited to a P1
Acura
IMPRESSIVE DEBUT FOR de FERRAN'S ACURA ARX-01b WITH A THIRD PLACE OVERALL AT THE MILLER UTAH GRAND PRIX
Former Indy 500 Champ, Young Frenchman Give Penske Porsche A Strong Challenge
TOOELE, Utah -- The debut of the No. 66 Panasonic ELS Sound de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b gave the American Le Mans Series spectators, competitors and media a thrill Sunday in the Utah Grand Prix at the Miller Motorsports Park.
Led by former Indy 500 champion Gil de Ferran, the new Acura racing effort left a strong impression in the highly-competitive North American sports-car campaign with an overall third-place finish as de Ferran and young French star Simon Pagenaud put on a sensational performance.
After qualifying second Saturday, the de Ferran team was forced to the back of the starting grid after exchanging its qualifying tires for new Michelin rubber. De Ferran's spin in qualifying left the tires unusable and the team made the decision to start from the rear of the field.
But de Ferran, in his first competition since October, 12, 2003, when he won an IRL race at Texas, wasted little time carving his way through the field to sixth by the 12th lap. After a first-turn incident that took out Scott Sharp in the No. 9 Patron Highcroft Acura and Christian Fittipaldi in the No. 26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura, de Ferran avoided the mishap to take second behind the No. 15 Lowe's Fernandez Acura of Luis Diaz at Lap 17.
Diaz was spectacular in his stint Sunday, posting a four-second lead overall before handing off his mount to team owner Adrian Fernandez. Fernandez' charge to the front was halted when the No. 16 Dyson Porsche ran into the No. 15 Lowe's Acura on Lap 46. A broken front wing hurt the Mexican's chance for a podium finish. He came back to place fifth overall.
Pagenaud, a past Formula Atlantic champion, drove a sensational race from fifth to the overall lead by Lap 70. A pit stop for fuel and tires on Lap 74 put the de Ferran machine back to fifth with 22 laps remaining. More than a minute behind the leading Penske car, the 24-year-old French driver cut the Penske margin to 26.8 seconds and took third overall in the team's initial ALMS event.
Bryan Herta brought the AGR Acura back to seventh in the LMP2 division in the XM Acura, while Long Beach winner David Brabham finished the No. 9 Patron Highcroft Acura ninth in LMP2 despite a lengthy repair of the car's rear suspension from the Turn One incident involving Sharp.
The four Acura sports-car operations will now go through a round of tests before the next ALMS event on Saturday, July 12, at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Conn. It is the fifth stop on the 11-race tour.
GIL DE FERRAN (#66 Panasonic ELS de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b): "The Acura car was fantastic today. I ran a little conservatively and watched the traffic pretty closely. It feels great to get back behind the wheel again. I had to run off the racing line several times to pass the slower cars and that was a little different after racing open-wheel cars for so many years. The car was coming back to me in the later stages of my stint. I was able to close up on [Luis] Diaz before my pit stop. I told everyone that Simon was a tremendous driver and he proved it today. He made up great amount of time to close in on the Penske cars at the finish. We got a little unlucky with the yellow flags today. but I felt great. It was my first time in a car in nearly five years and, to finish on the podium is a tremendous feeling."
SIMON PAGENAUD (#66 Panasonic ELS de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b): "At the beginning of my run, I had the in-car radio come out and fall in my lap. So I tucked it under my seat belts and drove like that. But the Acura was an incredible car today. It was so much fun out there. I had to get through the slower traffic but I was able to get to the lead. That felt great. We knew we had to pit late and I just drove as hard as I could. But this is a great start for the de Ferran team. It was exciting to race with a legend like Gil. I think we have a good starting point and we'll be ready for the next race."
SCOTT SHARP (#9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b): "What a shame. We just had a just a great car. We had a little electrical problem at the start of the race. The car wouldn't accelerate properly, especially coming out of the low-speed corners. But we made a few adjustments in the cockpit, changed some switches and we were able to get it running normally. I slid down underneath the Dyson car on the restart. Everything was fine. Then, all of a sudden, 'snap.' I think I had a little help there. Then Christian [Fittipaldi] came around, and I was hoping he was going to miss me, but he happened to hit me at an angle that just clobbered the rear suspension. It's a real shame. The guys have done an amazing hustle job all week. So, even though we were relegated to just running for points, thanks to their efforts, at least we were be able to score some."
DAVID BRABHAM (#9 Patron Highcroft Racing Acura ARX-01b): "Obviously, we're all disappointed today, and probably no one more than Scott. Even though we sustained significant damage to the rear suspension, the team burned it up getting us back out there. At the beginning of my run, I had a problem with the rear of the car due to the oil on Turns One and Two. The car just felt odd, so I was very careful. But the team said we had to push more to get to the required 70 per cent of the race distance. The car responded beautifully and just kept getting better and better. We were doing pretty good lap times in the end and achieved our objective -- which was to get points."
LUIS DIAZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b): "I have mixed emotions today. The team gave us a great car but this series can be very tough because you have the mix of the different classes and the traffic. On one side, I am happy because the car was unbelievable -- really unbelievable. On the other, I think the team deserved a better result. It was not in our hands today but I am optimistic. I cannot wait until the next race."
ADRIAN FERNANDEZ (#15 Lowe's Fernandez Racing Acura ARX-01b): "I think we had the car to win today. Luis proved it and I was out there running pretty easily. Traffic in this series can be very frustrating -- very unpredictable -- and you just never know what is going to happen. One of the Dyson cars went off and came back on track and suddenly just turned into the corner in front of me. I never expected it. He was coming very slow and when you are that slow, you don't jump onto the racing line. I was at least 40 miles an hour quicker than him. Once we damaged the dive plane, we had a lot of push in the car. Luis did a tremendous job. We just have to keep doing this and one day we will get our race. It was a frustrating end."
BRYAN HERTA (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b): "It was tough to start in the back due to changing our qualifying tires, but Christian do a great job driving the car to the front. He got us a good position early in the race. But when the Highcroft car spun, he couldn't avoid it and we got some damage to our XM Acura. We finished the race with some suspension damage but, at least, we finished today. This new Acura has a lot of potential and we'll be in the hunt very soon with the car. We just need a little luck to put the XM car back on the podium."
CHRISTIAN FITTIPALDI (#26 XM Satellite Radio AGR Acura ARX-01b): "I got a good start and moved up to fifth in the first ten laps or so. Then, on the restart, I saw Scott [Sharp] spin and I tried to avoid him. But I couldn't dodge all of the action and my car's rear hit his car. We had some damage on the rear end, but I kept racing as best I could today. Bryan did a good job bringing home the car. I feel badly because we have a good car and we just can't get any luck. We can be a contender with this XM Acura."
Miller Motorsports Park
Penske Porsches Post 1-2 Finish at Miller Motorsports Park
TOOELE VALLEY, UTAH (May 18, 2008) - Romain Dumas and Timo Bernhard gave Porsche and Penske Racing their second straight victory at Miller Motorsports Park with a 1-2 finish. Dumas took the checkered flag ahead of Patrick Long in the Larry H. Miller Utah Grand Prix presented by the Grand and Little America Hotels.
Dumas and Bernhard, driving the No. 7 Porsche RS Spyder, captured their first overall victory for Penske since a season-opening win at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring with Emmanuel Collard. The pairing also were winners in LMP2 after seeing their eight-race class winning streak end in the previous round at Long Beach.
Dumas inherited the lead when Audi Sport North America's Emanuele Pirro pitted from first place near the two-hour mark, but still had to withstand challenges from the two Audi R10 TDIs. Lucas Luhr suffered a slow puncture with 30 minutes to go in the No. 1 Audi while running within 3 seconds of Dumas, and Pirro's No. 2 was knocked off course by David Robertson's GT2-class No. 40 Ford GT just two minutes later.
Long and Sascha Maassen recorded their best result of the season with the runner-up finish in the No. 6 Porsche RS Spyder, 22.656 seconds adrift of the sister car. They were 4.183 seconds ahead of Simon Pagenaud and Gil de Ferran in the No. 66 de Ferran Motorsports Acura ARX-01b, making its first start in the Series.
The first six cars were from the lighter, more nimble LMP2 cars that took advantage of its cornering abilities around the 3.048-mile, 15-turn Outer Course.
"I am so happy," said Bernhard. "Yesterday we captured overall pole, and now we have won overall with a great race and a great strategy. There were a lot of cautions at the beginning, and it wasn't easy to get into a rhythm. But it was a perfect run."
"It was, for sure, a nice race for our car," added Dumas. "We had a different strategy from the rest of the field. When I got in there was little more than one hour to go, so I knew I had to be careful in my stint. For sure our team made a very good strategy and did not make any mistakes, and we pushed at the right times. It was an important win for us."
Luhr and Marco Werner were seventh overall but finished first in LMP1 for the third consecutive race. After entering with a two-race overall winning streak, the No. 2 Audi lost time with the spin and puncture and also a late-race penalty.
"I think we showed a good race," said Luhr. "It was fun fighting for the overall lead. When we came to the top of the chicane, the No. 1 made the pass for me in front of the slower No. 28 car so I followed him. Then this guy had only one place to look and cut down into me and cut all the air, and I spun and had to come in and get new tires. Then we got a stop-and-go for that bit; I think it was unfair, but we really showed a great race. It's a great track to drive on."
Intersport Racing's No. 37 Lola B06/10-AER finished second in class, its best finish of the season. Jon Field led early before a couple of spins and briefly losing power steering. Pirro and Frank Biela were third in class.
Corvette Racing's Johnny O'Connell and Jan Magnussen won their third GT1 race in four starts this season in the No. 3 Corvette C6.R. Magnussen finished 10th overall, more than a minute up on Oliver Gavin in the sister car.
"This was a great race for us," said Magnussen. "We had to really work at keeping the other car at bay. We turned it into a test for both cars to get ready for Le Mans, and I really think we're going to be in good shape going to France."
Olivier Beretta began from the pole in the No. 4 Corvette but O'Connell and Magnussen won the race in pit lane. In each of the previous three rounds, the pole-sitting car ended up as the race winner.
Flying Lizard Motorsports' Wolf Henzler and Jorg Bergmeister drove their No. 45 Porsche 911 GT3 RSR to 13th overall and their first GT2 victory since Sebring with a one-lap victory over the sister No. 46 Porsche of Johannes van Overbeek and Patrick Pilet.
Henzler jumped out to a 20-second lead early and gained nearly a lap on the field during the race's first caution. Werner, in the overall leading Audi, was between the two Porsches, allowing Henzler a free pass around the circuit to catch the rear of the field.
"It was an easy drive on a Sunday afternoon," said Bergmeister. "We knew after warm-up we had a great car. I was pretty optimistic, and it was a nice way to do it. Wolf did a great job putting the gap between us and the sister car, and it was great to get the wave-by. Without the gap, we might not have been so lucky."
The 1-2 finish was the second of the season for the Lizards and allowed Bergmeister and Henzler to move back into the class championship lead by one point over Tafel Racing's Dirk Mueller and Dominik Farnbacher. They were third in GT2 on Sunday in the No. 71 Ferrari F430 GT.
Tommy Archer may have changed teams from 2007 to 2008, but his result at Miller Motorsports Park was the same--a win in the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT race. Archer started his No. 13 Foametix/Woodhouse Performance Dodge Viper from the pole and led all the way. Second-starting Ritch Marziale applied early pressure in his No. 56 All-Cut Concrete Dodge Viper, but succumbed to power steering problems just past the halfway point of the 22-lap event.
From there, Archer avoided lapped cars spinning in front of him to keep Brandon Davis' No. 10 ACS/Sun Microsystems Ford Mustang at bay and score the win with a 1.148-second margin of victory, averaging 93.284 mph. It was the first win for the Woodhouse Performance team.
"It's a small team, and it's nice for Bob [Woodhouse] and his team that have worked so hard for so many years to get a win for them," Archer said.
Davis started fifth, but moved to third by turn one. When Marziale's troubles began, he moved to second on lap six and closed on Archer at least twice, but was unable to make a bid for the lead. The Long Beach winner took over the championship lead with his runner-up finish.
Andy Pilgrim started his No. 8 Remington Shaving Cadillac CTS-V just behind Davis and advanced to third after Cindi Lux spun her No. 2 Mopar/Corsa/Forgeline/Momo Dodge Viper back to fifth on lap 11. Archer's car continually improved, but he was unable to make a bid for second despite being just behind Davis' Mustang for the second half of the race.
Randy Pobst came from 11th on the grid to finish fourth in his No. 1 K-PAX Racing Porsche 911 GT3. Despite his strong run, he lost the points lead, falling five behind Davis (310 to 305).
Lux, who is an instructor at Miller Motorsports Park's Ford Racing High Performance Driving School, held on to finish fifth--the best finish ever for a woman in SPEED GT competition. It was the best finish by a woman overall in SPEED World Challenge competition since Shauna Marinus' third-place result in SPEED Touring Car at Infineon Raceway in 2003.
Polesitter Jason Saini led every lap en route to his maiden SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Touring Car Championship win. Starting from his first career pole position in the No. 74 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6, Saini made a clean getaway on the standing start and immediately pulled out a gap on Kleinubing. The gap between the two remained fairly consistent between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds throughout the course of the 20-lap race.
Saini beat Kleinubing to the checkered flag by 1.402 seconds, averaging 86.366 mph.
"It wasn't easy," Saini said. "It was 50 minutes (of) straight qualifying, every lap. There was no tire management, there was no waiting on it, I just went. The car was fantastic; the team did a great job. It was as good on the last lap as it was on the first. We nailed the setup."
Saini became the first series rookie winner since John Angelone won the season finale at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in 2005.
Multi-time series champion Pierre Kleinubing finished second in the No. 43 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX, but felt he just didn't have enough to make a serious challenge for the lead.
"Every time I tried to go a little faster, [Saini would] return the favor on the next lap," Kleinubing said. "Every time I closed the gap a little bit, he stretched it out again. He had a better car today; he beat us straight up. Congratulations to him and the team."
Point leader Kuno Wittmer started sixth in his No. 44 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX but was third by Turn One. He fended off Charles Espenlaub's No. 73 MAZDASPEED/Stoptech/Racinghart MAZDA6 for much of the race before the two made light contact in Turn Five, allowing Wittmer to escape from the battle.
The Wittmer/Espenlaub battle allowed Peter Cunningham's No. 42 Acura/RealTime/Eibach/Red Line Acura TSX to slot into fourth for the finish. Espenlaub held off teammate Jim Daniels in the closing laps to finish fifth.
Dino Steiner improved on his second-place finish in Saturday's race for the IMSA Challenge by Michelin by winning in Sunday's race. He posted a 1.945-second margin of victory over Tom Pank, who led early in the race, with Gold class winner Tony Rivera finishing third overall. Martin Snow of Lehi, who won Saturday's race, got spun on the opening lap and did not finish. Martin's wife, Melanie, finished second in the Gold Class with a fifth-overall finish.
Similarly, Jonathan Goring improved on his Saturday second-place finish in the IMSA Lites presented by Hankook Tires, taking the win in Sunday's race in dominant fashion. Tom Drewer finished 11.663 seconds back in second, with Matt Downs completing the podium.
Up next for Miller Motorsports Park is the HANNspree Superbike World Championship® StriVectin-SD® USA Round presented by HANNspree and the Honda Summit of Speed AMA Superbike Championship, scheduled for May 29-June 1. This event combines the return of the HANNspree Superbike World Championship to North America for the first time in four years with the third Utah appearance of the AMA Superbike Championship for four days of the best two-wheeled action in America. It will be the biggest international sporting event in the State of Utah since the 2002 Winter Olympics.
The event will include a myriad of off-track entertainment for fans including stunt bikes, freestyle motocross exhibitions, live bands, helicopter rides and sky diving. Fans are also invited to the Zantrex-3 Insta-Shot Bike Bash at Gallivan Center in downtown Salt Lake City at 6:00 pm on May 29, featuring live music from the band "Chevelle," BMX and freestyle motocross exhibitions, plus an autograph session with many of the top World Superbike and AMA Superbike riders.
A variety of single-day, two-day and four-day ticket packages are available from the Miller Motorsports Park ticket office.
For more information, or to purchase tickets, call 435-277-RACE (7223) or visit www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.