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| Sahlen Six Hours Race Notes: Michael Shank Racing |
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Michael Shank Racing Takes Fighting Fourth at Watkins Glen
Strong team effort nets fourth and sixth after hard-fought six hour
Contact:
Matt Cleary, Sunday Group Management
media@sundaymanagement.com
317.908.2975 (mobile)
(Watkins Glen,NY) 7 June 08 Oswaldo Negri emerged from a thrilling Sahlen's Six Hours of the Glen race at Watkins Glen fighting to a fourth place finish with co-driver Mark Patterson on Saturday as the sister No. 6 Ford Riley of John Pew and Ian James completed a strong Michael Shank Racing team outing with a sixth place result.
Both team entries ran in podium contention for much of the six-hour race distance for the second endurance racing event of the 2008 Rolex Sports Car Series season. A late-race restart set the stage for a dynamic race finish as the lead ten Daytona Prototypes fought for positions in the final half-hour of the race and put on a fantastic show for the SPEED audience at home. Negri and James diced it up in several heated battles for positions before coming home in fourth and sixth.
All of our drivers really pulled their weight for all six hours out there, said team owner Mike Shank. Oz and Ian did over three hours each, and didn't put a wheel wrong. It was a very good weekend all around for us. We were in the fight all day, and Mark put in I think his absolute best stint ever, bringing the car into the pits in second place deep into the race. Just fantastic. And the cars don't really have a scratch on them, so we are ready to go for the test on Monday too. We were hoping to get back on the podium again, but this was a great race and should be good for us in the points as well.
The upstate New York six hour always provides surprises in the weather category, ranging from cold rainy races to Saturday's record-setting heat, and momentary rain shower adding to the challenge of the event.
This was a perfect outcome after a truly exciting race, said Patterson, who kept the defending Series champions at bay while trying to find a way by the eventual race-winning Ganassi machine. Oswaldo did another amazing job and I can't believe how strong he was up to the very last lap that he ran, even in this heat. The car was just fantastic, all day and just allowed me to do nearly everything I asked it to do. It was a pleasure to have the car that in tune. Those closing laps, if you weren't on the edge of your seat, check for a pulse because that was some spectacular racing!
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