TEAM GGS RACING TAKES FIRST TWO CHECKERED FLAGS OF 2008

Danville, VA- The 2008 season got off to a great start for Team GGS Racing at Virginia International Raceway April 11-13^th.  The Oak Tree Double National event, put on by the North Carolina Region of the Sports Car Club of America, was the first event on Team GGS Racing’s schedule for 2008.

Team GGS Racing had a number of new items to test and tune on the F-Production Acura Integra, so they attended the test day on Thursday, April 10^th. The new components worked great and the team had a successful test day despite having ignition problems during the last session of the day.

Friday’s activities began with a 30-minute qualifying session for Saturday’s National race. Since the car had an ignition problem during the last session of the test day, the team was unable to scuff its race tires for Saturday’s race.

Since the qualifying session was 30 minutes long, crew chief Ron Kint and driver Mark Carpenter decided that a pit stop half way through the session to change tires could be done while still having time to lay down a good lap during the end of the session. The plan worked perfectly, Carpenter got some good laps to scuff the race tires, and the Team GGS crew pulled off a flawless pit stop 10 minutes into the session. Carpenter went out after the stop and laid down a lap that would be good enough for provisional pole in FP for Saturday’s race.

Saturday morning also brought another qualifying session for Saturday’s race, this time it was a 15-minute session. The team tried some new chassis adjustments to see if they could improve the handling, however the changes did not work as planned and Carpenter did not turn a better lap from the previous session. Thomas Lyman, also racing an Acura Integra in FP, put down a lap good enough to take pole in FP, so Team GGS Racing would be relegated to a 2^nd place starting spot, 5^th overall in race group four.

Starting 2^nd in class in the FP Acura Integra, Carpenter got a decent start but was passed by two EP cars going into turn one. For the next few laps, he battled back; in the meantime, Lyman gained a five second lead.

The following lap, Carpenter came around turn 11 to find Lyman’s car had spun on the track. He quickly turned left to avoid major contact but just clipped the front of Lyman’s car with his right rear.

Carpenter would hold on to the lead from there, taking Team GGS Racing to victory lane for the first time in 2008.

There was still one qualifying session remaining Sunday morning for Sunday afternoon’s race. Team GGS worked on the car prior to the session, making further suspension adjustments to make the car faster. The car responded in the session, and Carpenter would start from pole in FP for Sunday’s race.

Starting from pole in FP, Carpenter got a good start and would go side by side with Lyman in turn one. He would lead the first seven laps before Lyman got by in turn one.

The two battled for the next three lap’s nose to tail, before Lyman broke an axle coming out of turn 11, leaving Carpenter to cruise to his second victory of the weekend and of 2008.

Team GGS Racing has now secured maximum points for out-of-division races, which is counted toward an SCCA Divisional season Championship. The SCCA counts a maximum of two out-of-division national races, as well as four in-division races.

Team GGS Racing will be competing to capture its second Northeast Division Championship in two years in 2008.

Crew chief Ron Kint was ecstatic after the races, saying “I thought it was a good launching pad for the year. We really knocked off the rust and I think we’ll keep getting better each weekend. It was good to get our out-of-division points taken care of as well. Now we can go to the June Sprints and go for it.”

Team GGS Racing would like to thank the following people for attending the races at VIR and for showing their support: Paul Kilker; Jan Nystrom; Riber, Rosemary, Magnus, and Nicole Gustafson, and Jane Carpenter.

We would also like to thank our sponsors; GGS Technical Publication Services, GraphikMasters of York, PA; Apex Advertising of Lancaster, PA; Geiger Promotional Products of York, PA; Carl R. Fraser Racing Enterprises, and Henry and Diane Olstynski.