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 | | ThunderSport's Red Line Ion scored first and second place finishes at Roebling Road over the July 4 weekend. |
Bloomingdale, Georgia - At the LouElla Cook SCCA Double National over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, Mike Kramer and his Saturn Ion Red Line touring car scored a win and a second place finish on Roebling Road's technical and fast 2.3 mile ribbon of asphalt.
On Friday the 4th, Kramer qualified his Kumho Tire-sponsored machine fourth for Saturday's 23-lap sprint. Honda fast guys Rob Hines and Ian Stewart sat side by side on the front row and Mazda's Eric Van Cleef started inside of Kramer. As the field of 23 racecars came up to speed on the pace lap for Saturday's race, a light drizzle began to fall from the south Georgia sky. And as the green flag fell on the field, Kramer squeezed the throttle of his Ecotec-powered Saturn and leaped to the front, out-legging the top three T3 cars by almost five car-lengths entering the fast turn one right-hander. Kramer led the first two laps, but surrendered the point on lap three when Ian Stewart's Honda S2000 slammed into the right side of the #42 Saturn at the entrance of turn 6. The contact forced Kramer out of the throttle and off-line, dropping him back to third, as Eric Van Cleef's Mazda RX-8 slid by. "The Honda slapped me pretty good, it wasn't a real good place to try a pass, I'm glad for those Saturn polymer panels, they can take a pretty good lick. I had to find grip and chase down the leaders," explained Kramer.
Kramer stalked the two leaders for the next dozen laps as the rain would pour out of the sky on one end of the race circuit and sun shined on the other end. "Every corner was different," said Kramer. "The grip was elusive, but we kept gaining ground on the leaders."
On lap 15, Van Cleef bobbled and Kramer powered by, retaking the second spot. Three turns later, as the rain fell harder, Kramer passed Stewart to regain the lead. Eight laps later, the Saturn flashed under the checkered flag at full steam and six-seconds in front of Rob Hines's Honda S2000, to take the T3 class and overall win.
"This was a well earned win for our little race team. I'm very proud of the GM, Kumho and Cobalt Friction badges I wear on my chest and I'm glad I can showcase those brands from the top step of this podium. I'm also very proud of my sons - Alex and Joey - who helped me back at the shop and here at the racetrack to get the car ready and put us in a position to win."
The second race of the weekend started under a cloudy warm sky. As the green flag fell on Sunday's sprint, Kramer once again moved through the middle of the field from his second-row starting position to take the lead entering turn 1. "We held the point for the first lap, but then the immovable object, gave way to the inexorable force…Rob Hines's Honda S2000," said Kramer. "That Ecotec torque was awesome on the start, but Rob was faster and I knew holding him back would hurt us both, so I settled into groove chasing him and keeping the others behind me." Kramer held second for the entire sprint, but was dogged by Eric Van Cleef and his potent Mazda RX-8 every lap. The battle between Kramer and Van Cleef was heated for all 23 laps. At the checkered flag, Hines took the win, Kramer was second and Van Cleef a close third. Mike Wheeler rounded out the top-four in his Chevrolet Cobalt.
"I'm very pleased with our efforts here this weekend," smiled Kramer. "The racecar is getting better and we're gaining some ground on the Hondas."
The #42 Saturn ION Red Line was built at GM's Spring Hill Manufacturing assembly plant in Spring Hill, TN and is supported by: Kumho Tires, Red Line Oil, and Cobalt Friction Technologies.
SCCA's Touring 3 class is the racing battleground of America's most popular new performance cars including; Mazda RX-8, Mazdaspeed Miata, BMW Z4, Subaru Legacy, Audi TT, Honda's S2000, Chrysler Cross Fire, Chevrolet's Cobalt SS Supercharged and Saturn's ION Red Line.
For more information visit the ThunderSport Racing website at http://www.saturnracer.com. |
; "ThunderSport's Red Line Ion scored first and second place finishes at Roebling Road over the July 4 weekend.")
