Hopwood, Burrows Lead Compass360's Hot Streak to Jersey
Millville, NJ (26 August, 2008) -- With wins in two of the last three races, 2007 KONI Challenge Champions Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood are the hottest drivers in KONI competition as the series gathers once again this weekend for round 8 of the 2008 championship season at a new venue in the Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Burrows and Hopwood, who doubled up their win tally on the season with a fantastic run to the checkered flag at Trois Rivieres a fortnight ago, will look to add their names to the history book with another strong run to the podium in the No. 76 Fischer Skis Compass360 Racing Acura TSX on Saturday in the first professional race at the freshly built 2.25-mile 14-turn New Jersey Motorsports Park facility.
“This track is going to be new for everyone, and that gives us even more confidence because we know that Compass will have the Fischer Skis Acura TSX all sorted, and we both have a lot of experience learning new tracks quickly, so this should be another good weekend for us,” said Hopwood. “We switched it up for Trois Rivieres with me qualifying and Adam finishing the race and that obviously worked out well, so we will see what strategy Ray Lee has us on this weekend.”
“There are going to be nearly 70 cars on this track, which isn’t that big, so being smart and patient with the mixed class event is going to be really important,” said Burrows. “Winning races was a big goal for us and now we have the taste for it, we’re pretty hungry to do it again! The Compass360 guys have done an awesome job with the car and we’d like to take as many championship points as we can from the weekend. We know we have a lot of ground to make up, but there is a lot of racing yet to go this season, so we’re going to try to make the most of this weekend.”
A promoter test day will open the weekend on Thursday, with Friday practice preceding Saturday’s qualifying session. Sunday is scheduled for an early 8:45 AM race start.
C360R wins at Trois Rivieres with Hopwood and Burrows
Trois Rivieres, Quebec -- Trevor Hopwood and Adam Burrows combined for their second Grand-Am KONI Challenge victory in three races after making an impressive run to the checkered flag at the Grand Prix de Trois Rivieres in Compass360 Racing's No. 76 Fischer Skis Acura TSX on Saturday.
Hopwood qualified on the outside pole on Saturday morning and then moved to the lead once the race started before turning the Acura over to Burrows, who made several strong moves to the front before establishing a nearly ten-second lead on the field.
A late-race caution erased his advantage, but the defending KONI Champ had no problem fending off the advances of Pierre Kleinubing in the final moments of the race, setting the fastest lap of the race after taking the white flag to charge to the checker.
"This is just perfect, to dominate and win a race like this," said Burrows. "We switched roles to have Trevor qualify and me finish the race today, and it worked out perfectly. You have to be conservative with the brakes here, but we were still able to get up front and build a good lead without using up the car at all. The Cobalt Brakes were perfect all the way through and held up exactly as you would hope. I’m really happy to be a winner on this track because this event has so much history, and I’m excited that we are part of it. This feels great, and I can’t thank all the guys at Compass360 enough, they did a great job once again."
Trois Rivieres, set on an unforgiving, concrete-lined and tight street course layout, has seen names like Villeneuve, Tagliani, and Empringham grace the top step of the podium in the over thirty years of the annual August race weekend. Long a student of the sport, Hopwood was happy to add his name to that list of winners at Trois Rivieres.
"I had a lot of fun qualifying this morning and the car was just perfect, the Compass360 guys did a great job," said Hopwood. "I was able to just set a pace and was still just saving the car for Adam. Ray Lee called a great race for us and the car was perfect. It felt great to win at Watkins Glen and this is even better to do it again. We were disappointed with what happened at Iowa, but we just shook it off and now we're back on top of the podium, so it feels fantastic. This is such a great event, that to be a winner here is a special thing, and that we can do that for a Canadian team is awesome. They are going to need a merchandise trailer here for these guys next year!"
Trois Rivieres, Quebec -- Kenneth Lau, car chief of Compass360's #74 Honda Civic, took to the track this weekend in the Castrol Canadian Touring Car races. On Saturday afternoon he piloted the #39 Durabond Honda Civic to a solid second place, and followed that up with a fantastic win on Sunday morning. Best of all, his team's other Hondas, driven by Rapone brothers Andre and Andrew, finished second and third, giving them a clean sweep of the podium. Congratulations guys!
There's a certain focus that you see in the eyes of a truly professional athlete. It's that of a single-minded purpose. One that is able to cut through the cacophony of our modern world, that manages to focus on the task at hand: to do what it takes mentally, physically, to win.
Compass360 Racing has an interesting contrast in the drivers of our #75 Acura TSX this year. On one hand we have Kenny Wilden, a man who needs no introduction to fans of road racing in North America. He's one of the paddock's most experienced racers, with a career spanning decades through Firehawk, Player's GM, Motorola Cup, Trans-Am and Champ Car Atlantics. Kenny's co-driver is Jeremy Willard.
Willard is an exceptional athlete, but is new to racing. In the mid-90's he was an internationally seeded windsurfer, an IMCO Olympic-class champion twice. Over a three year period he won nearly every championship he entered and travelled to Maui to further his pursuit of a professional career, but left the island to complete his education in British Columbia. Back in Canada, he took up wakeboarding and soon after was competing professionally in the U.S. and Canada.
Two years ago Jeremy took up golf for the first time. He now carries a single-digit handicap. It's this kind of dedication and focus that's beginning to show real results in his KONI Challenge efforts. Proof positive? Jeremy and Kenny took third place at Iowa after Jeremy qualified the car ninth. It was his sixth car race, ever. You read that right. Sixth race EVER. No regional racing, no BMW Club. He's jumped in to the KONI Challenge with both feet and has steadily improved race after race, notching a podium finish at the season's half-way point.
I think it's interesting that competition experience in one discipline can help in honing ability in another. As Jeremy says, "I like to do things competitively or not at all."
Clearly, he's given himself the best tools possible. A strong driver coach and a proven car and team are important components to maximum performance improvement in a short time. Says Jeremy, "I had to put together the ultimate package. If I didn't have the coach, didn't have the team and car, I couldn't have had this level of success so quickly." Willard continues, "There are so many variables... I'm now at a point where I'm competitive and I want to attack the field. I want to drive longer stints, and I'm having a blast!"
Jeremy's qualified strongly in the past few races, and we're expecting more of the same, especially at New Jersey, a track which is new to most of the drivers.
Newton, Iowa -- Compass360 Racing (C360R), fresh off their win at Watkins Glen, brought three cars to Iowa in hopes of scoring their second win in a row.
Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood, who notched their first-ever KONI Challenge win at the hands of their C360R TSX a few weeks earlier, took to the track in their #76 Skunk2 / Fischer Skis / Sunday Management Group TSX, while rookie Jeremy Willard was joined by season-long team-mate Kenny Wilden in the #75 Pure Body Care / Skunk2 TSX. Christian Miller and Benoit Theege, both long-time Grand-Am competitors and Compass360 drivers, piloted the team's new #74 C360R / King Motorsports Honda Civic Si.
All three cars were strong in each session, with the crew working through some early teething troubles with the #74 Civic. Come the end of qualifying, Burrows put the #76 TSX in a strong fourth position, with Willard notching the first top-ten qualifying of his career.
The team knew that this race would be one of attrition. For the front-wheel drive cars, the combination of the tight oval and the tight infield means it's very hard on the drivetrain, which is entirely in the front end. For the rear-drive cars, it's easy to over-drive the car on corner exit, which means you've no tire left to put down the power at race end (resulting in some rather spectacular power slides). And that transition from infield to banking is hard on all of the cars!
Burrows did what the team has come to expect from him: move towards the front. Within a few laps he was second, a position he held until handing over to Hopwood under a mid-race yellow. Although Willard had fallen back a few places from his ninth-place starting position, he was still on the lead lap and handed Wilden a car with lots of brakes and tires, and with nary a nick on the bodywork. After the damage he'd taken in the few races prior, this was the kind of great driving the team knew he'd deliver. Theege and Miller had some troubles during their driver change, which (due to the very short Iowa track), put them a two laps down.
With twenty minutes to go, Burrows was comfortably in second, with Wilden power-sliding his way through the oval banking into the top seven. Miller, though, was on fire in the new Civic, managing to make up a lap and find himself knocking on the door of the top ten.
Iowa is the embodiment of "it ain't over 'till it's over", and so with just a few minutes to go, heartbreak ensued with Trevor's #76 losing a drive shaft going into the infield section, putting an end to their day. "It would have been real scary if that'd happened on the oval," remarked Hopwood. The #76 TSX ended the day in 17th place.
Christian, meanwhile, was turning times lap after lap that were better than the front-runners, finishing a strong eighth. If the race had been longer (or their driver change been flawless), there's no question that the new Civic could have been on the podium. A good event for the new car, then! "I love the new Civic," exclaimed Miller. "It's such a great platform, it's wonderful to give it a top-ten in this car's very first race."
But the glory has to be reserved for Jeremy Willard and Kenny Wilden, who take their first podium for Compass360 Racing, snagging third. It's one of many for Wilden, but it's the very first for Willard, and it's richly deserved. The team cheered the duo as they took to the stage and sprayed the champagne, for what the team is sure will be the first of many. "We knew Jeremy and Kenny were two great drivers," noted Team Principal Karl Thomson. "It's wonderful to see them deliver on the promise we knew they have. I think we'll see more solid results for the rest of this season!"
The C360R team has just a few short days to repair and freshen the cars for their race in Trois Rivieres, Quebec, an event that promises to be at least as exciting as Iowa.
As you can imagine, the Compass360 Racing (C360R.com) team is coming off a major high, winning our second-consecutive race at Watkins Glen, with our drivers Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood notching their first-ever KONI Challenge win.
The three-week break to the next race hasn't meant the team is lounging by the pool; on the contrary, there's lots of action in preparation for Iowa.
Our new four-door Civic Si, which replaces the one that was destroyed at Lime Rock earlier this year, is now at the shop. King Motorsports did an amazing job of taking a zero-mile Civic and installing a cage even more robust than the one that kept me from serious injury in the five-barrel-roll wreck I had at Lime Rock. This is the first car we've had that was essentially fresh from the factory. No water damage, no theft recovery. This was a pristine car, and the hope is that it'll make our best race car yet. Watch for my notes on our "Civic 2.0" that'll debut in New Jersey in a few weeks time.
Prior to that, a two-door Civic coupe will be added to our fleet for Iowa. It'll join our two Acura TSXs (#74 and #75) as part of our three-car effort at that event. For Trois Rivieres, a week later, our Acura RSX will join the fray, and we'll be back to our usual four-car line up.
Iowa and Trois Rivieres are worlds apart. But one thing that they share are their enthusiastic fans.
Last year, in Iowa, we had 12,000 fans at the race. When we went to dinner, our drivers and crew were deluged with fans, young and old, who wanted to talk to us about our race, and get autographs. It was fabulous! And with the promotion that's been done this year, we're expecting even more interest. It promises to be an interesting race, with GS and ST on track at the same time on a 55-second lap circuit -- there won't be much between each class and we'll all have to give each other room if we want to make it to the next race!
That'd be Trois Rivieres, one of the highlights of the KONI season, in my opinion. It's pretty close to home for us (about seven hours drive), and my wife and kids will be there. Mary has attended the past few years, but this is the first time for daughter Laura (11 years) and son Miles (8). The rest of our drivers are also bringing their families (Kenny Wilden's wife and two boys, Kevin York's wife and son, Jeremy Willard's new bride, and Christian Miller's dad will all be there), and it promises to be a blast.
Canadian fans are so passionate about racing! Trois Rivieres is one of the best examples of that, with the entire town shutting down its main street over the weekend, and turning in to what can only be described as a Carnivale. We dine on absolutely stunning food overlooking the shores of the St. Lawrence River. The next day, tens of thousands of fans show up to cheer the teams on. We've had good results (second place in 2007) and have run strongly there in the past few seasons. But Trois Rivieres, and Iowa, are more than just races. They're great celebrations of motorsport that give us the opportunity to connect with real fans, who are truly passionate about street stock racing, and who are hungry for more.
I'm hopeful we'll be able to give them something to cheer about!
Watkins Win - 2nd Time for C360R, 1st for Hopwood/Burrows
Two weeks ago I was celebrating Compass360's first win of the season at Watkins Glen. It was fabulous to see Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood take their first KONI win after battling with them, right down to the wire, in 2007. As we all know, they won the championship last year, but my co-driver Billy Johnson and I took the most wins, including one at the Glen. Which means we've won this race two years in a row.
It was a great battle, which interestingly enough came down to a late-race duel with our friends at HART, with Shane Lewis driving their Accord for (what rumor has as) the very last time. It mirrored 2007, when Billy passed Shane on the last lap, managing to hold on to the win. This year, our Acura TSX was out in front, with Trevor holding off Shane as the race drew to a close.
So the roles were reversed: we were leading and HART behind. On a late-race restart, Shane got a massive run going, and tried a move very similar to the one Billy pulled on him the year before. But although the Accord has absolutely astonishing power, it also weighs a lot more and Shane ended up in the gravel trap. I think any driver would have tried the same thing because Shane was not just going for the lead of the race, but was hoping to give the Accord a great send-off after a remarkably successful career in KONI Challenge.
The Accord got going again many places back, which left the race to be decided between our proven TSX and the relatively new Civic Si of Bill Fenton Motorsports, at the hands of the experienced and talented Bob Endicott. At the end it was our Acura on top, and a Honda second, so I know the folks at Honda of America were pretty happy with the result (we'd spent time talking racing and business with them during the weekend since the Indy Racing League (IRL) was on the ticket at the Glen and Honda supplies all the engines for those cars).
Standing in Victory Circle at the Glen, I was absolutely gleeful. I was thrilled for Adam and Trevor, but even more so for our crew, who have persevered through some tough challenges we've presented to them this year, and who always give their all.
We'd started the year well, with Travis Walker and I taking third at Daytona, and being first in the points going in to Lime Rock after some technical problems bumped the top two cars out. But then I got taken out at Lime Rock, barrel-rolling five times in the process and destroying our brand new Civic Si that seemed set for a top-five result. The next weekend one of our TSXs was destroyed in practice, which set us back even further.
But our crew soldiered on. At Mid-Ohio, we gave them clutches to fix and engines to swap. During the race, Ivan went back to the trailer to repair a broken hub on Adam and Trevor's car to get them back out to take a few valuable points (great TV coverage of that, I will admit!). And our crew showed up at Watkins, ready to do what was necessary to win, as they always do.
So as the champagne sprayed, I thought, that this win belongs to the team and our amazing crew. To Adam and Trevor who brought the car home without a mark on it (while our other two cars suffered rather serious damage that kept them from being in the top ten where they belong). To Ray, our Team Manager and my business partner, who brings these guys together and has everything mapped out to the tiniest detail. To Petr, who (like Ivan the race prior) repaired the 73 car after a massive shunt to get it back out to try and get some points. To Turtle, who managed the 76 RSX to a good result, on the lead lap, despite the fact it hit the wall and suffered substantial damage. To Ivan and the 74 team, who finally got the win they deserve! To my father, and all of our team. You guys made this happen, and you do it every weekend. Congratulations, and thank you!
That was brought home to me because, for the first time in the history of Compass360 Racing, I was not one of the winning drivers. While we worked to rebuild the two cars that were destroyed at Lime Rock and Mosport, I'd elected to sit out these mid-season events to ensure that the drivers that signed with us at the beginning of the season continue to get the very best we can give them. I've been calling strategy and doing my part in the pit, which is also good fun, although I'll admit it's not quite the same as being behind the wheel!
Watkins marks our team's sixth KONI Challenge win. I've been driving for five of those, and I'm looking forward to being back in a car soon to challenge Adam and Trevor for the top spot on the podium before the year is out!
Burrows and Hopwood Break Through to Win at Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen, NY (5 July, 2008)— Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood raised eyebrows during the 2007 KONI Challenge season, impressing with pole position qualifying efforts and scoring a record-breaking number of podiums to take the championship in their rookie year of KONI competition.
Despite the accomplishment, the two were still frustrated by the one thing that their KONI portfolio was missing—a victory. So just two weeks after a disappointing race outing at Mid-Ohio, the duo decided to move their focus to victory lane rather than the champions banquet.
That decision paid immediate dividends on Saturday night, as the two combined to take a thrilling maiden Watkins Glen 200 race win in the in the No. 74 Fischer Skis Acura TSX campaigned by Compass360 Racing.
Burrows started the race from third on the grid, and moved into the lead before turning the car over to Hopwood, who returned in 55th position overall. Hopwood replicated the field-scything skills he showed at Lime Rock Park, moving forward to second position with just over 15 minutes remaining before battling for the lead, taking it, and then never looking back.
“Trevor and I are thrilled to be on the top of the podium,” said Burrows. “We’ve worked really hard this year to adjust to racing a front-wheel drive car and we came to grips with it a little bit more at Mid-Ohio. Obviously Trevor did a great job to get us back to the lead at the end. This Fischer Skis Acura was great all weekend. We had a good run in qualifying, and the race was fantastic. We took a chance with our strategy and Ray Lee made a great call to bring us in when he did. It was a little bit of a gamble but it came back to us perfectly, and I couldn’t be happier to take this win with Trevor and now who knows what lies ahead with this championship.”
“Yesterday was my parent’s anniversary so they weren’t here this weekend, but this is the best gift I could give them,” said Hopwood. “I want to thank Fischer Skis and Compass360 Racing, they gave us a great car again. I also want to thank Karl (Thomson) for giving us this opportunity and Ray Lee made a great call. Winning the championship with a friend and teammate like Adam was a great experience, and now to be on the top step of the podium in KONI is really fantastic. Tom (Long) and I had a great battle-side by side for several corners, several laps, and never touched each other so that was great. It’s great to get this monkey off our backs after what happened at Mid-Ohio so this is a great payback to the team. I’ve had a lot of wins here at Watkins Glen, but this is the best one of them all.”
Mansfield, OH -- Christian Miller scored his fourth consecutive sixth-place finish at Mid-Ohio, keeping his championship hopes alive amid a rather forgettable weekend for the Compass360 Racing team.
With two cars having been written off at the last two race meetings (the #76 Honda Civic Si at Lime Rock and the #75 Acura TSX at Mosport), the team brought last year's Acura RSX-S out of retirement for Miller and co-driver Travis Walker, and arranged for Kevin York to drive in a BMW with Fountain Motorsports (numbered 75 to try and keep some team points) alongside Marko Radisic.
The team's #73 Pure Hair and Body Care TSX promised to improve with the efforts of Jeremy Willard and Kenny Wilden at the helm, while last-year's ST champs Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood were very strong in the #74 Fischer Skis / Sunday Group TSX. As at Mosport, Team Principal Karl Thomson sat the event out, waiting for the return of the team's new Civic.
Practice and qualifying proved all four cars to be strong, the highlight being Adam Burrows' stellar job of claiming the outside pole for the race against very strong competition from the forced induction cars (Burrows TSX was the only normally-aspirated car in the top six).
Meanwhile, Walker had to return to Toronto for a family matter, and the team drafted Thomson's 2007 co-driver Billy Johnson to take the second stint in the #76 Compass360 Advertising / Skunk2 RSX-S.
"It's been a remarkable month," noted Thomson. "I keep looking at (Daytona Prototype team) Wayne Taylor Racing and thinking, 'wow they have rotten luck,' but I don't think ours has been much better! But like Wayne's crew, our guys just keep digging deeper and deeper and giving us the best equipment come race day."
At the start, the team had cars at the beginning and end of the field, Burrows taking the flag and pressuring Owen Trinkler in his pole-sitting Mini for much of his stint. At the back of the pack, York's time in the BMW was short-lived, with the u-joint giving out on the opening lap in spectacular style, blowing a huge hole in the transmission tube and ending the day's race early for #75.
"I have to thank Karl and the Compass360 crew for doing their best to get me into another car after the wreck at Mosport," said York. "We didn't have a great race, but we did do a great job for our sponsor Harper Collins, getting the fans excited about the book 'The Art of Racing in the Rain', which was appropriately titled for today's event!"
On track, while Burrows kept after the first-place Mini, Christian Miller and Jeremy Willard moved up through the field during the first hour, which was remarkably caution-free. Half-way into his stint, Willard was hit from behind by one of the Mazda RX-8s, which compromised the handling of his #73 TSX. Regardless, he soldiered on, while the car that hit him retired with massive front end damage.
At the one-hour mark, Burrows reported trouble in the left rear of the #74 car, and the team called him to the pits. They did a driver change, putting Hopwood in the car, and changed the left rear tire. Hopwood knew there might still be an issue, and was able to keep the car on track when the left rear hub finally sheared off, sending the rim and tire sailing off into the forest. "When Trevor went out, the entire hub assembly came apart," remarked Burrows. "Trevor did an excellent job to keep it on the track and and get the car back in to the pits for repairs. I have to thank (Car Chief) Ivan Ceccato for the job he did getting the entire left rear fixed and getting us out in time to get some points."
And then the rain came. With the track becoming slicker by the minute, Miller in the #76 was called in to change drivers and switch to wet tires. Johnson was in and away, with Willard pitting for tires but electing to stay out to gain some valuable on-track experience in the rain at Mid-Ohio.
Johnson worked to stay with the leaders, and did a fine job to bring the RSX-S home in sixth place. It's the fourth sixth-place in succession for Christian, and keeps him in the Championship hunt, in fifth, just a few points behind Peter Cunningham. Adam and Trevor drop to tenth place, but they are still within fighting distance considering that we've only completed four of ten races this year. Jeremy and Kenny finished 25th, which wasn't really indicative of their pace all weekend. Jeremy, especially, is impressing in his first year of pro racing, and we're looking forward to seeing them in the top-ten soon, as long as they don't get wrecked from behind!
The KONI Mid-Ohio race will be televised on SPEED at 2pm on Saturday June 28th. It should make for some very, very interesting viewing.
Bizarre Failure Dashes Sure Podium for Burrows, Hopwood
Mansfield, OH (21 June, 2008) -- An ideal race outing for Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood turned sour after a mechanical failure on the No. 74 Fischer Skis/Skunk2 Acura TSX Sunday in the Grand-Am KONI Challenge ST race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as part of the EMCO Gears Classic.
After qualifying on the front row for the two hour and thirty minute race, Burrows slotted into second at the start, and held station as the field settled into a clean run to start the race. Hopes were high for a breakthrough race podium or even better for the defending champs, but those were put to rest when Burrows pulled in for an unexpected early pit stop before an hour had elapsed.
Hopwood took over from Burrows and went out on track only to generate significant television attention as the left rear wheel dislodged from the Acura at speed. Most drivers would have had a hard time keeping the car from crashing, but the defending champ was able to not only keep the car under control, but he also brought the car safely back to the garage for repairs.
"It is a shame because the car was really fast and I had just settled into a good pace and was saving the tires and the brakes for Trevor (Hopwood)," said Burrows. "But I felt a vibration and so I had to bring it in early. The team thought that the problem was with the wheel studs, but it turns out to have been a bigger problem with the wheel hub, so when Trevor went out, the entire hub assembly came apart. It’s a good thing Trevor is God’s gift to car control because he did an excellent job to keep it on the track and and get the car back in to the pits for repairs. I have to thank (Car Chief) Ivan for the job he did getting the entire left rear fixed and getting us out in time to get some points. Disappointing day today, but we’ll look forward to the Glen."
After the Compass360 Racing crew got the Acura back on track with Hopwood at the controls, the No. 74 moved up from last in the running to take 29th at the checkered flag as Hopwood made the most of challenging conditions to make a dramatic move forward. Unfortunately, the strong pace was not enough to overcome the mechanical set back before the race ran its course.
"I felt like a hero out there," joked Hopwood about the passing clinic he put on in the rain and variable conditions. "But this result really is a big blow for us in the championship. Mid-Ohio has just not been good to us the last two years. But we know we are fast at the Glen so we’ll just be focused on getting back on the podium again there in July."
SPEED will broadcast the Mid-Ohio race on June 28 @ 2:00 PM ET.
THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is a truly wonderful book. A tale about an aspiring race car driver, Denny Swift, and how the lessons he's learned on track help him through a time of remarkable adversity, as told by his dog Enzo. The book's been well-received by critics, is well-positioned on the New York Times' Bestseller List, and is currently Starbuck's Book of the Month selection. The book's author, Garth Stein, was one Good Morning America earlier this week talking about it.
The publisher, Harper Collins Canada, is using our #75 Acura as part of the promotion of the book.
I enjoyed reading the book six months back when I received the pre-release copy of the manuscript. I enjoyed reading it even more this weekend, holding an actual copy of the book I'd received just a week prior (and signed by Garth), with the drama of our Mosport event fresh in my mind.
If ever there was a weekend of adversity, Mosport's Father's Day 2008 was it.
We started the weekend with our three Acura TSXs ready to go, and with last year's RSX-S standing in for our Civic Si. Yes, the Civic that had been destroyed in its maiden event at Lime Rock. Happily, we knew the RSX was strong at Mosport (and Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen) at the hands of hot-shoe Travis Walker, who finished third in his first-ever KONI event in 2005 at Mosport.
What we weren't expecting was to lose another car, the second in two events. But that's exactly what happened when the #75 TSX found itself crumpled against the wall in corner one during a practice session.
A tough weekend for that to happen on, with Mosport being our home race. We had invited a lot of people, including an entourage from Harper Collins, to the track with the promise of putting on a good show. At least there was an interesting sculpture (the wreck) for them to see when touring the paddock!
It was clear that while Kevin York, who was driving the #75 when it hit the wall, was thankfully uninjured, he was in too much pain to drive that weekend. With he and co-driver Christian Miller sitting second in the points, it made sense to have Christian take my seat in the RSX-S. Which means I sat out my home race, losing any hope of defending my victory from the year before, and effectively ending my championship run.
The race itself had its own set of challenges, including an utterly chaotic group of pits stops during a mid-race yellow flag period. Even though we pitted at the right time, and many others didn't, there weren't any penalties given out because a track official, outside of Grand Am's control, held a sign saying "Pits Closed" when in fact they should have been open. This meant that our cars all lost valuable track position and had to battle back up through the field.
No matter! Great drives by Trevor Hopwood in the #74 TSX and Travis Walker in the #76 RSX saw those two cars finish nose-to-tail in fifth and sixth positions. These fine finishes see these cars and drivers solidifying their top positions in the Team and Drivers Championships (third and fourth, I think), while Kenny Wilden and Jeremy Willard scored their first top-20 of the season, finishing 18th after a very strong run that was marred by contact during Willard's stint that broke a rim. Chris and Travis' run in the RSX proves that there's still some kick left in the old girl!
So just like Denny Swift in THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, we'll continue to fight as we move to Mid-Ohio. We'll once again have four cars, having drafted a BMW 330i from our friends at Fountain Motorsport, for Kevin and newcomer Marko Radisic to run, alongside our usual Acuras.
This is a short clip of part of an interview (broadcast on ABC Now earlier this week) with Garth Stein, author of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN, talking about our driver, Kevin York, and how he's the inspiration for the lead character in the book, Denny Swift.
ANOTHER TOP-FIVE FOR COMPASS360 RACING AT MOSPORT Fifth and Sixth-Place Finishes for Team Despite Challenges at Home Race
BOWMANVILLE, ON -- Compass360 Racing brought four Acuras to do battle at Mosport. The team's bright orange RSX-S, which was taken out of retirement to stand-in for the new C360R Honda Civic that debuted -- and was destroyed -- at Lime Rock, joined the three matte-black TSXs for an all-out assault on the top spots.
Practice went well until the #75 GoEnzo.com / 034 Motorsport TSX was involved in a massive shunt in corner one. The damage was sufficient to render the car unrepairable, while driver Kevin York was fortunately uninjured.
With Kevin and his co-driver Christian Miller sitting second in the Driver's Championship going into the weekend, Team Owner Karl Thomson elected to have Miller drive in his place in the RSX, alongside hot-shoe Travis Walker.
Three Compass360 cars took to the grid on Saturday, Adam Burrows having qualified the #74 Fischer Skis / Sunday Group TSX in a solid eighth place. Miller put the unfamiliar #76 RSX 23rd and Jeremy Willard started the #73 Pure Hair + Body Care TSX close behind in 26th.
Surprisingly, the field managed to run without a caution period until near the one-hour mark of the two-and-a-half hour race. Pandemonium ensued, with cars pitting out of sequence, even before the pace car had picked up the field. Under Grand-Am rules, the pace car will pick up the leader of the race, after which time the faster class (Grand Sport at Mosport) is allowed to pit, with the slower class (Street Tuner) allowed to pit on the second time by. Apparently, a corner worker outside Grand-Am's control was holding a sign that said "Pits Closed" during the first part of the GS window, which threw everything into disarray.
The end result was that no one received any penalties, and the Compass360 Racing cars, which all pitted on the lap they were supposed to (and would not have incurred penalties) lost significant track position.
Prior to the yellow, the #73 TSX of Willard had been hit by a GS car, which threw Jeremy off-track, damaging a rim. He soldiered on and was able to pit during the yellow flag, handing the car to Kenny Wilden, but down a lap.
The second half of the race was marred by a number of caution periods, which meant that the team's two front-running cars weren't able to move through the field with any momentum. At the checkered flag, Trevor Hopwood in the #74 car was narrowly ahead of Travis Walker in the #76, both holding station to garner valuable points.
"The pit stop situation really screwed us today," fumed Crew Chief Ray Lee. "We had a real shot at second and third place, but that one lap pit difference made sure that didn't happen."
"We should have been a couple of places higher," remarked Walker. "But we had nothing, I mean nothing, for the Cobalts." Agreed Hopwood, "Those turbo-charged and super-charged cars are wicked fast! There's no way we can catch them on the straights."
The team is already building a new Civic to replace the one demolished at Lime Rock, but it won't be ready until the Iowa event in early August. Which means that Christian Miller will take Thomson's seat in the RSX for the Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen events. "It was a tough decision to sit these races out, as I love Mosport, Mid-O and Waktins, and I've had good results at those tracks," said Thomson. "But Christian's doing well in the points and I think we owe it to him to give him the opportunity to stay up there. The fact that he and Travis finished sixth (the third sixth for Chris in three races) proves that I made the right call."
Kevin York, meanwhile, will run with Marko Radisic in the #75 BMW 330i, which is entered as a C360R car but will be run by Jeffery Bock and his Fountain Motorsports team. "Jeff was the first guy to offer assistance when my Civic was wrecked at Lime Rock," noted Thomson. "It made sense to run a joint effort for Kevin in one of Jeff's BMWs for the next two races, flying our joint colors along with GoEnzo.com."
2007 Grand-Am KONI Challenge Champions Adam Burrows and Trevor Hopwood finished a fighting fifth in the #74 Fischer Skis/Compass360 Racing Acura TSX at Mosport International Raceway on Saturday after Grand-Am officials made a rules change midway through the opening caution period which set the duo too far back in the field to make a return to the Mosport podium.
Burrows opened the race from eighth on the grid, and was quickly up to third in the ST Class order early in the two and a half hour race as the champs were hoping to go one better than their second place finish from the 2007 Mosport event as he gave chase to a remarkably fleet 01 entry from Georgian Bay Motorsports.
“The Cobalt’s were so fast in a straight line that it just didn’t make any sense to use up the car to try to fight with them, so I just settled into a good pace and kept the gap behind me growing to turn the car over to Trevor in good shape,” said Burrows. “The car was great, and even though the track was getting pretty greasy, I was able to just keep a good pace before that yellow came out.”
The race got off to a clean and green race start, running nearly an hour before a full-course caution slowed the field. After initially ruling the pits to be closed, officials allowed several competitor cars to pit and then subsequently decided that the penalties would not be enforced.
The rules change saw Burrows forced to wait an extra lap before turning the car over to Hopwood, who returned to the field back in tenth after some quick pit work from the Compass360 squad. But showing the same smart speed that he did at Lime Rock Park, Hopwood was able to move up to take fifth at the finish and improve the duo’s championship points tally in advance of round four next weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“The car was really good and it was just too bad that we had to make up so much ground after the pit stop ruling,” said Hopwood. “But the car was really fast right to the finish, and even though we were not as good on the restarts as we could have been, we were able to make some of that ground we lost back up. This is a solid finish and while we obviously could have been further up front had the pit stop decision gone our way, there was no way we’d have had anything for those Chevy’s. They are really fast in a straight line.”
Burrows and Hopwood will return to race action next weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the Mansfield facility hosts an ST Class-only event on Sunday, June 22.
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