Grand American Series
Watkins Glen Koni Challenge

Murry Outhustles Auberlen for BGB Motorsports’ Second Grand-Am KONI Challenge Victory of 2008 Season

Grand-Am.com – BGB Motorsports gambled on a one-stop pit strategy Saturday in Grand-Am KONI Challenge Series Grand Sport (GS) competition and it paid off, as David Murry outlasted Bill Auberlen by 0.307 seconds to take the team’s second GS victory of the season at Watkins Glen International, round five on the circuit.

Running near empty, Murry led the final 28 laps of the caution-plagued 55-lap race in the No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 997 he shared with Tim Traver. It marked Traver’s second victory of the season, as the Californian co-won the Fresh From Florida 200 in January at Daytona International Speedway.

Traver pitted just after the 30-minute mark in the race, and the team spent several laps later in the contest debating on whether to pit. Team principal John Teece said the only way the team would pit was if “the car was towed in,” and Murry stayed out on the track for a duel with Auberlen.

Auberlen, in the No. 96 Turner Motorsport BMW M3, drove through the field after co-driver Matthew Alhadeff started 17th and moved up the charts. But he was unable to make a passing attempt on Murry, despite shadowing him under the checkered flag. The leaders ran their best laps on Lap 54, with Auberlen setting the race’s fastest lap of 2:04.495 (98.316 mph).

Two days after a hard flip in the Brumos Porsche 250 – round nine of the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 – at Daytona International Speedway, Jeff Segal drove the No. 09 Automatic Racing BMW M3 to third with co-driver Jep Thornton. Both drivers ran strong in their stints, and were top-five contenders throughout the day.

Segal – who won last month’s Rolex Series Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen – couldn’t stay with the lead duo following the last caution, and fell 2.647 seconds behind Murry at the checkered flag. However, the pair increased their point lead by two points, now to 16 (119-103), over Hugh Plumb and Mike Canney, who finished fourth in the No. 60 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT.

Fifth were Andy Lally and Ray Mason in the No. 52 Rehagen Racing Ford Mustang GT, Lally’s first time in the car.

Polesitter Don Salama led 16 laps in the No. 97 Turner Motorsport BMW M3 and handed the car over to co-driver Bryan Ortiz during a pit stop, but Ortiz was collected in a multi-car incident that forced retirement of the car and a 29th-place finish.

Overall, 28 of the 55 laps were run under six caution periods, which included a nine-lap cleanup when Charles Putman in the No. 91 Automatic Racing BMW M3 hit the No. 77 Maxwell Paper Racing Porsche 997. The winner’s average speed was 73.902 mph.

DRIVER QUOTES
Tim Traver (Winner GS, No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 997): “It’s actually my second victory with the team this year and second race. First, like Bill, I would like to thank the team for bringing me back. They has a little spot, they wanted to run the car. That said come on out and by the way your co-driver is going to be David Murry – I’m like, oh, darn. Qualified alright–10th or 11th–and held my own, just waiting to turn the car over to David. The car was just really good and I couldn’t have asked for more from the team. Originally we were like these guys planning on a few-stop race. It came down to everybody scratching there heads going can we make it, can we make it, can we make it. We rolled the dice just like all these guys up here and we were on fumes going past the start/finish. I want to thank performance drink for hanging us in there physically and mentally and of course the team for the car – and David here for being such an awesome driver.”

David Murry (Winner GS, No. 38 BGB Motorsports Porsche 997): “I got to start off by saying thanks to John Teece and the BGB team. Bernardo for being the engineer – the car was flawless. It’s been to victory circle more than once this year so I get to be the monkey in the seat this time and I appreciate the opportunity to do that. I want to thank Craig Stanton, who is in the back of the room, for introducing me to the team and helping me get that opportunity. Thanks to Tim for being a great co-driver, starting the car, giving me a terrific car and great position to be able to capitalize on that. As you’ve said we started off as a two-stop strategy. We’re going to stop early, which we did and when I got in the car we put rear tires on, that was it. By the end of the race the tires were pretty shot. I was looking to charge from Bill but I realized after I went through a corner not so good and looked back and he was the same thing. His tires were pretty shot, too.