BRASELTON, Ga. (May 1, 2010) – Steve Jenkins turned a first-time pole into a first-time victory in his debut race in the Cayman Interseries and at Road Atlanta Saturday at the 34th Annual Classic Motorsports Mitty presented by Mazda at Road Atlanta.

 

After topping the time sheets in Friday’s pair of practice sessions, Jenkins captured the pole in Saturday morning qualifying and led the field to the green flag later that afternoon for the first of this weekend’s two sprint races.  He took the race lead at the drop of the green flag and led all the way in the seven-lap sprint.

 

“Definitely, winning in your first time at a track is great,” said Jenkins, who drives the No. 36 Cayman showcasing the red and white striped livery of the famous Salzburg Porsche 917s. “I don’t know what it is about this place but it suits me really well. I picked it up really fast and I just feel so comfortable out there and I am just having so much fun.  The rest of the weekend is going to be more challenging than it has been so far.  I have talked to a few of the other drivers and they all set their fastest laps of the weekend in today’s race.  The challenge is going to come.”

 

Jenkins crossed the finish line .768 of a second ahead of the No. 1 Rothmans Porsche- themed Cayman of David Heinemeier-Hansson, who was also making his Road Atlanta debut.  Hansson set the fastest race lap of 1:36.284, which was just slightly off his third-place qualifying lap of 1:36.143, and was starting to close on Jenkins when the checkered flag flew.

 

“I was getting up on him but then I screwed it up down in Turn 7 and he got away from me again,” Hansson said. “I was hanging on to him and he was not going to get away.  It was really a fun race, but I would have hoped though that both Jim McCormick and Lee Davis would have been up there as it’s a little more fun when there is more of a tight group.”

 

Davis and McCormick qualified second and fourth, respectively, but came together in a Turn 1 contact incident on the first lap. Both drivers continued but McCormick, driving his No. 44 Porsche Cayman S that pays tribute to the Martini “Baby” Porsche 935, pitted before the completion of Lap 1 with a flat tire that was a result of the contact.

 

“We were in a train on the inside going into Turn 1 right after the start and I guess, yeah, it was one of those racing things,” said McCormick, who swept the season-opening weekend of races at Sebring last month. “None of the cars are hurt that bad but a consequence was that one of my valve stems got clipped and then about two turns later I could feel the car start to wobble a little bit and I had lost air in the tire.  I hobbled in and got a new tire just to finish, and that’s what we did.” 

 

Davis went completely sideways during the incident in his No. 333 Cayman that carries the colors of the Advan Porsche 962s, but gathered it up and was back up to fourth by Lap 2.

 

“Jim and I came together in Turn 1, and I don’t know what happened there, but it was fun coming back through the field,” Davis said. “My right-rear wheel has a big chunk out of it, but it stayed together. We try to race clean, that is something we all try to do and usually do, but sometimes that’s just racing.”

 

Jonny Ryan moved to third in his No. 41 Miller High Life/Holbert Racing inspired Cayman after the opening melee and later joined the recovering Davis in the battle of the race.  The two drivers swapped third place three times in the final two laps before Davis took the final podium spot for good less than half a lap from the finish.

 

“The last couple of laps we were kind of battling it out,” Davis said. “I was able to finally catch up to the Miller car and got by him coming down into Turn 10 with two laps to go, but he made a really good move and was able get back by me coming out of there.  It was a good move by him and we came down the hill that was the white-flag lap.  He was a little wide in Turn 1 on the last lap and at the top of the hill I had a little bit of an inside on him, but he was on line so there was no way I could get right inside.  He turned in and kept it a little wide and went off the track and came right back on, but it gave me just the little bit I needed to get by.”

 

Ryan held on for an outstanding fourth-place finish while Collin O’Brien rounded out the top five with a solid run in his No. 4 Cayman that displays the famous paint scheme of the Wyer/Gulf Porsche 917s.

 

NOTEWORTHY

 

- Jenkins’ pole-winning qualifying lap of 1:34.459 has been the fastest and only sub-1:35 Cayman lap time so far this weekend. Jenkins also ranked an impressive third overall of the 50 cars that posted times in the combined Group 5/5C division qualifying session.

 

ABOUT THE CAYMAN INTERSERIES

Established in 2009 by Napleton Porsche of Westmont, Illinois, the Cayman Interseries is North America’s only auto racing championship featuring the exclusive use of the 320-horsepower Porsche Cayman S.  Sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), the Cayman Interseries is conducting its first official season in 2010 and will crown a pair of champion drivers in both the sprint and endurance racing formats.  Races will be run on legendary circuits such as Daytona, Sebring, Road America, Watkins Glen, Road Atlanta and other premier venues. Every competing Porsche Cayman S is exclusively supplied and prepared by Napleton Porsche and each car competes with an assigned and specific heritage livery themed after a famous Porsche race car from the past.  Learn more about the Cayman Interseries at www.napletonmotorsports.com. Phone calls direct to Napleton Porsche may be made at (630) 725-0911 and email inquiries can be sent to racing@napletonmotorsports.com.

 

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