Pine Valley Raceway April 7-9, 2006

April 14, 2006 - Rockdale, TX - New Breed Racing, Ayrton and Alesi Gerthe, attended the second stop of the “triple double” Division 4 Mr. Gasket Pro-Am Tour held outside Lufkin, Texas at Pine Valley Raceway, April 7-9, 2006.

Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owners Terry and Rhonda McMillen, through the IHRA Adopt A Jr. Dragster Program, sponsor the IHRA Division 4 Junior Dragster Team from San Antonio Raceway, along with Amalie Oil, TORCO Racing Fuels, C. Trade Group, Flatout Gaskets and NGK Spark Plugs.

After the event, Lisa said, “The cars were running good, we came out Saturday morning running a little faster than we had in testing Friday night and in testing the prior weekend at San Antonio Raceway, so we had to make some changes. Alesi and Ayrton made their adjustments at the tree and had really good lights over the weekend, sometimes a little to close to the edge and it bit both of them over the weekend.”

Ayrton went out first round Saturday when he went red, while Alesi made her way through the 23 car master’s field and down to the final six cars. Alesi said, “My car was running so consistent all day, but in the quarter’s the sun was starting to go down and the conditions started changing and my car fell off its dial a little; just enough to cost me the round, but I guess that’s bracket racing.” The crew made their way back to the pits and began preparing for Sunday’s event.

On Sunday, the team talked about the race Saturday and evaluated their cars. “My goal was to have two identical cars, same chassis, motor, clutch, etc., but these cars are just like my kids, different in their own way,” said Duane. “The master’s rules don’t give you much room when you bust 7.90 and for some reason Alesi’s car wanted to speed up all weekend, but Ayrton’s car was running the number.” Duane continued, “In Alesi’s first time trial Saturday, she came out and ran 7.83; shortly thereafter we received a visit from our Division 4 Director, Frank Kohutek, giving us our warning. I added weight to the car and adjusted the throttle stop which should have put the car running in the high 7.90’s or low 8’s, but it still continued to run around 7.90 all day. Sunday morning we decided not to take a chance, so we added more weight and in the time trial she ran 7.88. We had Alesi drinking fluids, eating, everything we could think of and it seemed every time we added weight, her car sped up!”

First round Sunday, Alesi went red and Ayrton made his way through the pack of 24 master’s cars and down to the final three cars. Ayrton said, “My car wasn’t coming up on the pipe sometimes at the line even though the idle was set, so I was making the adjustments and I got lucky a lot today; I had that feeling that I was taking that Ironman home.” Lisa said, “Ayrton really drove the car this weekend, at the starting line and at the top end. I was having problems with his computer, sometimes it would work and other times it wouldn’t, so finally on Sunday I told him that he was going to have to help me ‘hear the car’ and make the idle adjustments, and he did. When we get into eliminations in bracket racing we don’t like to make many adjustments, so many times Alesi and Ayrton have to step up and help us out. When we have minor problems like the one with the computer, we hope things work out because from a tuning point our hands are tied, but just when we needed the car to be there a little more for us, it wasn’t…it slowed down! It just wasn’t meant to be for us to bring home another Ironman today.” Lisa concluded, “Michael Zampese won Saturday night and we took his car to Pine Valley, so I guess in a way we did take an Ironman home, at least we took the car!”

The team will test and prepare for the final stop of the divisionals scheduled for June 2-4 at Tulsa Raceway Park and is scheduled to participate in Ironman Classics in the area. Alesi will also be gaining more seat time in her big dragster. Alesi and Ayrton would like to thank Hoosier Thunder Motorsports team owners Terry and Rhonda McMillen, Amalie Oil, TORCO Racing Fuels, C. Trade Group, Flatout Gaskets, and NGK Spark Plugs for being the best sponsors in the racing industry. Also, thanks to IHRA, Sherrie Barbour, and Drag Review for promoting jr. dragster racing.