News: Road Atlanta 2011

 

 

For Immediate release: Kramer’s Saturn takes BFG to Victory Circle at Road Atlanta

Braselton, Georgia - On a cool and overcast Sunday afternoon, Mike Kramer guided his BF Goodrich -sponsored Saturn ION Red Line to an SCCA Touring 3 (T3) class victory over Marty Grand’s Hoosier Tire shod- Honda S2000. It was both Kramer’s and BFG’s first SCCA National wins of the 2011 season.

Kramer and Grand split the Double National Race events at Road Atlanta. Grand won Saturday’s race going away,  Kramer made an early exit when the Saturn’s alternator failed. Kramer was cruising with a 12-second lead over Grand when the alternator let go. On Sunday, the race was a toss-up. Kramer vaulted from the T3 pole position, pulling Grand with him for the first three laps of the 18 lap sprint. Then Grand – the defending 2010 Touring 2 (T2) National Champion, slid by Kramer under hard braking entering the 10a and 10b combination of Road Atlanta’s daunting 12-turn road course. Grand pulled out to a slight lead and Kramer spent the rest of the race looking for a way around Grand’s Honda. The two cars ran nose to tail with barely a half-second between them for the next 14 laps. With one lap remaining in the contest, Kramer used what brakes he had left and thundered past Grand in the same 10a and 10b sequence of turns to take the T3 lead. Kramer maintained a slight lead through the next 12 corners and flashed under the checkered flag a scant 4/10’s of a second in front of Grand.

“Marty and I had a really good clean race,” beamed Kramer. “We had a good run going on Saturday and had a hiccup with the alternator…and that stung, because the car was really good. We really needed a good run today. This was just a great weekend for us, the car was stout, those BFG skins are as tough as an old boot and that Ecotec engine pulls like a freight train. It’s been a while since I’ve been on the top of the podium and I’m really happy I could take BFG to that top step, ” Kramer grinned.

The #19 Saturn ION Red Line was built at GM's Spring Hill Manufacturing assembly plant in Spring Hill, TN and is supported by:  BF Goodrich Tires, and Red Line Oil. “There are many folks to thank, Doug, Paul and the BFG guys, Jeff “the Hammer” Myers , Timmy Myers, and Tim Hund for putting a strong pilot and gentlemen racer Marty Grand into his T3 hot rod.

SCCA's Touring 3 class is the racing battleground of America's most popular new performance cars including; Nissan’s 350Z, Mazda’s RX-8 and Mazdaspeed Miata, BMW’s Z4, Subaru’s Legacy, Audi’s TT, Honda's S2000, Chrysler Cross Fire, Chevrolet's Cobalt SS Supercharged and Saturn's ION Red Line.

Mike Kramer is a five-time SCCA Southeast Divisional Champion with 47 SCCA National victories. Each of those 47 wins was earned in a Saturn racecar. In 2003, he piloted a 1997 Saturn SC2 to the Showroom Stock C, SCCA National Championship – a first time achievement for him and the first for a GM front-drive car in SCCA's 40-year history.

Kramer and the BFG Red Line head to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, VA for the SCCA BFG Super Tour Double National on April 15 – 17, 2011. For more information visit www.saturnracer.com.

Kramer leads Marty Grand early in Sunday's SCCA National at Road Atlanta

 

Mike Kramer (l) and Marty Grad (r) – Road Atlanta – 2011

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