SaturnRacer.com

May 10, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Indianapolis – In its 2009 debut, the #42 Saturn ION Red Line rolled off the trailer for the Sports Car Club of America’s (SCCA)  Indy Classic last weekend and won from the front, earning the ThunderSport Racing Team’s first victory of the 2009 season.  During Saturday’s qualifying session, Mike Kramer pressed his Kumho-tire shod machine to a fast lap of just over 81 miles per hour around O’Reilly Raceway Parks bumpy and fast road course, putting the silver Red Line third on the grid behind T2 stalwarts, Bill Baten and Bill Moore.  When the checkered flag fell on Sunday’s 40-minute sprint, the #42 Saturn Red Line streaked across the start/finish stripe with the Touring 3 (T3) class win and Kramer’s 46th career National victory.  “This was just a great weekend for us, the car was stout from start to finish , those Kumho tires are tough as an old boot, and that Ecotec engine pulls like a feight train," beamed Kramer.    
 
Kramer’s weekend was not without incident, however. On the first lap of Sunday’s race, Kramer tangled with the David Bednarz’s Mazda Miata and spun.  Before the car stopped sliding, it took a hard hit to the left rear from Dennis Brown’s Miata.  The shunt ended Brown’s day.  When he finally got the car righted, Kramer was in last place in the run group.  With  consistently quick laps, Kramer made up the lost time and finished second overall to Bill Moore’s T2 Pontiac Solstice.  "I got a great jump at the green, and found myself in the middle of the T2 battle, I coasted just a bit, to let those guys go and lost enough momentum that the leading Spec Miatas got a run on me.  The Red Line got used as a bump stop in turn 4," explained Kramer.    
 
The #42 Saturn ION Red Line was built at GM’s Spring Hill Manufacturing assembly plant in Spring Hill, TN and is supported by:  Kumho Tires, Red Line Oil, Cobalt Friction Technologies and TN Host.   Paddock support and overall guidance was provided by Amber Kramer.  Ralph and Carol Kramer did their usual best as car chief and BIG Chief, and young Jackson Kramer, once again lit up the Saturn’s paddock with his infectious smile and bright eyes.  End of school activities kept Alex and Joey Kramer busy in Tennessee.    

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