Washington DC

A street fight where you get no breaks!

Well, we should say no "brakes" because that is what ended the day for the #11 Knighthawk Racing Lola/Mg 675, indirectly. Chad had qualified the Lola/Mg 9th overall and 2nd in class for the start of the Cadillac Grand Prix in the states capital.

On the first lap of the race Chad had to pit because of a boost problem on the Gestetner sponsored MG.

"We have been hampered by a boost problem the last 2 races and it is a little frustrating. The engine guys try to get the thing mapped right but it always seems to elude everyone. We are running at about 70% of the potential power, and on the warm-up lap I realized I had no acceleration outside of first and second gear at all."

After going approximately four laps down the mapping was changed and Chad was sent back out. Setting the fastest laps in the 675 class at the time, he was going through traffic at a horrific pace when suddenly.....

"About 15 laps in I started to have braking problems, the pedal was trying to go to the floor. I backed off but they didnt seem to want to come back. Suddenly about 45 minutes in the pedal went to the floor at about 135mph in the braking zone to turn 3, a 5th to 1st gear braking zone."

Chad did a skillful job of keeping the car off the wall and bringing it to a rest on track. But when he tried to refire the engine it wouldnt do anything. About 6 laps into the race the stater/nator died and the car was running off of the batteries. The team was waiting for a yellow to pit and replace the part but that didn't go as planned.

"When I brought the car to a hault it would not refire. IMSA officials said I had to return to the pits under my own power or our day was over. I tried to push the car on my own and bump start it but it wouldn't have any of it. I'm just real dissapointed for the team, but as always we gave it our best."

The car was retired from the race and was later found to have broken connectors on the starter/nator assembly. The team will
prep the car and proceed up to Trois-Rivers in Canada for the next race.

"The little MG seems to be showing some of it's underdeveloped areas but Lola, Knighthawk, and Intersport are all working to find solutions to the problems. I need to thank Steve Knight and Mel Hawkins again for giving me this opportunity to drive for them. I am sorry I couldn't deliver on the top of the podium finish I have been promising them, but I will."

** As of the time of this release Chad did not have a finalized program to run the two Canadian races with Knighthawk, but we will keep everyone posted.

Stay Tuned!!