July 14, 2005 – Contact: Amy Ruman 330.813.2323 cell
Watkins Glen, NY – Ruman Racing fielded two drivers at Watkins Glen this past weekend. Amy Ruman drove the #23 McNichols/Cenweld Corvette in a huge GT-1 field finishing 2nd. Niki Ruman, who is running a limited schedule this year, finished 23rd in Spec Racer.
Amy Ruman posted the third fastest time in the morning qualifying session. Unfortunately, the afternoon qualifying session was rained out. The 48-car field included 15 GT-1’s and started with Trevor Hopwood and Jack Busch in row one and Amy Ruman and Bill Rozmajzl in row two. The start was clean and coming out of turn one it was Busch, Hopwood, and Ruman leading the pack. Busch beat Hopwood to turn two and Ruman beat Rozmajzl. Busch lead most of lap one until Hopwood passed him in the boot. Ruman stayed close to Busch and passed him exiting the downhill in turn 9 on the second lap.
Close racing continued between Busch, Rozmajzl and Thumel for several laps. The leaders quickly caught traffic and Busch was able to use it to his advantage to pass Ruman back around lap 7. Late in the race Ruman started to encounter some ignition problems, but was able to hold Rozmajzl and Thumel at bay. With three laps to go, Ruman and Rozmajzl repassed Busch after he spun in turn 13. As the checkered fell, it was Hopwood, Ruman, Rozmajzl, Busch, and Thumel.
“That was a fun, fast paced race! The top five cars were under the track record that was set by Busch in 2001. I was happy with the McNichols/Cenweld team’s performance this weekend. If we would not have had that problem toward the end of the race, I think we would have had a little more for Trevor,” stated Ruman. “Congrats to Trevor and his team, they have been running strong this year. I am still hoping after the next few races the points race will shake out in my favor.”
The National Northeast point’s race continues to be hot. Hopwood retook the lead from Ruman after the Glen by one point. Currently it’s Hopwood with 48 points and Ruman in 2nd with 47.
Next Up – August 6-7: SCCA GT-1 National at Pocono, PA
www.rumanracing.com
www.McNichols.com
www.safetytoday.com
