August 23, 2005 – Contact: Amy Ruman 330.813.2323 cell
Lexington, OH – It came down to a hard fought battle at this weekend’s GT-1 Mid-Ohio National for the Ruman Racing team. A shootout between Trevor Hopwood and Amy Ruman for the Northeast Division points standing came down to this race, but Ruman came up just short.
The battle started with a single session qualifying that had been moved to early Sunday morning due to severe storms on Saturday afternoon. Ruman and Hopwood kept toping each other’s fast times during the session, with a near tie in the end. Hopwood posted the pole time at a 1:27.333 and Ruman grabbed second with a 1:27.370, a difference of 4 one-hundredths of a second. Brian Kubinski was 3rd fastest with a 1:27.808, Don Soenen was 4th with a 1:28.156 and Mike Canney rounded out the top 5 with a 1:30.308.
The GT-1 race was the last race of the day on Sunday with a field of 11 cars. Ruman beat Hopwood on the start into turn one, leading until Hopwood passed her back into turn five at the end of the back straight. The pair promptly sprinted out from the pack with Ruman close behind Hopwood. Mid-way through the race, Hopwood’s car seemed to be going off a bit, and Ruman tightened up the small gap. Ruman gained on Hopwood under braking going into the keyhole, but Hopwood really got on the brakes early into the turn this time. Ruman over compensated to avoid hitting Hopwood, which caused her to spin. She dropped to third, but did not give up. She gained on Lasco the next few laps, and passed him at the end of the straight to retake second. Ruman had Hopwood back in her sights, but there were not enough laps left in the race to be close enough for a pass. The field finished with Hopwood taking 1st, Ruman 2nd, and Soenen in 3rd.
“My team really gave me a great car today but I just couldn’t quite win the race, so we lost the Northeast Point Championship by only 2 points. I made a mistake in letting Trevor pass me back at the beginning of the race but I felt I had a better car at the end of the race; it was just so unfortunate that I had to spin. The McNichols/Cenweld/Safety Today Corvette is really going to be fast for the Runoffs in September, and that’s were my focus is at now,” exclaimed Ruman. “I really wanted to win the Northeast Point Championship this year, but congratulations goes out to Trevor and his team. Now my sights are set on the National Championship next month.”
Next Up – SCCA’s National Runoffs week at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, OH starts September 19-25. The GT-1 race is scheduled for 5:10pm Saturday, September 24.
rumanracing.com McNichols.com safetytoday.com
