WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - After strong qualifying efforts
put the Sam Schmidt Motorsports' three full-time
cars in solid position at the start of the Corning
100, racing incidents pushed the Menards Infiniti
Pro Series championship title out of the team's
reach by the end. Schmidt's cars started third,
sixth, eighth and 10th following
adjustments to the qualifying results - they
finished fourth, seventh, 12th and 13th,
while Jeff Simmons collected the win and second
place in the points standings.
Jaime Camara led the contingent of Sam Schmidt
Motorsports four cars, starting third in the 29-lap
race - the longest road course event of the season.
Camara slid off track early in the race, fell to the
rear of the field and drove his way back to finish
seventh. Chris Festa started sixth and finished
fourth, just one spot off the podium. Travis Gregg
started eighth but lost a lap when he slid off track
on lap four. Gregg finished 12th, two
laps down, and dropped to third in the point
standings with 426 points. Camara is fifth with 383
while Festa is sixth with 355 points. Rocco
DeSimone, of Providence, R.I., retired after only
four laps due to mechanical trouble. DeSimone is
credited with finishing 13th.
The #1 CELG/Goias Sam Schmidt Motorsports entry
driven by Camara, 24, a Brazilian who now lives in
Miami, Fla., was the fastest Schmidt car throughout
the weekend. Camara took the blame for the slide in
turn one.
"At the start of the race, I made a mistake in one,
and that cost me the race," explained Camara. "After
that, I was having some issues with the rear of the
car. When I carried speed in the corners, I was
fighting the car. The race was all right, I just
made a big mistake."
Festa, 19, a Florida State University sophomore,
drove the #19 SpacePak/CareCentric Sam Schmidt
Motorsports entry with confidence and consistency.
"The cars in front of me stacked up and went off
course at the start which made me have to go outside
the exit curbing for turn one. That cost me a
position, but I quickly got it back," said Festa.
"After that, I just kind of settled in and just
tried to click off laps and race all I could. I
kind of ended up by myself and then I was just
working on lap times and getting some more seat time
in the car."
Gregg, 27, of Camden, Ohio, started the race second
in points, and now heads to California ready to
worry only about winning.
"I spun in turn eight, and I think confidence-wise
it kind of hurt me a bit. I really didn't push too
hard after that. I had trouble (in practice when I
crashed) and didn't want to tear up any more
equipment," explained Gregg. "I guess I was
struggling on the road course but I always have a
good car - it's just me working up to speed. I'm
looking forward to California and getting back on an
oval."
Sam Schmidt saw some promise and he's planning on
his teams racing strong at California.
"Here we showed promise with the way Jaime and Chris
qualified," said Schmidt. "Jaime clearly had a car
to run with the top three, but we spun on the first
lap so we weren't able to close that deal. Chris, as
usual, advanced his position and was his usual
consistent self on the road courses. We just need
to get the car to his liking so he can race at the
front with those guys. Unfortunately Travis did
spin, which took us out of the championship hunt,
but with our past strength at Fontana we should be
able to get back to second in the standings. That's
what we want to do. Our goal for Travis is to get
second in points and to get enough points for Jaime
and Chris to get top-five or top-six."
Sunday's 29-lap race will be televised on a
tape-delayed basis at 3 p.m. (EDT), on Thursday,
September 29th on ESPN2.
The next Menards Infiniti Pro Series race is the
season finale on Sunday, October 16th at California
Speedway, the 2.0 mile D-shaped oval in Fontana,
California.
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