Shane Lewis Takes Best Finish of Season at VIR

by Thomas Moore

ALTON, Vir., October 9, 2005 � Shane Lewis drove the No. 3 PAP-Parts/ OZEXE Southard Motorsports BMW-Riley to its highest finishing position, a sixth, of the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season here today at Virginia International Raceway (VIR). The Jupiter, Fla.-resident took over behind the wheel of the Southard Motorsports entry on lap 30 of 74 (one hour and 30 minutes remaining in the endurance sports car race) in 14th position. He immediately began to fight his way towards the top-10 and took over tenth by lap 40. By lap 60, Lewis had piloted the red, white and blue BMW-powered entry to ninth turning the car's fastest lap of the race (1 min. 50.535 secs.) on the 55th circuit of the day. He had taken seventh by lap 65 and then sixth, closing quickly on fifth, by the drop of the checkered flag.Today's run continued Lewis' traditionally strong performances at the 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course in Alton, Vir. It marked his third top-10 finish of the year in the Daytona Prototype (DP) class and bettered the team's performance of the year thus far by two positions. It also outshone Lewis' 2004 finish at VIR by three having taken ninth in 2004 for team owner Steve Southard (Powell, Ohio). “We were aggressive when we needed to be aggressive and patient when we needed to be patient,” reflected a very pleased Shane Lewis. “This racetrack, with all the rain, if you put one wheel off, you were in trouble. This was a thinking man's race. You had to be extremely aggressive. You had to be hard on the power but you couldn't make one mistake. You had to be thinking about it all the time. Sixth is a great finish for Southard Motorsports and I am very happy with how we approached this one. It paid off.”Lewis will have one remaining opportunity to win in the DP class this season on November 6th. The Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series season-finale will mark the sports car debut of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez circuit in Mexico City. For more on Shane Lewis please see www.ShaneLewis.com. Southard Motorsports can be found at www.SouthardMotorsports.com.###