Long Beach - Post Race Quotes
#66 ALEXANDRE TAGLIANI (Player's Forsythe Racing Team-Player's/Indeck) "I want to thank our Player's Team as a whole and especially Richard Spenard, our team driver and instructor, for his help. Last year as a rookie, I did quite well here and I learned the track.. "We had a few set backs over the weekend and things weren't working very well. Last night the guys worked real late to fix my transmission and I even had some help from my former P1 team engineer who came and gave us a hand. Neil Micklewright, our general manager, was there also and I want to thank them all. At the beginning of the race he (Anthony) passed me on the back straight away on the outside and I took him back on the inside on the front straight away. "During the red flag stop, the team did not come to the car in order for me to better keep my focus. This evidently worked. "My car wasn't as good on cold tires as Anthony's car. I was trying to protect my line because once the tires warmed up, the car was pretty fast. "This was a tough ride but it's good to race against clean drivers like Lazzaro (Anthony). Last year we had a few good dog fights and this always produces great action." (Francois Cartier) * * * #33 BERTRAND GODIN (Player's Forsythe Racing Team-Player's/Indeck) "I had a good start but the car ahead of me was leaking oil. I even had to remove my visor strip. In the hairpin, I spun due to another oil slick. As I was trying to get back on track, somebody hit me and that put an end to the race for me." (Francois Cartier) * * * #4 ANTHONY LAZARRO (Phillips Motorsports-Platinum Sound/BG Products) "I had a great start when I picked up a position right away. Barron got into the corner first and then on the second lap I got around Alex. On the restart I got on the gas exactly as the flag went out, and I got the lead for a minute but didn't have the car to hold it. "I had a chance to win with two laps to go. I tried to pass Tagliani on the outside of turn one because he sure wasn't going to give me the inside! Tagliani is somebody I can trust since we had some good drives last year at Mid Ohio. "This is great momentum to take into Nazareth- bring on the ovals!" (Pam Morey) * * * #32 ALEX BARRON (Lynx Racing-Lynx Racing/Victory Circle Racing/Red Line Oil) "We were headed into turn one on the restart and it was three cars abreast. Case Montgomery slammed on the brakes and cranked the wheel hard and ran his right rear tire into my left front. It was too bad because the car was running really well and we were set for a good finish." (Peter Frey) * * * #29 CASE MONTGOMERY (Sandy Dells Racing-Microsoft/Wall Data) "Anthony (Lazzaro) got a really good jump on the restart. He got on the power and got a wheel on me and I thought, 'Well, he got a great jump, I'll just stay right here.' Then going into turn one, two cars got by me and as I turned in, I got hit by Barron. >From that point on the car was terrible under braking. It seemed okay through the corners, but under braking it just wanted to whip sideways. So then I lost it in turn six a few laps later. The red flag allowed me to catch up to the field. On the second restart I got a good jump and ended up getting past two guys. I started picking up some spots and I'd gotten all the way up to fifth. With one lap to go I'd made up my mind I was going to challenge in the hairpin. I spun in six and I really don't know how or why. I was just backwards and maybe just a little too aggressive." (Pam Morey) * * * #34 BILL AUBERLEN (B.D.J.S.) "I made a nice mess out of it in qualifying. We qualified 11th and made a set up change after the second practice session. We were a little bit down. I felt like I can't just get the job done. Homestead I wasn't doing that well. I couldn't figure out why. They got the car right on the money. They kept me cool. You pick 'em off on all the restarts one at a time. At the end when I finally got around Barbosa. I thought these guys (Tagliani and Lazzaro) were going back and forth. Going into turn one, they were side-by-side. Tire smoke came off one of the cars. I was thinking you got to be kidding - - these guys are going to do it for me. "That's how my whole race went. Guys were just clearing the way. Coming through one turn near the end, I was behind Anthony and all of a sudden I saw him slip. I should have hit the accelerator but my mouth just fell open. I couldn't believe the guy was just sliding away. I hesitated too much. I should have stuck my nose in. Pretty soon we're all side-by-side and, luckily, I just held on to third place." * * * #6 FRANK ALLERS - C2 RACE WINNER - (Johnston Engineering/Keen Engineering Co.) "I didn't have a lot of competition from within the C2 division. We really had a horrible weekend. The first session was red flagged we got four laps in. The next session we had an engine problem and this morning the wing came apart. We didn't know what we had for a car as it turns out it wasn't that great. It was a matter of survival but that has really got us a long way in this case. I came around and one time was waving yellow flags and it was just a parking lot in the hairpin and fortunately there was just enough room to get by the Player's car which was going counter track. I got through that and I thought "gee a couple more of these yellows and we'll be moving up four or five places at a time.' For me, I just had to finish the race as best I could and try to stay out of trouble." * * * #35 DAVID POOK (B.D.J.S.-HYPE Energy Drink/Budweiser) "The Brian Robertson Ralt Team worked hard to give me a good car and I am really disappointed that I couldn't give them a better finish. The Budweiser/Hype Toyota Atlantic was getting better and better and then the first gear broke at the start, causing bits and pieces to get in the other gears, resulting in a broken gearbox. I tried for a couple of laps to see if I could get it to work, but soon the second gear went, and after two laps I had no choice but to pull into the pits. "I wanted to do well for my sponsors Budweiser and Hype, especially with so much local support from the Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau and Whitey Littlefield, but that's racing. I wish I could have represented them more, but we will be back strong in Nazareth." (Sabina Clemens) # # #
