Wittman’s Day Ends Early In Pocono

Topics:  Wayman Wittman, Pennsylvania 200

Chris Knight
Stan Hover Motorsports
August 6, 2007

POCONO, Pennsylvania (Monday, August 6, 2007) - - It’s been several years since Wayman Wittman has competed in an ARCA RE/MAX Series event, but the 14th race of the season this past weekend at Pocono Raceway provided an opportunity for the Wisconsin native to return to battle and shake off the dust.

Partnering with long time Motorsports car owner Stan Hover, the duo headed to Pocono , Pennsylvania eyeing a top-20 run in their first event together this season.

Wittman, making his first start at Pocono Raceway in the ARS planned to utilize the only practice session of the weekend to find a groove that would make him feel comfortable with the unique 2.5-mile track.

In practice, Wittman recorded the 35th fastest time after posting an effort in 62.473 seconds at 144.062 MPH. The team battled an oil leak during much of the session which kept the team at bay and unable to make as many laps as they would have liked, but Wittman made enough laps where he felt with some adjustments he would be able to improve for qualifying.

In ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying, Wittman found the additional speed he was looking for after mounting a lap of 61.219 seconds at 147.013 awarding him with the 32nd position, the final spot guaranteed on their time trials effort.

“It’s a good feeling to be in the field,” said Wittman, a native of Appleton , Wisconsin . “We overcame some problems with an oil leak and we made the race. This is an interesting place. I think the race is going to be a lot of fun, we just have to keep ourselves out of trouble and be there for the end.”

At the start of Pennsylvania 200, Wittman tried to make his way through the field, but as quickly as things started to go in the right direction, Wittman reported to his team that the oil leak had sprung again and he was loosing oil pressure.

The team tried to correct the problem during the first two cautions flags of the day on lap five and lap 11, but Wittman took his No. 80 Stan Hover Motorsports Ford Fusion to the garage on lap 13.

The very short day resulted in a disappointing 37th place finish.

“Man, this is not the way we wanted to end our weekend,” Wittman explained. “We thought we had the oil line fixed, but it reappeared. We didn’t want to take a chance of hurting the engine, so we had to exit the event. It’s a shame, we really wanted to come out of here with a decent run to give us some momentum heading into Nashville next week, but we’ll pick up the pieces and hope for the best next Saturday.”

Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the 15th event on the 2007 schedule with a return trip to Music City at Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon , Tennessee . The TOYOTA ARCA 150 is scheduled for Saturday, August 11 set to roll off live on the SPEED channel at 3:30pm Eastern Time.

Wittman will once again return to the wheel of the No. 80 Stan Hover Motorsports machine and attempt to make his second start of the 2007 season next Saturday afternoon at Nashville Superspeedway, a 1.333-mile track.

MEDIA CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Stan Hover Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: Knight849@aol.com