Saturn ION Red Line Assaults St. Louis

[KevinSC1]

MADISON, IL - The ThunderSport Racing gang rolled the sleek, silver & red, #42 ION Red Line off the trailer at Gateway International Raceway this weekend and found the fast groove en route to the team's 36th career SCCA National victory and 3rd win of the 2006 season for the team's Spring Hill, TN-built Saturn coupe.

In the shadow of the Gateway Arch, Mike Kramer qualified his Red Line shod with Kumho V710 racing radials with a fast lap of just over 81 miles per hour, which was good enough to take the second grid position behind Mazda RX-8 fast guy Steven Burkett. Sunday's race, a 28-lap sprint around the 1.65 mile GIR Oval/Road Course, began under a cloudless sky with temperatures in the low 70's.

With the help of the ThunderSport crew of Ralph & Carol Kramer and Amber Smock, Kramer got a great jump at the start and wheeled the #42 to an early lead over Burkett's #18 machine. Burkett chased Kramer throughout the race but couldn't quite get close enough to make a clean pass. At the stripe, he finished a mere second behind Kramer's Red Line. Dwight Faitz rounded out the top three in his brand new Subaru Legacy.

"Keeping the right front tire cool was my main concern," said Kramer. "The Kumho V710s are amazing skins, I had great steady grip throughout the race, the tires endured the punishment of the Ecotec engine's grunt and Gateway's asphalt. That was the difference."

The #42 Saturn ION Red Line is supported by: Kumho Tires, Red Line Oil, SPS, the GM Performance Division and the Storage Station in Spring Hill, TN.

SCCA's Touring 3 class is the racing battleground of America's most popular new cars including, the Mazda RX-8, BMW Z4, Subaru Legacy, Chrysler Cross Fire and Chevrolet's Cobalt SS Supercharged.

ThunderSport Racing heads to Memphis Motorsports Park for a Mid-Am National Championship race on May 28, 2006. For more information visit the ThunderSport Racing website at www.Saturnracer.com.

[Kirtsky]

That is cool, good to read about RedLines winning!

Congrats to the team!

[Sp00ner]

Congrats for them! Now I need to learn how to drive that well...

[KevinSC1]

Originally Posted by Sp00ner

Congrats for them! Now I need to learn how to drive that well...

Don't we all. Mike still owns the SSC track record at Gateway.

[Redline686]

Damn, i wish i woulda gone. I went down to midnight madness friday night at Gateway. Had some fun. My friend's RX-7 decided to puke oil when he was drifting it.

[SatredL]

That is great to hear, keep up the good work, and they'll be at the run-offs.

[JennyJ9986]

Originally Posted by Redline686

Damn, i wish i woulda gone. I went down to midnight madness friday night at Gateway. Had some fun. My friend's RX-7 decided to puke oil when he was drifting it.

haha my friend wheel popped off his 240sx while he was drifting up at gateway... it was some pretty bad-ass damage at the time but its up and running again.

[Watts-Up]

Very nice job of represestin' Congrats on such an impressive victory!