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AIM First and Fourth at Infineon Raceway
As a motorcycle racer, Larry has driven hundreds of laps at Infineon, but actually found his experience problematic at times, having to consciously stop himself from following his motorcycle-racer instincts. Using local Expert Class ace Patrick O'Neill—driving a his car under the AIM Autosport team banner at Infineon—as a benchmark, Larry upped his game with every practice lap and used all the time available in qualifying to claim a second-in-class start—13th overall. Walt, who was new to the track, took a methodical approach to learning the circuit and gradually improved through the practice sessions. Since Walt's qualifying times were at the bottom of the field, the team chose to change his tires and start him on a scrubbed set. This disallowed all his qualifying times, but gave him the best tires for the race. As the cars rolled out for Saturday afternoon's race, Larry had a problem with his motor: the oil temperature sensor malfunctioned, causing the engine to be limited to 5000 rpm. With no time to deactivate the sensor, the team instructed Larry to keep up as best he could until a timer overrode the condition and allowed full revs. As the field rolled toward the start, Larry pulled out of line to get out of the way of those behind him and then rapidly fell back when the race began. Less than two minutes later, he had full power, but the closest car was half a lap ahead of him. Larry immediately started making gains and was soon rushing up to the back of the field. He eventually climbed to second-place and then inherited the win—his third in just five races this season—when class leader O'Neill encounteded a problem and was forced to pit. Increasing his pace throughout the 45-minute race, Larry's last few laps were as fast as those of the Championship Class leaders. Walt concentrated on driving a clean, mistake-free race and he did so while maintaining a very good pace. While the general pace of the field was about a second slower than in practice, Walt used the advantage presented by the team's decision to use scrubbed tires to to maintain his qualifing pace. He was able to stay relatively close to the Championship Class tail-enders and finished fourth in class. AIM Autosport will field cars for Walt and drivers to be announced in the next Star Mazda event, a street course in Baltimore, September 2–4.
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Established in 1995 with a mandate to identify, train and manage emerging motorsport talent AIM operates multi-car teams competing in the Formula BMW USA Championship and the Star Mazda Series North American Championship. Among those drivers who have graduated from AIM Autosport are former series and rookie champions james hinchcliffe, Andrew Ranger, Andrew Bordin, J.F.Veilleux, Jonathan Macri, L.P. Dumoulin, Anthony Simone and Dan Burchill. Other notable AIM graduates include, Sam Hornish Jr., Billy Asaro, mark wilkins, Ashley Taws, Paul Dana, Tom Dyer, Josh Schreiber, Dan McMullen and Antoine Bessette. |
Woodbridge, Ont. (August 31, 2011) — AIM Autosport's Expert Class Star Mazda drivers finished first and fourth at Infineon Raceway on Saturday. AMA Superbike racer Larry Pegram, overcome a half-lap deficit to put himself back in contention and in position to inherit the win while Walt Bowlin maintained good pace in a mistake-free drive to fourth place.