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Bergmeister Retakes Points Lead with Victory Alongside Said in Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 3, 2006) -- In a race featuring 20 lead changes among nine cars and 12 drivers, Jörg Bergmeister reclaimed the lead in the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series presented by Crown Royal Special Reserve Daytona Prototype driver championship with a victory alongside co-driver Boris Said in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.

When then-race leader Alex Gurney made his final pit stop of the race with 21 laps remaining in the No. 99 GAINSCO/Blackhawk Racing Pontiac Riley, Bergmeister took the lead in the No. 76 Krohn Racing Ford Riley. The German maintained the lead through two late full-course caution periods and pulled away on both restarts to win by 3.495 seconds over Gurney after leading three different times for a total of 33 laps.

Bergmeister parlayed the victory into a four-point lead in the Daytona Prototype driver standings, 291-287, over No. 01 CompUSA Chip Ganassi Racing Lexus Riley co-drivers Scott Pruett and Luis Diaz. It was Bergmeister's first Rolex Series overall victory since last September at Phoenix International Raceway, and he has now finished inside the top-eight positions in all nine of his 2006 Rolex Series starts.

"It definitely was exciting," Bergmeister said. "Our team did an awesome job, Krohn Racing. After the trouble we had at the beginning of practice where my usual teammate couldn't compete today, Boris did an awesome job with his stint in the middle of the race under difficult conditions. It was just awesome today."

Said--who served as a replacement driver for 17-year-old Colin Braun in the No. 76 machine--earned his first career Rolex Series overall victory in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. It was Said's fourth career Daytona Prototype start and his first appearance in the top Rolex Series class since the 2006 season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona.

"I pretty much got a gift by being on the team with them," Said remarked. "They called me Tuesday when I was testing my NEXTEL Cup car in Atlanta and they asked me if could come stand by just in case something happened. He (Jörg) probably drove about four hours. I just drove about an hour-and-a-half in the middle, and he gave me a win so I feel pretty happy. Hopefully, I'll be sitting up here in August. I'm pretty happy."

Post-race technical inspection revealed that the race-winning No. 76 Ford Riley was too low, and the team was fined $2,000, which will be donated to Camp Boggy Creek in Eustis, Fla., the preferred charity of the Grand American Road Racing Association. The team and drivers keep the victory, as well as all championship points earned in the race.

Gurney and co-driver Jon Fogarty came home second in the No. 99 machine, which was the duo's second runner-up result in the last three races after finishing second in the Road & Track 250 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last month. Fogarty led all drivers with a total of 35 laps led, while Gurney led 10 laps himself to total a race-high of 45 laps at the front of the field for the No. 99 GAINSCO machine. It was Gurney's second runner-up performance in three starts at Watkins Glen International, while Fogarty made his debut at The Glen this weekend.

Gurney and Fogarty rallied back after falling a lap down, as Gurney and Michael Valiante in the No. 5 Make A Wish/Z-Line Designs/Finlay Motorsports Ford Crawford made contact on the opening lap. The damage forced Gurney onto pit lane for a new nose, but the team battled all the way back to lead for the first time on Lap 57 of the 154-lap race. At one point within the final two hours, the No. 99 machine led by more than 15 seconds.

"It's really a shame, we were feeling like we could win this race," Gurney said. "What we knew and what we were doing with the tires really helped our pace. It felt like that at the start of the race. It was just unfortunate that we got into some contact. We actually damaged the exhaust a little bit. I think it hurt us a little bit on top speed. Jon was incredible in the wet. I'm sure you all saw that. I wish we could have gotten the win for him. It was very tough holding off Max (Angelelli) at the end. I was just lucky to do it and happy to do it. I just hope to put up a stronger fight at the next race."

"All in all, it was an eventful race for us," Fogarty said. "We had contact right on the first lap, and we had to come in and change the nose. We also had a stop-and-go penalty for what they deemed avoidable contact. It just happens. It's racing. It was kind of back and forth, but once the rain came, we had something. We were able to put it back up to the front. We were a little out of sequence on our pit strategy, but we were still able to keep the car up front. If we would fall back, we could make it back to the front under those wet conditions. As the track dried out at the end, we weren't really sure about our fuel window and going to slicks. I handed over the car to Alex and it's kind of where the chips fell. It was a good run, all in all, and we were just a little short this weekend, but I'm still pleased with second."

Angelelli co-drove the No. 10 SunTrust Pontiac Riley to a third-place result alongside Wayne Taylor and Ryan Briscoe. Angelelli and Taylor--the defending Daytona Prototype co-champions--had won each of the last two events at Watkins Glen International, and have now finished on the podium in five of their six career Rolex Series starts at the venue. Briscoe, meanwhile, made his first Rolex Series appearance at Watkins Glen and just his second appearance ever in the Rolex Series. It was also Angelelli's fourth consecutive top-four result. Angelelli led 26 laps in the race, while Briscoe led 10.

Oswaldo Negri Jr.--who led one lap in the race--and Mark Patterson came home fourth in the No. 60 Flight Options/Net App Lexus Riley for Michael Shank Racing to earn their best result since finishing second in January's Rolex 24 At Daytona. Andy Wallace and Butch Leitzinger completed the top five in the No. 4 The Boss Snowplow Pontiac Crawford for Howard-Boss Motorsports. It was the duo's fourth top-six result in eight races.

NOTEBOOK

No. 39 Crown Royal Special Reserve Porsche Crawford co-drivers Christian Fittipaldi and Hoover Orsi each led 13 laps in the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen. Fittipaldi inherited the lead on Lap 13 when Angelelli made his first stop, while Orsi--making his Rolex Series debut--inherited the lead on Lap 59. Fittipaldi also led three laps late in the race when then leaders Fogarty and Bergmeister made their final stops, but a late incident relegated the duo to a 13th-place result.... Germany's Mike Rockenfeller led two laps in the No. 23 Ruby Tuesday Championship Racing Team Porsche Crawford before giving way to co-driver Patrick Long, who was caught up in an incident with the No. 39 machine late in the race in Turn 1. The incident cost the No. 23 machine several positions and also yielded an avoidable contact penalty. Long and Rockenfeller wound up 15th... Alex Figge, fresh off his first-ever Rolex Series podium with a runner-up finish with co-driver Ryan Dalziel in last month's GAINSCO Grand Prix at Phoenix International Raceway, also spent time in the lead in the No. 89 Playboy/Vonage/Palms Casino Pontiac Riley. Figge led the field to a Lap 65 restart and remained out front for five laps on his way to a 10th place overall finish for the Pacific Coast Motorsports team. Other lap leaders included Valiante, who led one lap en route to a 12th-place result alongside co-driver Rob Finlay in the No. 5 Ford Crawford, and Mark Goossens, who led five laps and combined with Milka Duno and Stefan Johansson to finish 11th in the No. 11 CITGO Racing by SAMAX Pontiac Riley... Al Unser Jr. and Burt and Brian Frisselle charged from a 22nd-place starting spot to a ninth-place result in the No. 8 A1 Team USA/GlycoMax Porsche Doran for Synergy Racing to earn the Daytona Prototype "SunTrust Improve Your Position Award." Pobst and Baas earned similar honors in the GT class for their charge from 13th to second.