Kinetic Motorsports has returned home from two straight weeks on the road with its Grand Am KONI Challenge Series effort competing at both Homestead-Miami Speedway as well as Iowa Speedway. Kinetic entered two BMW M3s this past weekend at Iowa with the No. 80 Said Head Performance car piloted by world renowned driver Boris Said and up and comer Bryan Ortiz and the No. 79 driven by well known Anthony Lazzaro and Savvion President and CEO Shawn Price.
With a solid driver lineup, Kinetic was poised to set the bar high at Iowa. The Kinetic effort did just that beginning with Said and Ortiz running 1st in GS practice with a time of 49.794. Lazzaro and Price were not far behind recording a fast lap of 50.194 good enough for 6th place in practice. With both BMWs in the top-10, Kinetic Motorsports began preparations for qualifying and putting its cars upfront for the start of Saturday’s race.
Kinetic Motorsports continued to impress as both BMWs were able to make the top-10 with Price behind the wheel of the No. 79 and Ortiz driving the No. 80. Price managed to set an excellent lap time and take 5th in qualifying after recording a fast lap of 50.410. This was the first time Price had qualified the BMW for Kinetic in the KONI Series. Ortiz put the No. 80 in the 8th position for Saturday’s race after fighting traffic throughout qualifying running a fastest time of 50.524. Ortiz has qualified the car for every event thus far in the 2007 season.
From the fall of the Green Flag, both Kinetic BMWs came out strong gaining positions. Ortiz stayed within the top-5 throughout most of his stint after taking several positions away from fellow competitors. Racing a flawless, incident free run, Ortiz entered pit lane to hand the car over to co-driver Said. A few laps into his stint, Said completely lost power steering in the No. 80 but still managed to keep the car in the top-5. Said was one of four drivers to lead the race and did so for six laps from Laps 94 through Lap 99. While trying regain the lead, he entered the last turn with the first place competitor and made contact with a lapped car on the inside of the turn resulting in fender and tire damage. Said entered the pits for the repairs and reentered the race leading to a 14th place finish.
“On the positive end, the team made a huge improvement from Daytona, ” commented Said. “Bryan and I had a very strong car thanks to the hard work of the crew and should have won the event but we had some minor issues and ended up in the middle of the field. Other than that, it was a good weekend and I am looking forward to the next KONI race at Laguna Seca with Kinetic Motorsports. “
