YORBA LINDA, CA (August 29, 2008) — Professional Funny Car driver Ashley Force knows all about getting from point A to B on the race track. The 2007 rookie of the year is one of the most consistent drivers on the track and one of the busiest spokespersons away from it.
The soon to be newlywed will be telling viewers on behalf of sponsor Sanyo about getting to the finish line when it comes to installing the ultimate home theater for a special holiday edition of the Designing Spaces television program.

Force wrapped up filming for Designing Spaces, a 30 minutes show that inspires viewers to make every space count and enjoy the space they live in, the Tuesday before the 54th annual Mac Tools US Nationals from the production studios in Florida. The self proclaimed “shy Force” was at ease in front of the camera talking about a topic that the California home-body is very excited about.

“I watch all the home improvement shows like Designing Spaces. I am not a big clothes shopper. I’d rather go to BrandSource and look at gadgets or TVs. That sort of technology is interesting to me,” said Force. “Danny (fiancé Danny Hood) and I are getting married in December and we’ll be moving into a house together. That can be overwhelming so watching do it yourself shows like Designing Spaces help a lot to give us ideas.”

The graduate of Cal State-Fullerton who has a degree in Broadcasting and Communications remembers studying about today’s technology years ago as a college student.

“There is so much technical stuff involved with the new televisions. Danny usually can do all that stuff. There is always something new which is exciting because it makes the television watching experience so much better. I remember studying HD in college,” added Force.

The goal of Designing Spaces is to show viewers how to achieve their fantasy style with advice from renowned leaders in the design, hardware, architecture, houseware, and real estate industry. Force’s holiday segment focused on helping viewers pick the right Sanyo HDTV and talking about the benefits of Sanyo HDTVs.

-Photo attached of Ashley Force and Designing Spaces host Dave Dodd-

Denton, Tx — The Applied Tool and Supply / TigerFlow Top Alcohol Funny Car Team of Nancy Matter recently became the recipient of the team’s first win at North Star Dragway in Denton, Texas.  The event was the second anniversary of North Star’s July Spectacular Racing event.  The eighth mile event included Nitro Burning Altereds along with Aaron Tatum and Brandon Lewis’s (piloted by Kate Harker) Top Alcohol Dragsters.

The match race was contested by Matter and fellow competitor, Jim Phillips, who traveled down from Southern Indiana for the event.  Both Teams were vying for the best two out of three passes with extremely quick servicing times between rounds.

“We made three passes in less than four hours and we were down two crew guys” notes Matter.  ”Jeremy one and Jeremy two, along with myself all did double duty to make sure everything was done before we were rushed up to the lanes for the next lap.”

“Jim Phillips and I were one to one going into the third pass which made it really great for the fans.  We ended up with the win from the third pass with a pedaling job of 4.04 at close to 190 miles per hour in the eighth to Jim’s time of 4.22 at just over 180 miles per hour.”

Matter’s team is very motivated and are looking forward to their next NHRA race which will be contested in the middle of August.

In addition, Matter is in the developmental stage of having her own clothing line that will be available soon.

For more information on Nancy Matter Racing, please log on to:   www.nancymatterracing.com or www.myspace.com/nancymatterracing

For more information on North Star Dragway and their upcoming events, log on to:  NorthStarDragway.com

The Northamptonshire racer, along with all those competing at the 2008 Manx Grand Prix, had endured a difficult fortnight plagued by bad weather causing what seemed like never-ending delays and cancelled practice sessions. Costello finally got to race a round the TT course, all be it over a reduced distance of three laps [113.19 miles], when the Ultra-lightweight race got underway at 4.00pm on Saturday the 30^th August, more than a day later than originally scheduled.

On board her BERING Honda RVF400 Maria was the sixth bike away, setting off alone as Russell Mountford the rider she would have been paired with was a non-starter. Maria completed her lonely first lap in 21m 46s, just over 103.9mph from standing start, 35 seconds behind the race leader Dan Kneen. Conditions were excellent all around the course, ruling out any risk of the race being shortened any further, and Maria stuck to the strategy of pitting on lap one, this would allow her to complete one flying lap on her third and final lap.

With the re-fuelling stop completed Maria was left to concentrate on improving her lap times and her second lap including the time taken in the pit stop was completed in 22m 07s, 102.34mph and she moved up to 8^th place. Her final flying lap of the race was her fastest at 104.7mph [21m 36s] and she crossed the finish line in 6^th place, her second best finish of her career at the Manx Grand Prix.

Maria Costello comments: “I’m pleased with my finish, I’m gradually finding my form again. I had a few problems with the gearbox on the RVF but otherwise it ran well. I’d like to say a big thank you to all the marshals for turning out and making the race possible.”

Dan Kneen won the race and in the process made history by taking his third victory of the week by 25.71 seconds from Kirk Farrow and Ross Johnson. It was the first time a rider in the Manx Grand Prix has received three winners laurels in one week.

Maria was presented with her Silver Replica award by the TT’s fastest man John McGuinness.

Maria would like to say special thanks to her new sponsor Webtech Software Ltd and all her existing sponsors particularly CMS Cars & Commercials & BERING. Thanks also go to David Sutton, Scott Physio and all the people who made it possible for her to compete at this year’s Manx Grand Prix.

Maria’s next outing will be as part of the GBmoto Team, where she will partner Phill Clarke in the next round of the Junior TAG Endurance Championship at Mallory on the 14^th September.

For more information about the series go to: http://hottrax-motorsport.co.uk/

Team GBmoto website is: http://www.gbmoto.co.uk

Follow Maria’s progress: www.costelloracing.com

Labor Day Members Memorial SCCA

Rainy Florida turned out to be a good weekend for Shea Holbrook. Shea has been very busy racing with NASA in a Teen Mazda Challenge up north at tracks such as, Mid-Ohio, Summit Point and Road Atlanta.

She was very happy to return to her roots driving her Acura Integra at Sebring in a SCCA event. During qualifying Shea turned a 2.42 which put her in 2nd of her group and 4th overall.

The race was amazing and she’s realized all her practice driving Miata’s has helped her driving skills by far. It was one exciting race and finally at the end of the race she made her move and took 4th under the checker flag.

Shea is very happy about her finishing and gives great thanks to her parents and her sponsors!

Danica Patrick would be ecstatic with another strong run at the Detroit Indy Grand Prix.

After starting 11th last year at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park, Patrick worked her way up to fifth late in the race when the cars running second, third and fourth were involved in an incident with two laps to go. Patrick sped past the wreckage and held on for a second-place finish behind Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan.

“I remember it like it was yesterday,” said Patrick, fifth-fastest in practice on Friday with a lap at 100.100 mph (161 kph). “I’m very fortunate that I didn’t get caught up in it. It was great to stand next to Tony Kanaan on the podium, first and second. Hopefully we can do something similar again.”

Despite winning her first IndyCar race this season in Japan, nothing has come easy this year for Patrick. She has finished in the top 10 in nine of 15 races this year, but only three times in the top five, including a fifth-place showing last weekend in Sonoma, California.

“It’s been a year of ups and downs, and drama,” Patrick said. “It’s either been something on the track drawing attention or something off the track. It’s just been like that this year.

“(Winning) hasn’t lessened the pressure to win again. We’re shooting for No. 1 every week. It’s the other drivers who are making it hard on me. The competition is very deep out there, especially on the road courses. It’s tough every single weekend.”

The success has been accompanied by some distractions. The most notable one occurred during practice for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio when Patrick marched over to driver Milka Duno’s pit box to complain to her and Dreyer & Reinbold crew members that Duno was too slow on the course and blocking faster drivers. Duno responded by twice snapping a white towel at Patrick before telling her to leave.

Still, Patrick has been able to continue to focus on her driving. She’s sixth in the Indy Racing League driver standings, 45 points behind fifth-place Ryan Briscoe of Australia.

“Every year at the end you think if it wouldn’t have been for that one thing,” Patrick said. “That’s just the way it goes. But you can’t control it. Everybody has their bad races. Everybody has their throwaways. That’s what makes a season.

“Obviously Scott Dixon is kicking everybody’s butt and doing a good job this year.”

Patrick admitted that a repeat of her last performance at Detroit is going to be difficult on the 14-turn, 2-mile (3.3-kilometer) circuit.

“Passing is very difficult here,” she said. “It’s difficult to pass on any road course, really, but here it’s not like you drop a wheel off in the gravel and keep going or get pushed wide. You hit a wall.

“There’s just nowhere to go. I did a couple of them last year, but they weren’t pretty. A lot of crashes end up happening when you try. The only other spot you can make up spots outside of actually passing would be through strategy, through fuel saving, through pit stops. I think a lot of us tend to rely on strategy for the cleanest passing.”

Plus, Patrick noted that this year’s race field was expanded from 17 to 26 with IndyCar’s merger with the Champ Car World Series.

“We’ve got 10 or 11 new entries and that definitely gets into the mix. It fogs it up,” she said. “Last year there were a lot of top fives and running up front a lot. This year it’s just not been quite the same. There’s just too many drivers out there.”

Liz Halliday finished tenth in class on her LMP1 debut despite a troubled Nurburgring 1000km race which saw the Creation AIM she shared with South African Stephen Simpson suffer two lengthy pit stops.

Simpson qualified the car 18th on the grid and had climbed a couple of places in the early laps, but unfortunately a problem was brewing. Damage caused by contact with a spinning LMP2 car at the first corner caused a blockage in the cooling ducts for the starter motor and gearbox and had to be remedied to prevent later problems from occurring. As a result, considerable time was lost in making repairs. Having dropped well down the field to 42nd overall, Simpson fought back well to 25th by the time he handed over to Halliday.

Liz’s first ever stint in the premier sportscar class started in unfortunate circumstances when she was hit from behind by a fellow LMP1 car on her first lap out of the pits. Rear bodywork damage forced her back into the pit lane for more repairs.

After rejoining the race back down in 38th, Halliday began to claw her way back up the field, during her stint, with Simpson continuing this good work when he returned to the car. Both drivers safely worked their way past the plethora of GT cars at the notoriously tight Nurburgring circuit and with a number of LMP1 cars falling by the wayside, they managed to recover to a respectable 22nd overall and 10th in class at the end of the six hour endurance race.

Liz Halliday: “It’s been a steep learning curve but I’ve really enjoyed being back in the thick of the action again and I was very impressed with the whole Creation team. It’s a new car and a new track for me but I think I improved throughout the race and it’s been a fantastic and very worthwhile experience. I have never raced with Stephen before but he’s a fantastic co-driver and very helpful. He’s an easy guy to work with and very quick so I’m really looking forward to my two races in the US with him and the team.”

Stephen Simpson: “This is my first ever sportscar event and before now I’ve never been in a race for more than an hour. Doing two double-stints was very different, but really enjoyable. I’ve learned so much this weekend and overall I’m really happy.”

Team Principal Mike Jankowski said: “This was a big baptism of fire for Liz after such a long period out of a racing car and I think she did a really good job. Her lap times kept coming down throughout the weekend and she held her own against a quality field of drivers. I’m looking forward to working with her again at Petit Le Mans and Laguna Seca later in the year.”

Photos courtesy of john Brooks and Dominique Breugnot

Team Glacier Bear Racing went into the Best In The Desert Vegas-Reno 500 mile race full of optimism. Team drivers, Jessica Brannam, Tiffany Daniels and Cliff Daniels, worked late into the night on the eve of the race planning strategy and plotting their course. Even though this was the first time for all three to try their hand at off road racing, there was no lack of confidence amongst the young group of drivers.

The morning of the race, the team found a few problems that needed to be addressed. The biggest of the problems was with the two-way radio system. Unfortunately, the crew was not able to correct the problem with the radios. This meant that the drivers would have to take to the desert course without a means of communicating with their crew.

As the truck was pushed into line at the starting grid anticipation was building. Tiffany and Jessica were scheduled to start the race with Daniels behind the wheel and Brannam navigating. The teammates declared, “We are ready”!

The two rookies drivers headed off into the desert. Meanwhile, the crew left to meet their drivers at the first pit stop area 20 miles down the course. Brannam was scheduled to take over driving duties from Daniels at the first pit stop. As we all know, plans don’t always work out the way they should.

After traveling only one mile, the Glacier Bear Racing Ford F250 was bogged down in the desert sand. The young ladies got out of their truck and proceeded to dig their truck out of the silt. After working for about 10 minutes, the teammates were able to free their truck and get back on their way.

Brannam said, “It was no big deal. We worked together and got ourselves unstuck”. She went on to say, “We are not two helpless females out here, we are racers just like the rest of these guys”!

Brannam and Daniels did not let the set back get them down. In fact, they felt even more confident knowing they could get them selves out of trouble if they had to. Unfortunately for them, their troubles were not over.

At the five mile mark of the five hundred mile race the teams truck started to loose power. Daniels pulled the truck off course to see if they could figure out what was wrong. As the drivers exited the truck they noticed a fire under it. The two quickly sprung into action to extinguish the flames.

Despite their efforts and the efforts of another team that stopped to help, the fire kept getting bigger. The ladies recognized that there was no saving the truck. Because they had no radio communication with their crew, they had no choice but to start walking through the desert to seek help.

Meanwhile, a very nervous crew waited at the first check point for their drivers and truck to arrive. It had been over two hours since they last saw their drivers. Of course, the crew had no idea that the truck had burned to the ground and the girls were stuck in the desert.

“The worst thing was not knowing what was going on”, declared team member and Brannam’s mom, Diane. “We started the race worried about the girls not being able to communicate with us, and now we were just sitting there not knowing what was going on”.

After the long wait, the crew was relieved to finally see their drivers coming into the check point with the safety crew.

Unfortunately for Jessica and Cliff, they never got a chance to drive. “We were all very excited about getting our chance to drive. It just wasn’t meant to be”, Brannam said. She continued, “I am very grateful for the opportunity Glacier Bear gave me. This was an experience I will never forget”.

Sarah Bennett-Baggs went fully prepared with her pink Porsche to Mondays Castle Combe event after a successful test day where her pink 911 3.0SC was fully back on song.

The results were confirmed in qualifying when she put in a fantastic time 0.5s quicker than last years pole time! However it wasn’t enough as her much more experienced rival Jeremy Clark, put in an even quicker time to get pole position. So it was 2nd in Class on the grid for Sarah and over 2s clear of her next rival in 3rd.

The tightly packed grid of the Wiltshire circuit was always going to be challenging as sprint races here are all about the start. Sarah had a door banging start to the first race, but kept her nerve and came out of the first few corners on Jeremy’s tail, chasing him hard to the end of the race to finish a close second and half a lap clear of the next competitor in 3rd.

The 2nd race of the day was not to be so successful. Another brilliant start by Sarah holding her own in the bun fight to get down to quarry corner. She turned into Quarry alongside her rival Jeremy Clark, but an incident was unfolding up ahead and the 911 of Ian Oliver got tapped into a spin in front of Jeremy. He braked to avoid the accident and Sarah’s path was clear to go, but as Sarah pushed hard to pass, the spinning car came across her path and she T-boned the car at full throttle. With such a high speed accident the race was red flagged to recover the two cars. Both Ian and Sarah were unhurt in the incident which resulted in both cars being badly damaged.

Hope’s to fix the pink panther look rather doubtful in just three weeks before the next rounds at Silverstone, but Sarah is more hopeful of returning to finish the series in a borrowed car of similar type.

Despite this, Sarah is still lying 2nd in the Class Championship standings and is down but not out!

The final rounds of the Porsche Club Championship are at Silverstone GP circuit and Spa Francorchamps

The Jamaica Karting Association held their eighth race-meet of the year on Sunday August 24 at the Palisadoes International Raceway in Kingston, Jamaica, having been postponed from the previous Sunday, when Tropical Storm Fay passed through flooding the track.

Justine Jackson participated in the event racing in two classes- FR 125cc Rotax Senior Class and the 125cc Shifter class with a total of 6 races, qualifying 3rd and 5th respectively.

Her day got off to a bad start after being involved in an on-track incident in Race 1 of the Rotax senior class where she was punted from behind and forced into another kart, followed by an off-track incident with an angry parent which really affected her mentally. But remembering what she learnt at the Women in the Winner’s Circle Driver Development Program, she had to put it behind her knowing that she still had 5 more races. Jackson would later finish 3rd in Race 1, 4th in Race 2 and she claimed the top spot in Race 3!

In the Shifter Class she finished where she started in Race 1 and 2- 5th place. But Race 3 would later shape up to be the most exciting race of the day. Justine drove her heart out, racing from 3rd on the grid to 1st in a handful of laps while being trailed by the top 2 qualifiers, kart #90(championship leader) & #23. She held her own driving defensively making it virtually impossible for her competitors to get by, not making a single mistake despite enormous pressure from behind. But what looked like a second win for the day turned into a 2nd place finish after being passed on lap 5 by kart #90. For the remaining laps she battled with kart #23 trading 2nd place, back and forth, 3 times before finally finishing 3rd after a race well fought. But her competitors had nothing but praise for the 17 yr-old, Formula 1 aspirant.

As ever in motorsport, you have to take the rough with the smooth and Sarah Franklin had to take the rough during a difficult time at Silverstone on the weekend of the 16th & 17th August.

Sarah had just two 30 minute sessions on the Friday to reacquaint herself with the long 2.2 mile Silverstone International Circuit and also to get used to a car with new control tyres and different brakes to those she has been running in the Ginetta Club Championship.

‘It was like driving a completely different car,’ Sarah said, ‘I was really struggling to get any heat in the tyres and was feeling like I was constantly going to fall off the circuit!’

The forecast for the weekend wasn’t good so Sarah invested in a set of wet tyres which obviously then meant that it didn’t rain once during the Ginetta sessions!!!!

With only 15 minutes to qualify and with just 5.1 seconds separating the whole field, Sarah qualified in an extremely disappointing 26th place. The good news of the day was that Sarah’s car won the ‘Best Presented’ Ginetta of the weekend!

Race 1 got off to a hectic start, with a spinner on the first corner causing chaos! Sarah managed to pick her way through and avoid the carnage and push on until the inevitable safety car came out. By this time, Sarah was up into 21st with Steve Williams in front of her. Sarah tried to stay with Williams during the re-start but he got a better run out of the last corner and managed to get into Copse ahead of her. Sarah then pushed on, avoiding other people’s incidents, to bring the car home in 16th position.

Race 2 saw Sarah ready to really push. She got a good start and was several places up by the right hand turn at Becketts on lap 1 when she was tapped at the rear. Whilst this wasn’t a huge nudge, it was sufficient and in such a way that her rear hub was broken meaning she had to retire the car.

‘I was looking forward to a good race and am gutted that this is the way it has ended – and so early on in the race. I really need to get to grips with the new tyres and brakes and this is something I’ll have to work on before the next race.’

Sarah hopes to be out again in the Texaco Havoline Ginetta Championship at the Donington round in October.