Broken Transmission drops Salemi to 24th after running in top 5 at Lime Rock
Rochester, NH (10/1/06) John Salemi wrapped up his 2006 Busch East Series season at Lime Rock on Saturday with a disappointing 24th place finish. After running in the top 5 in the first half of the event, a broken transmission ruined a career-best run for the Nashua, NH driver.
Road racing is something that John enjoys and has a lot of experience at. With years of motorcycle and kart racing before moving up to the Busch cars, John always looks forward to turning right on a road course.
John’s experience really showed on Friday afternoon in the practice and qualifying sessions. “The car felt great out there all day long,” said John. “We had consistent lap times in practice and I felt very comfortable out there. It is important to get into a comfortable groove here, so I was really looking for stability in the car on Friday.”
Salemi was able to back up his practice times with a solid qualifying run and a 14th place starting spot for Saturday’s race. “Track position is also very important here, so we are happy to be starting in the top half of the field. We beat a lot of good cars again this week in qualifying, so I think that we are showing a lot of improvement in the last few races.”
The goal for the 82 lap race was to stay on the track and be around at the end. Upon taking the green flag, John was able to move well into the top 10 in the first few laps. “The car was great right from the start,” recalled Salemi. “I was able to get by a few cars on the first lap and gradually picked off more as the laps went on.”
As pit strategy played out, Salemi continued to move towards the front. John was able to crack the top 5 with a three wide pass on the front straightaway going into turn one. “We sat in 4th place for a bunch of laps, which was great,” said John. “I was in the lead pack, when the caution came out at about the halfway mark.”
Under the caution, John brought the #15 car to pit
road for left side tires and fuel. He returned to the race
in 10th place, with enough fuel to get to the finish. “We
made our stop and got back out there for a run to the
checkered flag.”
As racing resumed, John again began to work his
way towards the front. Numerous caution flags were
shown in the second half of the race with John shown
in the 8th position.
On a late race restart, the transmission failed and Salemi quickly dropped back in the field. He brought the car back to the pits with hopes that the problem was something simple and would be an easy fix for the crew. Unfortunately, the problem was fatal and ended a career best run for John.
“It’s a tough way to end the season, but it happens. It was a great run for all of us and it was shaping up to an exciting finish. I am pretty disappointed because we had a solid top-5 car, but things don’t always work out. We’ll get it together for Irwindale and have a good race out there.”
Next up for the Busch East Series is the Toyota All-Star Showdown in Irwindale, CA. The race will be shown live on Speedchannel on Saturday 10/21. Sponsorship opportunities are available with the #15 team. For more info please visit the team website at http://www.johnsalemiracing.com or email marketing@johnsalemiracing.com
