GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing and its drivers Jon Fogarty and Alex Gurney will be looking forward to their first win this season at the upcoming GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series. The race will take place on the 30th of May at Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park. The 2-3/4-hour sprint will be telecast live on SPEED at 2p.m. GAINSCO finished at the second spot in the third round of the race that took place at Barber Motorsports Park in the month of April but that is the only victory that the team can boast of. The season has otherwise been quite challenging for the team. Just one race ago, at the Virginia International Raceway, a competitor while maneuvering knocked Alex Gurney off the course in an accident that took place in the latter half of the race.  Alex Gurney stated that they were very excited to get back on the tracks after their weekend at VIR. He also believes that the team is capable of more and will definitely show their prowess in the upcoming races.

One of the major plus points for No. 99 “Red Dragon is the team’s Chevrolet motor which is going to be provided by Earnhardt Childress Racing (ECR) Engines. The GAINSCO team was the first in the series that partnered with the famous NASCAR engine builder that debuted with ECR at 2010 Memorial Day Classic. According to Jon Fogarty one thing that has totally been pro this year is ECR motor program. He also believes that the track at Lime Rock is a very good place to display a motor. It is not a very powerful track, but a lot of compromises have to be made when it comes to gears and a broad power curve helps a lot when the gaps between the gears are big.

Axel Gurney does not shy away from giving some praise to GRAND-AM Road Racing for bringing forth some uniformity to Daytona Prototype engine mix in this racing season. Despite a lot of improvements in the engine that were made by team GAINSCO, the team had to encounter some break issues at the Rolex 24 hour at Daytona and some tire problems at the  Grand Prix of Miami that took place in the month of March. The team secured a disappointing 12th and 8th in the Daytona and Miami race respectively. Jon Fogarty stated that the team has made many mistakes this season apart from the Barber race. He also believes that the crew and the racers need to focus a lot for the GRAND AM series and just focus on completing the tasks with minimum error. As of now the aim of the team is to secure the first win of this season. The GAINSCO team has been able to win one race every season since the year 2007. Alex Gurney, Jon Fogarty with GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing was victorious in the 2007 and 2009 GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototype Championships. The team needs to add this win to their resume in order to maintain their one race victory per year

This was Wayne Taylor’s first win in his 25 Rolex Series wins on the inaugural day of the Memorial Day Classic for the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series Daytona Prototypes at the beautiful Lime Rock park in Lakeville. For Max Angelelli, it was his 15th career Rolex Series win with his co-driver Wayne Taylor.

Both Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor are looking forward to a repeat performance on the 29th May, 2011, Monday on the ultra-quick 1.5-mile, seven-turn layout tucked away in the hills of northwest Connecticut. And, assuming lightning won’t strike twice, this time they will be in tough competition with the BMW of Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas as they reach the finishing line.

The Chip Ganassi duo of Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor has won 12 of the last 15 Rolex Series events dating back to March 2010. But two weeks ago, the No. 9 Action Express Racing Porsche Riley team ended their six-race win streak at the Virginia International Raceway in Alton. Max Angelelli and Ricky Taylor, who narrowly missed a podium finish at Virginia International Raceway are confident enough to make it not only two wins in a row at Lime Rock on Monday, but two wins in a row overall by a team not named Ganassi.

According to the co-driver of the no. 10 SunTrust racing Chevrolet Dallara Max Angelelli, Lime rock is a short track and it will need some solid set-up and race strategy to be on the top. Being the defending champions, he and his teammate Ricky Taylor believe that the racing track of Lime Rock Park suits their car and they will surely make it to the top of the podium finishes this time at the end of the race. Max Angelelli also admitted that though his team will participate in another tough and competitive racing event four days later in Watkins Glen, he has no doubt about the fact that his team will perform wonderfully there also.

Fellow driver Ricky Taylor says that their team may have missed a win two weeks ago due to minor loopholes in their racing strategies, but this time they will make sure that this does not happen again. Since they are the defending champions of this racing event, they will try their level best to live up to the expectations of their fans all over the world.

Monday’s Memorial Day Classic is a one-day show with practice beginning at 9:30 a.m. EDT, qualifying at 12:05 p.m., and the two-hour and finally the 45-minute race at 2 p.m. with live television coverage provided by SPEED. There will be live radio coverage also which will be provided by the Motor Racing Network and Sirius Channel 94 beginning at 1:45 p.m. Live timing and scores during all on-track sessions can be found at www.grand-am.com, and now on mobile devices at m.grand-am.com.

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Rolex 24 at Daytona, the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge is well underway for the third time in a row. To give more racers the opportunity to race at Daytona, the GRAND-Am team is launching the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge where the ultimate prize is a race-seat in the Continental Series GS class in the GRAND-AM 200 race at the same race weekend as the Rolex 24. The event will begin before the Rolex 24 at Daytona so that it comes with all the razzmatazz of the Rolex race.

Britcar Production GTN, Legend 600, Mini Challenge, MSV F3 Cup, GT Cup and the Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy come under the Sunoco GRAND-AM 200 Challenge. In spite of all the delays in the finalization of the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge, the final design of the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge has already been launched officially.

The unveiling starts the next step of the Challenge, with the logo ready to adorn cars and race suits of the eligible drivers. The new racing event gives competitors in several UK based championships a wonderful chance to win a race drive in the Continental Tyre Sports Car Challenge race that runs in support of the Rolex 24 at Daytona. The Grand-Am 200 Challenge also is also supported by the team of Grand-Am.

Sunoco has been the official fuel supplier for most of the racing cars in a number of UK racing series. The drivers from the Britcar Production GTN, Legend 600, Mini Challenge, MSV F3 Cup, GT Cup and the Dunlop Production Touring Car Trophy stand as the toughest competitors in this year’s Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge.

The scores of the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge are averaged out across the year, with points awarded for pole position and fastest lap, as well as finishing position. The point system is similar to the Sunoco Rolex 24 at Daytona Challenge.

Leading the way for the Britcar Production drivers are the Intersport pair of Wayne Gibson and Kevin Clarke. Both have proved to be wonderful teammates by virtue of fastest laps and pole positions on the way to their two race wins so far this year.

MSV F3 Cup driver Aaron Steele started the season with a perfect weekend to put him on the top of the table, but unfortunately he fell back with a troubled second meeting at Donington Park. Aaron Steele’s fall back allowed MINI Challenge driver Jason Richardson to take the lead, but the latest races have dropped Jason Richardson back to third behind Aaron Steele and Production Touring Car driver Adrian Churchill.

As per the Sunoco Grand-Am 200 Challenge standings on May 24th, Adrian Churchill leads the table with 116 points followed by Aaron Steele on the second position and Jason Richardson on third.

The Rolex World Sailor of the year Tom Slingsby from Australia will participate in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Delta Lloyd Regatta, 2011. Along with him, US SAILING’s Rolex Miami OCR Laser gold medalist Rasmus Myrgren and silver medalists in the Rolex Miami OCR Mathew Belchar will also be a part of this event.

The ISAF Sailing World Cup Delta Lloyd Regatta 2011 will be held in Medemblik, Netherlands. The 2010-2011 ISAF Sailing World Cup has already seen regattas in Melbourne, Miami, Palma and Hyères with fans, officials and sailors being treated to some expert sailing from the world’s finest sailing teams. The 2011 season will see a laser fleet 145 boats fighting it out for the world’s most awaited regatta events. Regatta champion Tom Slingsby is yet to pick up a gold medal in the three regattas he has participated in so far, but he has always finished in the medals and finds himself tied at the top of the Laser Standings on 55 points.

The Netherland’s Marit Bouwmeester will sail in her home regatta in the 71 boat strong Laser Radial fleet. Marit Bouwmeester, who stands at the top in the ISAF Laser Radial Rankings, is third in the ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings and will be looking to revive her brilliant form of last year which saw her picking up the gold medal in Medemblik and the overall Laser Radial World Cup crown.

The World no.1 Men’s 470 duo Mathew Belcher and Malcolm Page from Australia will be looking to clinch their first medal in Europe in this year’s ISAF Sailing World Cup. The duo has already bagged Sail Melbourne and picked up silver at the Rolex Miami OCR. They also finished seventh in Palma and came sixth in Hyères to sit second in the Men’s 470 Standings with 54 points.

In the Women’s 470, just 31 boats are set to sail. Of the top ten in the Women’s 470 ISAF Sailing World Cup Standings, only Tara Pacheco and Berta Betanzos (ESP) share the sixth place in the rankings.  Henriette Koch and Lene Sommer (DEN) are on 35 points and Ai Kondo and Wakako Tabata (JPN) stand eighth on 32 points. 2010 470 World Champions and silver medalists at Delta Lloyd, Lisa Westerhof and Lobke Berkhout (NED) will be looking for their first regatta medal of the season on home waters.

The World no.2 Croatian pair of Sime Fantela and Igor Marenic and Panagiotis Mantis and Pavlos Kagialis (GRE) who currently sits in sixth place in the Men’s 470 Standings will also be sailing in this regatta.

The Women’s Match Racing field will include Anna Tunnicliffe (USA), Silja Lehtinen (FIN), Ekaterina Skudina (RUS), Stephanie Hazard (NZL) and Nicky Souter (AUS).

Miki Saiki has moved up by nine spots in the Rolex rankings after winning the Fundokin Ladies event on the Japan LPGA Tour. The world no. 1 in the Rolex rankings Yani Tseng remained at the top followed by Jiyai Shin and Suzann Pettersen. Christie Kerr moved to fourth position in the Rolex rankings and Na Yeon Choi slipped to fifth position in the world Rolex rankings.

Miki Saiki continued her winning streak in the Fundokin Ladies Golf tour this year. She captured 29 holes–a span in which she made 9 birdies, including 3 in 4 holes midway through the front side. This was before a bogey on the long par-4 11th which dropped her back to -8 for the week. Her opponent Inbee Park was just behind her by 4 shots. She came back with a birdie on the 9th hole to return to -6 for the tournament.  When Miki Saiki stumbled, Inbee Park was suddenly within 2 of the lead with only 7 holes left to play. But a double bogey on the medium-length par-4 15th and being unable to take advantage of either of the 2 closing par 5s made her slip all the way to T5. In the meantime, Miki Saiki returned to -9 with a birdie on the 16th.

The Japan LPGA Tour is a professional golf tour for women organized by the Ladies Professional Golfers’ Association (LPGA) of Japan. It is the second richest women’s golf tour in the world.

Miki Saiki’s steadiness and brilliance made a few nice final rounds doubtful. Ritsuko Ryu made 5 birdies on the back to climb to -5 for the week, good enough for a T3 finish. Mi-Jeong Jeon birdied 3 of her last 4 holes to climb to T5. Sakura Yokomine played her last 17 holes bogey-free and made 5 birdies in that stretch to fire a 68 and squeak into the top 10. Yuri Fudoh posted her 2nd-straight 69 to join her there, as did Esther Lee, who birdied 6 of her last 13 holes to recover from a double-par-bogey start to her round.

And Kaori Ohe fired a 6-birdie 68 to tie for low round of the day and end the week at T13.

On a day in Fukuoka when Inbee Park’s fellow dual LPGA-JLPGA members Meena Lee and Momoko Ueda blew up with a 77 and a 78 respectively. Na Yeon Choi, Shiho Oyama, and Soo-Yun Kang treaded water with roller-coaster 72s, and Mika Miyazato could only put together a 71. Very few players made a run at the 2nd-round co-leaders. Down the stretch, Rui Kitada was the only one of them to put real pressure on Saiki, as she made 5 birdies from the 5th hole on with the last coming on the final hole in a 16-hole bogey-free run that brought her to -7 for the tournament. Having parred the 17th as Kitada was finishing her round 2 groups ahead of her; Saiki could get her 3rd career JLPGA victory with a bogey or better on the 18th.