SAMAX - Utah qualifying

Dave Lacey qualified the No. 17 SAMAX/ Doncaster Racing Porsche 911 GT3 Cup car ninth on the GT grid for Saturday's nine-hour Rolex Sports Car Series race at Miller Motorsports Park. He turned a fast lap of three minutes 0.90 seconds on the 4.486-mile road course for the start position. He was disappointed with the qualifying time, after the team's strong performance in practice on Thursday.

"We're a little bit disappointed with qualifying," he said. "We had a great car last night in the dark, but overnight and as the sun's come out, the track temperature went up by about 20 degrees, so it's significantly changed the handling of the car. We went from a fairly neutral car last night to a pretty oversteery car this morning. We're going to look at the data and try to make some changes overnight again. We're just looking for a driveable car for the race, something that's fairly neutral and will allow us to be quick over the nine hours."

Lacey will drive the first race stint on Saturday, followed by Greg Wilkins and Rob Bell.

race med
Rob Bell found a great painkiller last month – racing. He decided to warm up for a Le Mans Series race by playing soccer, but the potential cardio benefit disappeared with a knee injury. Two days later, he hobbled to the track on crutches, but was quickly up to speed on the demanding Nürburgring circuit in Germany.

"I decided to do a bit of fitness work with some friends and thought it would be a good idea to play football – soccer – and within two minutes of playing, went over on my knee and damaged all the ligaments and cartilage in my knee. So I went to the race on crutches," he said. "The team boss wasn't too happy, but it didn't really affect me in the car. I strapped it up and put some painkillers on and some spray and some gel and it was cool, no problem. We didn't win the race, but we were quick!"

biking in Utah
Dave Lacey wants to return to Utah – with two wheels instead of four. A new recruit to mountain-biking, he says some of the best trails are south of Salt Lake City. And the sport matches his passion for racing.

"Bikes these days have incredible technology," he explained. "They've got carbon [fiber], they've got 27 gears, they've got suspensions that are adjustable, they've got rebound and bump [mechanical adjustments] and tire strategies, so it's a lot like racing. It's physical like racing and it demands a certain amount of visual acuity. There are a lot of synergies that are consistent with racing."