Tony Ave Racing and Ave Motorsports Bring Winning Momentum to New Jersey Motorsports Park
June 11, 2015
Ave and Team Not About To Rest On Laurels in the Garden State
MILLVILLE, New Jersey (June 11, 2015) - Tony Ave Racing and Ave Motorsports will carry the momentum of last month's double-class sweep at Lime Rock Park to New Jersey Motorsports Park, June 12 - 14, for the Weekend of Thunder presented by MPT Industries and Round 5 of the 2015 Trans Am Championship.
Team driver Paul Fix and Tony Ave himself drove to respective TA and TA2 class victories at Lime Rock in Tony Ave Racing prepared cars. The double victory marked the first time a single team captured both races wins on a split weekend of Trans Am competition.
Fix, who drives the No. 4 Classic Tube/StopFlex/Car Coach/Royal Purple Corvette, won for the third year in a row at Lime Rock in the top-tier TA class. Teammate Doug Peterson finished third in the same race, adding to the incredible weekend of success at Lime Rock in his No. 87 3Dimensional.com Corvette.
Ave in turn steadily climbed to the front in the TA2 Lime Rock race and scored his first victory in that class in the No. 70 Lamers Motor Racing/Highpoint Farms Mustang, which his team prepares.
Despite the incredible success at Lime Rock, Ave and company have not let their guard down for a second in preparation for another competitive Trans Am weekend.
"We did not dwell on our great Lime Rock weekend any longer than it took us to drive out of the race track," said Ave, Director of Ave Motorsports and Tony Ave Racing, and a champion driver and constructor. "All of the way home we were planning what to do at New Jersey."
Following Lime Rock with a TA win at New Jersey would be extra sweet for all involved in Ave's motorsports organizations.
"On the TA side, I hold the track record at New Jersey, but we have never been able to pull off a win," Ave said. "Always second or third for us there, so we really want to try to change that. The cars have been completely gone through, and we've made a few setup changes based on what we're seeing with the new tire Hoosier has produced for this year. All we can do now is put them on the track and see how we stack up."
A win in New Jersey by either Fix or Peterson would not surprise anyone.
"Doug was very happy with his car at Lime Rock, and if he and his engineer can keep that progress going, he feels like he will start a run of wins," Ave said. "Paul is also very focused on the championship, and is determined to hang on to the momentum. It's going to get interesting."
In addition to the TA-class "house cars" for Fix and Peterson, Tony Ave Racing is also fielding a pair of TA2 division Camaros for Joe Napoleon and his son, Justin Napoleon.
Justin Napoleon races the No. 90 Camaro while his father runs an identical No. 91 Camaro, both backed by Turnkey Industries and CommState Bank. The father-and-son duo has been competitive this year but has experienced just about every type of bad luck racing can deliver.
"If anybody in the series deserves a break it's the Napoleon team," Ave said. "And nobody is working harder. They'll get it to come around and we think New Jersey, with its technical nature, is a great place for that to happen."
In addition to the Tony Ave Racing "house cars," several TA-class competitors that race Ave Motorsports built AR-1 chassis are headed to New Jersey.
Competitors running AR-1 chassis include David Pintaric (No. 57 Kryderacing Corvette), Jim McAleese (No. 03 McAleese & Assoc./Jetco Engineering Corvette) and Claudio Burtin (No. 7 Foametix Corvette).
Official Trans Am Sessions start Saturday, June 13, with TA2 practice at 9:50 a.m. (EDT), followed immediately by the TA class at 10:21 a.m. Sessions will resume in the afternoon with "Fast Five" qualifying at 1:45 p.m. with each class receiving its own respective qualifying session. A second practice will follow with TA2 at 4:20 p.m. and TA at 4:35 p.m. along with the second chance to qualify at 4:50 p.m.
Both weekend races will be run on Sunday, June 14, beginning with the MPT Twelve Lubricant & Penetrant 100, featuring TA2, at 11:50 a.m. (EDT). That race will be followed by the MPT Fuel Systems Cleanse 100, featuring TA, at 3:10 p.m.
Follow Ave Motorsports on Twitter: @AveMotorsports and on Facebook at Facebook.com/AveMotorsports.
You can also follow the action throughout the weekend at www.gotransam.com, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam and on Twitter at @gotransam. Live timing and scoring is available at www.gotransam.com/live-timing.
