USRT experiences highs and lows in Cleveland

The US RaceTronics duo of Carl Skerlong (#24 King Taco/USRT) and David Garza (#4 Axtel/Tecate/Madisa/USRT) qualified nineteenth and seventh respectively on Friday's Qualifying session for the Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank.  It was an interesting day and full of action both good and bad. 

The morning practice session saw both drivers put up decent times and begin the process of learning the track, Skerlong would end up twelfth in the charts with a fast lap of 1:09.143 and Garza, whose fast lap time of 1:08.684, put himself in a pleasant sixth spot. 

The Qualifying session later that day proved to be another adventure for the USRT team as both drivers would end up on the opposite sides of the spectrum.  While Garza would enjoy a great result, Skerlong's result would present him and the team with a challenge for the next day.

The Qualifying session began under sunny and breezy conditions as the cool air blew from Lake Erie onto pit lane.  As the session started Skerlong and Garza began chopping away at their times.  With each lap both drivers pushed and pushed, trying to find the little secrets of the track.  On Lap 9, Garza, who was in the seventh spot at the time, came into the pits to make some adjustments to the car.  Garza's exit from the pits would be replayed as Garza noticed upon leaving the pits that he had a flat tire.  Limping back to the pits the crew immediately sprang to action and put the youngster, who celebrates his nineteenth birthday today, out onto the track.  Closer inspection later would reveal that debris was the culprit.  With ten minutes remaining in the session, Garza would stay in the tenth spot for all but the last lap.  On the last lap Garza jostled his car and his last lap saw him jump to the seventh spot with a time of 1:07.307 as the checkered flag waved.  An elated Garza got out of his car to the delight of his team.

For Skerlong his qualifying session would be an exercise in patience.  After yo-yoing between the thirteenth and fifteenth spots for most of the first half of the session Skerlong came into the pits on Lap #15 for adjustments.  It was discovered that Skerlong had a damaged front wing which was quickly replaced.  Back on track with nine minutes to go Skerlong's car did not fare any better.  While Skerlong put on a noble effort to try to improve his time and with three minutes left Skerlong came back into the pits and the crew decided to call it a day.  Skerlong's best time was a 1:08.247, good enough to put him in the nineteenth spot.

 
Carl Skerlong - "We struggled right from the start with the car and for qualifying didn't end up where we wanted to today but the team and I will look at the information and strategize for a better outing tomorrow and hopefully bring in a better result"

David Garza -"I'm pretty happy with today.  We showed that we can qualify at a competitive level and I believe that we can improve on today's performance during tomorrow's acivities.

About US RaceTronics: 2007 marks the third year of competition in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Series for US RaceTronics. Led by former Dorricott Racing Team Manager Shane Seneviratne, US RaceTronics enters the 2007 season with Monterrey Mexico native David Garza and American Carl Skerlong.  US RaceTronics is part of Pacific Coast Motorsports Jr. Team program

For more information on US RaceTronics and its partners, visit www.usracetronics.com.  You can visit David Garza's website at www.david-garza.com and Carl Skerlong's website at www.cskerlong.com