Rain pushes back NHRA event until July

Monday, March 17, 2003 | 8:59 a.m.

Sunday morning's rain showers forced NHRA officials to reschedule the inaugural GM Performance NHRA Sports Compact Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The event, for foreign and domestic sport compact cars, will be July 25-26 at The Strip. Tickets purchased for Sunday's race will be honored at the rescheduled event; fans should retain their tickets and wristbands for re-entry.

The rescheduled NHRA Summit Sport Compact Drag Racing Series event will feature qualifying rounds on Friday, July 25 and final eliminations on Saturday, July 26. Gates will open at 4 p.m. both days.

Fans who purchased weekend tickets are eligible for a refund of half of the original value of the ticket by mailing a request along with their ticket or wristband to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, 7000 Las Vegas Blvd. North, Las Vegas, NV, 89115 by July 1. Any questions regarding ticket refunds should be directed to Las Vegas Motor Speedway at 632-8213.

Drivers of Nic Jonsson of Sweden, Craig Stanton of Long Beach, Calif., and Johnny Mowlem of England swapped the lead several times throughout the race with the Alex Job Racing team, which ultimately won the class by a lap.

Petersen Motorsports/White Lightning Racing and Alex Job Racing on Friday announced that the teams would partner at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June.

"We're happy to finish second behind the super-competitive Alex Job Racing," said team owner Michael Petersen, a Las Vegas businessman. "We were hoping to run trouble-free but, obviously, that didn't happen and that cost us a victory or, at least, a closer finish to Alex.

"We're looking forward to going to Le Mans as a partner with Alex. Putting the top-two teams at Sebring together gives us a pretty strong, combined team to represent the (American Le Mans Series) at Le Mans."

Infineon Team Joest was the overall winner at Sebring for the fourth consecutive year. Drivers Frank Biela, Marco Werner and Phillip Peter steered the Audi R8 to a 13.493-second victory over the ADT Champion Racing Audi R8, driven by Emanuele Pirro, Stefan Johansson and JJ Lehto.

It was Gaughan's second top-10 finish in two races this season and allowed him to jump from 10th to fourth in the series standings. Gaughan trails series leader Hamilton by only 36 points after two of 25 races.

"We definitely have one of the best teams out there," Gaughan said of the Las Vegas-based Orleans Racing. "Both Hamilton and Musgrave have a ton more experience (at Darlington) than me and being able to finish right behind them really says something about this team"

The next NCTS race will be Sunday at Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, Calif.