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 DAYTONA
BEACH, Fla. (November 13, 2011) –
A competitive final day of competition at Daytona International Speedway (DIS)
brought a successful 2011 Cayman Interseries season to a close as Bob
Schneider scored the first race victory of his career and Bill
Riddell soloed to his first overall endurance race win of the season
Sunday as the HSR Daytona Historics weekend wrapped up.
After joining coach and co-driver Chris Hall for a third-place
showing in Saturday’s endurance race, Schneider stepped up on his own in the
Sunday morning seven-lap sprint race and promptly won the first race of his
competitive career that began just this past June. Schneider also turned the
fastest race lap of the sprint at 2:03.828 (103.789 mph) in his white No. 40
Cayman S that runs in the colors of the legendary Martini “Baby” Porsche
935.
“First of all, I had a ball here this weekend,” Schneider said. “I got to
run with all my friends, the car was great, I learned a ton about setup, and we
were actually able to put together some competitive races and improve our
positions from third. I think we knew we had the ability to move up, but
we had to put together the right setup, better driving on my part, and the help
of Chris and everybody else. It finally all came together and we did
good. We’re really pleased.”
 Schneider
led Riddell across the finish line by 5.753 seconds, but the runner-up driver
would be heard from later in the day. Sunday’s finale was a two-hour
afternoon endurance race and Riddell avoided the on-track issues that knocked
more than one of his competitors from contention for his first overall enduro
win of the season in his green and white striped No. 80 Cayman S that pays
tribute to a David Piper Racing Porsche 917K.
“I got lucky,” Riddell said. “I hit the yellows just right and they
called me in, so I really appreciate it. I had a great race with the
other guys, we were just dogging it, nose-to-tail the whole way, so it’s a
lot of fun. I’d like to thank my crew. They did a great job getting the car
setup and all of the guys worked hard. We had transmission issues yesterday and
they worked last night until we got kicked out and then came in early this
morning, so I really want to thank them.”
Riddell edged the second-place duo of Mark Sandridge and Joe
Varde who posted the third runner-up placing of the weekend for
Sandridge’s white and red-and-yellow striped No. 49 Cayman S that is modeled
after their 1994 IMSA Champion Team Salad Porsche 911 RSR. Team Salad
scored several race wins and nearly a dozen podium finishes this year, the
first for the duo of Sandridge and Varde as teammates in several years.
“It was a great time,” Sandridge said. “It was great entertainment and
all of the things I expected. We had a lot of good guys, I met a lot of great
people, and that’s really what racing is about. We did OK on the track
and we will be back, this is too much fun for a series. It has been a fun
season racing with HSR and we really appreciate everything they do for us.”
Chuck Smithee, in his white No. 25 Mobil 1 Porsche GT-1 themed
Cayman S, finished third in both Sunday races to cap his best weekend of Cayman
Interseries competition in his Daytona debut. Smithee also finished third
in Saturday’s sprint race in the sportsman division in addition to taking
first-place sportsman honors in yesterday’s enduro with a solid
fourth-overall finish.
“I am a year into this and to spend that much time on the podium during the
weekend is a dream come true,” Smithee said. “It has really been a
fantastic weekend. I love this track and in these three or four days on it I
felt like I got to know it reasonably well. I am just really having a
blast, the car is a lot fun on the track, and I really can’t complain. I want
to say thanks to all of the guys at Speedsport Tuning for all of the great work
on the car, it was beautiful.”
Noteworthy
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The Cayman Interseries and Porsche Napleton Racing (PNR) raced this weekend in
tribute to teammate and close colleague David Lee who passed
away while returning from last month’s Rennsport Reunion event at Laguna Seca.
Every competing Cayman and the PNR transporter, which Lee drove, displayed a
memorial emblem in tribute to Lee who was a key member of the team in both the
Cayman Interseries and PNR’s IMSA GT3 Cup and ALMS GTC programs.
“David was a great guy, his heart was in it, he really loved to be here, and
we loved to have him here,” said Steve Jenkins, PNR Director
of Competition Operations. “As a competitor, when I raced with the series, he
was always so nice to me and always went out of his way, no matter who I was
racing with, to come find me and talk to me. Then, as his boss for just a
very short period of time, unfortunately, I put all of my faith in him to look
over everything at Rennsport when I couldn’t attend that event. He just did a
spectacular job and it’s such a shame that I never really got to thank him
for that. I am sure he can hear us now, and we were racing for him this
weekend as a thank you.”
Lee Davis, who clinched both the 2011 Cayman Interseries
sprint and enduro championships with PNR on Saturday at Daytona, took some time
to reflect on his fallen teammate.
“Everything that happened this weekend was dedicated to David Lee,” Davis
said. “There’s a lot more serious stuff out there in the world going on
than just racing. We are just lucky and blessed to be able to do this, we work
hard at it, and this weekend we did it for David.”
- Wayne Nykyforchyn, who drives a white and red No. 11 Cayman
S in the colors of a Marlboro/Joest Racing Porsche 956, was awarded the JRZ
Suspension Engineering “Fine Tuning Award” at Daytona as the driver who
showed the most progress during the weekend through improved car setup,
on-track performance and lap times. Nykyforchyn scored a third-place sportsman
division finish in Saturday’s enduro and a fourth-place overall finish in
Sunday’s sprint.
While Nykyforchyn won Daytona honors, Schneider wrapped up the season-long JRZ
award as the driver that showed the most setup-based improvements in the final
part of the racing year. Schneider was also the first recipient of the JRZ
award at the Road Atlanta event in September.
“That part is really cool because that was my weak link, quite frankly,”
said Schneider, who was awarded a complimentary annual JRZ rebuild package as
part of his prize. “I just didn’t know that much about setup coming to run
in the Cayman Interseries, and the fact that the series brings somebody from
JRZ to the track at every race who not only helps you with setup but teaches
you about setup is just invaluable. I will leave this short season knowing so
much more about setup from where I began, and I think that will give us a
really good platform to build on next year and hopefully continue to be
competitive.”
About The Cayman Interseries: Established in 2009 by Napleton
Porsche of Westmont, Illinois, the Cayman Interseries is North America’s only
auto racing championship featuring the exclusive use of the 320-horsepower
Porsche Cayman S. Sanctioned by Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR), the
Cayman Interseries conducted its first official season in 2010 and crowned a
pair of champion drivers in both the sprint and endurance racing formats. Races
are run on legendary circuits such as Daytona, Sebring, Mid-Ohio, Watkins Glen,
Road Atlanta, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and other premier venues, primarily on
HSR and SVRA event weekends. Every competing Porsche Cayman S is exclusively
supplied and prepared by Napleton Porsche and each car competes with an
assigned and specific heritage livery themed after a famous Porsche race car
from the past. Learn more about the Cayman Interseries at www.CaymanInterseries.org.
Phone calls direct to Napleton Porsche may be made at (630) 725-0911 and email
inquiries can be sent to racing@napletonmotorsports.com.
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