FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - November 6, 2009 - Canadian-based BGR-TLM Racing - Team Grote is proud to announce that Keenan Harris has won the Ontario F1200 Championship Series Rookie of the Year!During the 2009 season, Harris amassed 9 podiums, and finished top five in 14 of 18 race events.
This was BGR-TLM Team Grote’s second consecutive F1200 Rookie of the Year, with Harris delivering the same solid performance, in the same #5 car, as alumni Alex Ellis in 2008 who also won F1200 ROY honors, then in 2009 made the jump into FBMW Americas.
“My first season of racing open wheel cars in the F1200 Championship Series was a valuable learning experience”, stated Harris. “I learned so much competing against veterans like Mike Iamundi, Andrew McMurray, Eric Barrett, and Phil Wang. I would like to thank key people for this season’s success; mechanic Devan Matkovich; DAG Aaron Lang, and the rest of the BGR-TLM Team Grote crew for working hard all season long. I would also like to thank team sponsors Grote and Amsoil. Most important, I would like to thank my competitors for a great season and all the track marshals, who as volunteers, suffered through some horrendous weather all during the 2009 season.”
Director of Driver Development Dave Matkovich commented, “Aside from mechanical issues at Calabogie, Keenan was in the fight up front, from the first green flag, right up to the final checkered flag, during the entire season. He adapted very quickly from 4-stroke Karting where he was also very dominate. Much like 4-stoke Karting, the F1200’s are all about perfect lines, carrying momentum, and patience. Keenan adapted very quickly and applied a lot of the race craft he had learned from 4-stroke into piloting the F1200’s. It was immediately apparent that he had that key trait which was patience during those long battles that occur during F1200 races. Make no mistake, veterans like Iamundi, McMurray, Barret, Wang, Tronchi, and Rogers made sure he had to earn any top five finishes, and in many cases, gave Keenan the atypical F1200 rookie mistake training he needed to learn. What was great to watch this season was that Keenan applied the lessons and it was rare that the veterans would try the same tactics twice and succeed. He was a pleasure to have on the team and we know he will succeed as he moves up into higher levels of open wheel racing.
BGR-TLM Team Grote Racing will be contesting the 2010 F1200 Championship Series, running a multi-car team, and chasing down their 3rd consecutive Rookie of the Year, as well, hoping to also acquire their first F1200 Champion to add to an impressive 40+ podiums since running a multi-car team in 2007
Canada's Premier Formula Car Development Team, BGR-TLM Team Grote Racing, was formed in 2008 via partnership of two of the nations leading junior race car teams. Under the guidance of BGR team principal Brian Graham, and TLM principals Gerry Merz, Dave Matkovich and Chris Tanser, the new alliance features a three-tier program for its drivers via the Ontario F1200 Championship, Ontario Formula Ford Challenge and the Pro F2000 Championship Series. The goal of this development team is to provide Karters and other young drivers the opportunity to learn and develop as they progress up the motorsports ladder within BGR-TLM Team Grote Racing.
See: http://www.tlmracing.com/ http://www.briangrahamracing.com/ http://www.grote.com/
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