BOWMANVILLE, ON, - May 17, 2010 – Ron Fellows lives in the Toronto suburb of Mississauga, Ontario, a 100 km drive east to his home track, Mosport International Raceway. But his journey to the track this weekend for the World Challenge Series race, part of Mosport’s season-opening the Victoria Day SpeedFest (May 21-23), will be anything but a typical commute across the northern boundaries of the Greater Toronto Area.
In fact, after leaving Mosport this Wednesday, Fellows will make an 8,500 km round-trip, before he’s strapped into his #2 Cragar Wheels Chevy Corvette for Sunday morning’s qualifying session to set the grid for the 50-minute race later that afternoon.
Why? He’s an ambassador for the American Le Mans Series Corvette team competing this weekend on the Pacific coast in Monterey, CA. and had committed to promotional work with the ALMS team prior to confirming his World Challenge Series race program.
So, following a test session this Wednesday morning at Mosport to reacquaint himself with the demanding 4-km road course (Fellows hasn’t race here since ’07 in ALMS and World Challenge), he will go to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport to catch a flight to San Francisco and then drive up to Monterey. He’ll spend three days there before catching a Saturday night red-eye flight – via Calgary – back to Toronto early Sunday morning, and head straight to Mosport to be at the track for the 9:30 am World Challenge qualifying session.
Although he’s expects to be a little weary when he arrives at Mosport Sunday, Fellows says the long round-trip is worth it to race again at Mosport and in front of his hometown fans.
“It’s an opportunity for me to compete at Mosport during their 50th anniversary season celebration and hopefully put on a show for the fans. I know there will be lots of Corvette enthusiasts there and we’ll do our best to make them happy,” said Fellows, one of Canada’s most accomplished road racers and a multi-time Mosport winner.
“It’s going to be difficult because I’ll be a little sleep-deprived and jet-lagged, but it’s not any different from doing the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where you’re up all day and all night. You’re tired but you figure out a way to get yourself energized, focused and to concentrate.”
Fellows is looking forward to getting behind the wheel again of his CRP Corvette following his debut with the team in Long Beach last month, when a mechanical failure knocked him out of the race after running as high as fourth.
“This is a privateer team and the owner, Nicholas Short, has done a good job. He runs a smart operation and it has been great fun. I’ve always enjoyed the format of the World Challenge events. These are short, intense races and the standing starts are awesome. You’ve got multi-manufacturers and its part of the enjoyment of racing in this Series.”
This weekend is a doubleheader for the World Challenge Series, with the first race going Saturday at 2:50 pm. Also on the schedule is the SCCA Trans-Am Series, the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship (a Saturday/Sunday doubleheader) and the Sundown Grand Prix endurance race.
The racing action starts Friday with a full-day of testing for all four championships. Saturday is a mix of practice and qualifying in the morning, followed by races for the Castrol Touring cars, World Challenge and the Sundown Grand Prix. Sunday morning opens with more qualifying and then races in World Challenge, Castrol Touring and Trans-Am to close out the weekend.
The three-day weekend SuperTicket is just $50 until May 19 ($60 at the Gate). Single-day tickets are also available. For more information and to purchase tickets call the Mosport Hotline at 1-800-866-1072 (Monday to Friday from 9 am to 5 pm ET), visit online at www.mosport.com, or email info@mosport.com.
From Jerry Priddle, Mosport
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