Pole-Winner Sandridge Takes Enduro with Varde and Sunday Sprint; Schneider First Overall in Saturday SprintTop series competitors Mark Sandridge and Bob Schneider won races at this weekends HSR Atlanta Historics in a competitive weekend of Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship racing at Road Atlanta, September 1416.Sandridge made it to victory lane in each of the weekends three races and doubled up on victories with wins in Saturdays featured 75 minute enduro and Sundays weekend-ending eight-lap sprint race. Schneider in turn moved the weekend off to a winning start with an overall victory in Saturdays opening sprint and joined Sandridge in victory lane after each race with runner-up showings in todays sprint and the enduro.
Sandridge, the weekends only Pro division driver, moved off to a fast start in Saturday qualifying when he won the Pirelli Cayman Interseries pole in his white and red-and-yellow striped No. 49 Cayman S themed after his 1994 IMSA Champion Team Salad Porsche 911 RSR. His weekend highlight was the enduro victory late Saturday afternoon that he shared with coach and co-driver Joe Varde.
Before Sandridge swept the weekends final two races, however, Schneider took the weekends first checkered flag with a victory in Saturdays 10-lap sprint. It was the second time in his Pirelli Cayman Interseries career that Schneider, a Sportsman division competitor, managed to take an overall win in his white No. 40 Cayman S modeled after the famous Martini & Rossi Baby Porsche 935. He earned his first victory in last years season-ending race at Daytona International Speedway and took Sportsman class honors in all three races this weekend at Road Atlanta.
Sandridge and Schneider shared the victory-lane podium with reigning Pirelli Cayman Interseries Sportsman Champion Bill Riddell in all three races. Riddell drives his RaceLink-prepared green-and-white striped No. 80 Cayman S that pays tribute to a David Piper Racing Porsche 917K and finished third overall and second in the Sportsman class in each of the weekends trio of races.
The top-five in Sundays sprint included the Road Atlanta-based Chris Smith Racing-prepared Caymans of Charles Harris and Tom Bloom. Harris finished fourth in the yellow No. 55 Cayman S that carries the livery of a David Piper Racing Sandeman Porsche 917K. The result capped a solid weekend for Harris in only his second Pirelli Cayman Interseries event that also included his first podium finish in Saturdays sprint with a third-place Sportsman class showing. Harris also impressed in qualifying with a top-three overall showing that was the second fastest Sportsman lap behind only class pole-winner Schneider.Bloom turned in a great drive to finish fourth overall and third in Sportsman in the enduro. He was also fifth overall and fourth in Sportsman in both sprints in his white and red No. 16 Cayman S themed after a Dyson Racing Porsche 962.
CARS (Classic Auto Restoration Services), an automotive and race shop out of Omaha, Nebraska, also showed well at the Atlanta Historics with drivers Lori Cassling and her brother-in-law Mike Cassling. The Casslings completed the Sportsman-class top five in the enduro. Mike Cassling was fourth in his orange No. 2 Cayman S, in the colors of the famous Jagermeister Porsches, while Lori Cassling was fifth in her No. 23 Cayman modeled after the famous Pink Pig Porsche 917/20.
Next up for the Pirelli Cayman Interseries Endurance Cup Championship is the VIR Gold Cup Historic Races, October 57, at Virginia International Raceway.
Noteworthy
- Bill Dennis, a popular Pirelli Cayman Interseries Sportsman-class competitor who passed away this past April, was remembered in Saturdays opening sprint race. Top-three Sportsman finishers Schneider, Riddell and Harris were awarded the first Bill Dennis Memorial trophy plaques in the race that was dedicated to their friend and former competitor.
- The first Pirelli Cayman Interseries car built by Napleton Porsche to use a seven-speed auto-shift PDK transmission raced in an unofficial capacity with outstanding results this weekend. Pirelli Cayman Interseries driver coach and instructor Jack Baldwin actually drove the PDK Cayman S to the overall victory in the Saturday sprint although the entry was not officially scored.
