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RINKER COMPLETES WEEKEND SWEEP IN ST. LOUIS!
TORRENTE COMES JUST UP SHORT; SEEBOLD COMES HOME 3RD!
ST. LOUIS, Missouri – August 3, 2008 – Floridian Terry Rinker
reestablished his championship run as he held off a determined Shaun
Torrente by two seconds and took his 2nd win in 3 years at the 37th
Annual Bud Light St. Louis Grand Prix on Creve Coeur Lake just
outside St. Louis, Missouri at the 4th round of the 2008
F1-ChampBoat Series.
The thousands of fans that lined the lake saw a perfect start for
the Amsoil/Rinker Racing veteran who came off the dock in pole
position and held of local favorite Tim Seebold of the Bud Light
Seebold Race Team with Shaun on the outside making it a spectacular
three boat run to the first commitment buoy with the 44 year-old
driver holding the inside and the lead that he would not lose for
the next 43 laps.
Torrente of the Talon Boats/Gary L Barton Inc. sponsored boat worked
his way around the defending race champion Seebold in the first 1/3
of the race and took up the charge to catch his fellow Florida
driver finally passing him briefly on the 44th lap. The cat and
mouse game between the two drivers ended when Terry finally used
traffic to his advantage and took home his first victory of the
season and his third in St. Louis in the last 5 years.
“We did a great job on the setup since the moment we rolled into the
paddock,” said Terry. “We set fast lap in qualifying, won our heat
race and today to the Grand Prix so we went three for three and the
sweep you can’t do anything better than that.”
Torrente, who dogged Rinker in his Speedmaster Marine prepared boat
by Ted Gryguc out of Ontario, Canada, did everything he could to
take his winning streak to four from the start of the season but
just ran out of steam at the end settling for the runner-up position
on the day as he continues to lead in the championship points chase.
“We did what we could to keep the winning streak alive but just ran
out of time,” said Shaun. “Importantly we continue to lead the
championship, and we can keep our heads up as we now have 4 straight
podiums this season at the halfway point.”
Todd Beckman the other half of the Bud Light Seebold Race Team drove
a strong race to 4th place after a late start finishing his first
race of the season. Randy Rinker older brother of Terry, was 5th in
the other Amsoil/Rinker Racing Lee Craft while local driver Matt
Sadl of Pacific, Missouri came home 6th in his XG-AD.com/Massageluxe.com
Seebold built boat.
Canadian Brian Venton came home 7th in his Jenkinson Telecom/Hancock
Ins./Red Bone Den sponsored Gran Prix hull with Thailand’s Nithat
Kunjeng finishing 8th in his Italian built Blaze boat sponsored by
Singha Beer.
Brian Normand of Louisiana returned after a few races off coming
home 9th; Michael Schubert of Houston, Texas ended up 10th in the
Sea-Way Marine Johnson powered Seebold after being sent to the
penalty lane. Lynn Simburger of Elsah, Illinois had a fast boat but
had mechanical woes as did the hard charging Jeff Shephard Woodlawn,
Tennessee.
The 5th round of the 2008 F1-ChampBoat Series is next weekend at
Algonac, Michigan and the battle for the top two positions will only
get hotter as the series moves into it’s 2nd half of the season on
the St. Clair River on the 9th and 10th of August.
For additional
information:
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