Casa de Amigos Racing » ITA

J. Burkhard On Podium Twice at VIR

jjjanoska — Tue, 12 May 2009 02:26:42 +0000

May 11, 2009 – Danville, VA – In a hard fought race, Amigo John Burkhard took his Allsports Grand Prix Honda CRX to a podium finish in Saturday’s SARRC/MARRS Challenge. Burkhard, who started fourth for Saturday’s 39-mile race, spent the first 6 laps in a hard-fought battle for third place. At the mid-point of the race, however, Burkhard moved past his Brian Price and into third place.

Burkhard immediately began hunting down the second-place MARRS-ITA of Bryan Pritt. Burkhard steadily closed the distance on Pritt. Burkhard, despite his fading brakes, ran his fastest laps in the second-half of the race but was unable to completely close the gap on second. Burkard managed to erase all but 1 second of the gap and, had the race been longer, would have been in a position to challenge Pritt.

Burkhard started Sunday’s race fifth in class. For much of the race he was involved in a ferocious four-way battle for second through fifth. Just past race mid-point, Burkhard advanced to fourth place, but lost considerable time when it took him several laps to move past an ITS Datsun. Overcoming this deficit, Burkhard managed to chase down the third-place Brian Price and moved into third place, and a podium position, on the last lap.

Ginsberg Has Rough Start to 2009 Season

jjjanoska — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:55:39 +0000

April 21 , 2009 – Summit Point, WV – Fighting with a car that was down on power, Gregg Ginsberg finished seventh in Saturday’s 10-lap, 20-mile heat race. Ginsberg started tenth for the race and manged to reach sixth place before the half-way point of the race. “We put a new motor in the car on Friday night and just didn’t have the time to get it 100 percent,” said Ginsberg. Ginsberg added, “I was driving the wheels off the car in the corners to carry as much speed as I could.”

Ginsberg would start Sunday’s 40-mile feature race from ninth on the ITA-grid. He would move up to eighth place by lap eight, but disaster struck while lapping a slower car. Ginsberg got into the marbles in turn eight and impacted the outside tire wall hard. Ginsberg was stoic about the incident, ” I didn’t do a great job of managing the situation. He wasn’t predictable but I had plenty of racing room and I goofed.”

J.Burkhard Picks up First 2009 Podium for Amigos

jjjanoska — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 20:30:02 +0000

April 21, 2009 – Summit Point, WV – In Saturday’s MARRS Heat race, John Burkhard scored the first podium finish of the Casa de Amigo 2009 racing season. Burkhard started 4th, but picked up a spot at midpoint in the 10 lap, 20 mile sprint when he and the third place runner began to encounter lapped traffic. “We caught the backmarkers a lot faster than I thought we would,” said Burkhard, adding “I knew I was faster, and once I got clear, I could concentrate on catching 2nd. I was gaining, but there just weren’t enough laps.”

Burkhard started second in the ITA field for Sunday’s feature race, but fell to fourth during the green flag scrum. It took until lap 15 of the 20-lap race for Burkhard to move into a podium position. Unfortunately, Burkhard would drop back into fourth four laps latter. Despite his best efforts, John was unable to regain a podium position and took the checkered flag in fourth place.

“I would have liked to have been on the podium both days, but any weekend you bring the home car in one piece and get a podium is a good weekend.” said Burkhard.

Ginsberg and Burkhard to Contest ITA Championship

jjjanoska — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 12:00:19 +0000

March 24, 2009 – Charles Town, WV – Casa de Amigos announced today that Gregg Ginsberg, 2003 MARRS Rookie of the Year and 2008 ITA Runner-up, and John Burkhard, the two-time ITC MARRS Champion and winner of the 2005 Paul H. Norair Trophy, would be competing in the 2009 MARRS Championship as part of the Allsports Grand Prix-sponsored Casa de Amigos Racing Team.

“I think 2009 may be one of my better seasons,” said long-time ITA-competitor Ginsberg. Ginsberg, who has competed since 2003 in a second-generation Honda CRX Si added “The addition of a two-time MARRS Champion will be beneficial to not only the team, but the class too.”

“We learned a great deal about the car last year and, with what we’ve learned, I think 2009 will be a good year for me,” said Burkhard. Burkhard, raced his second-generation CRX twice last year. The two-time ITC champion is realistic about the team’s potential in ITA – “Our cars will be the ones to beat.”