photo by John Thawley

Bowmanville, Ont. – Following its season-best performance in at Road America two weeks ago, Intersport Racing showed once again showed that it has what it takes to run with the big dogs in the American Le Mans Series. The two-car privateer effort led by Le Mans winner Clint Field stood atop the time sheets in Saturday's practice session at Mosport International Raceway, and showed strong in the race, capturing third and fourth place results in the LMP1 category.

The momentum was certainly building following the team's impressive run at Road America, which saw the No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola B06/10 AER leading the race outright in the first few hours of the race. Audi driver Lucas Luhr made note in the post-race press conference acknowledging Jon and his excellent drive to the front.

On race day at Mosport, Jon once again started the No. 37 Lola, and rocketed his way into the lead pack in the race's early stages. After handing over to Clint, the Dunlop-shod car ran consistent lap times. Richard Berry took the wheel for the final stint, securing the third spot on the podium.

"The car was great during my stint," Clint said. "We were running as quick as the Dyson car and much quicker than the Mazda at the beginning. Dad got it up to eighth, which was great. In the early stages, we were just running our own race and just getting laps in. The AER engine was great when I got in it. There were just a few small things that cost us the race in the end, but everyone made it home all right."

Ryan Lewis, piloting the team's No. 30 entry, drove an equally impressive opening stint. The Atlantic star handed over to co-driver John Faulkner on Lap 37, also taking on four fresh Kumho tires and a full tank of E10 fuel. Unfortunately shortly after, Faulkner suffered an accident while at the wheel of the car. He hit the wall in Turn 2 and slid down the hill, causing damage mainly to the front of the prototype. Luckily, Faulkner climbed from the Lola under his own power, but was taken to Lakeridge Health Centre in Bowmanville for precautionary measures.

"The American Le Mans Series is big time racing, and sometimes there are big time consequences," Clint added. "We're glad John will be okay, as that's the most important thing. We'll take the good with the bad and move onto Detroit. We're excited to rebound and hopefully put on a good show for everyone there with the Very Berry Exotics Lola."

With busy back-to-back weekends, Intersport will be unable to repair the No. 30 car in time for next weekend's race at Detroit. Thus, the team will turn all of its focus to the No. 37 Very Berry Exotics Lola AER for what should be an exciting weekend's worth of racing in the Motor City.

There isn't much time to rest. The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Detroit Sports Car Challenge presented by Bosch. The race from Belle Isle in Detroit is scheduled for 2:35 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 30. SPEED will broadcast the race live, and XM will air it from 5 to 8 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 31. Qualifying will be shown live online starting at 4:35 p.m. ET on Friday, August 29 on americanlemans.com and SPEEDtv.com. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage of all on-track sessions at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring.

Very Berry Exotics specializes in buying and selling some of the world's more exotics and hard to find automobiles. Not only do they sell cars already in the inventory, Very Berry Exotics will search for automobiles that are their customer's dream cars. Company owner Richard Berry founded Very Berry Exotics in 2004 and is himself a racer.

The American Le Mans Series is the premium brand of motorsport in North America, featuring high-tech sports cars from the most prestigious automobile manufacturers in the world. With its direct link to the world famous 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, its unique four classes of competition showcase exotic prototypes (LMP1 and LMP2 classes) and sophisticated production-based GT cars (GT1 and GT2 classes), all competing on the track at the same time. With a 12-race schedule in 2008, the American Le Mans Series competes at premier road racing tracks across North America and at selected temporary street circuits in major urban markets. With a television package that includes five network broadcasts on ABC and NBC as well as seven live telecasts on SPEED, plus live broadcasts across Europe, the Series delivers a global marketing platform that is unmatched in motorsports. The Series, founded in 1999 by Georgia entrepreneur Don Panoz, represents a mirror image to the prestigious 24 Hours of Le Mans, the world's most famous and authentic automobile race. The American Le Mans Series features elite marques such as Acura, Aston Martin, Audi, Corvette, Dodge, Ferrari, Ford, Mazda, Panoz and Porsche, and premium brands such as Michelin, Yokohama, Kumho, Lowe's, EPIC, Shell, DHL, Hyatt Hotels, XM Radio and many others. The teams competing in the Series range from top professional teams such as Penske Racing, Andretti Green Racing and Rahal Letterman Racing to top-level independent teams such as Dyson Racing and Intersport Racing.

The American Le Mans Series features technical rules that not only allow new technology, but actually encourage auto manufacturers to introduce new innovations into the racing environment as a means of rapid development for production car application. The Series is the only motorsports body in the world that features multiple street-legal alternative fuel sources - clean diesel, E10 gasoline and E85 cellulosic (non-feedstock) ethanol. Through partnerships with diesel fuel supplier Shell, VP Racing Fuels and EPIC (Ethanol Promotion and Information Council), the American Le Mans Series has taken the global leadership role in motorsports for the development of alternative fuel technology and its practical use in production cars.