June 28, 2002

Johnny Is 5th Fastest (0.45 Sec Behind 1st) In 1st Practice Session At Mid-ohio

Johnny posted a practice time of 1:25.707 (94.844 mph) in the morning session at Mid-Ohio. He was the 5th fastest car running about a half a second behind Butch Leitzinger.

Butch recorded a lap of 1:25.254 seconds (95.348 miles per hour) on the 2.258-mile permanent road course to lead 22 competitors. Boris Said was second fastest in morning practice with a lap of 1:25.262 (95.339 mph), Paul Gentilozzi was third fastest at 1:25.389 (95.197 mph), and Stu Hayner was fourth fastest at 1:25.475 (95.101 mph).

Qualifying for Saturday’s Trans-Am Buckeye 100 begins at 3:15 p.m. ET.

The 45-lap, 101.61-mile Buckeye 100 takes the green flag at 1:30 p.m. ET Saturday and will be televised nationally on a same-day, tape-delay basis at 4:00PM ET by CBS Sports.

Johnny and Paul fought plug wires that kept falling off. Johnny spent the first few laps bedding in brakes, then got after it. The Jags have not run before with the new louvres, so it is taking a little work to figure out the setup. The word is to soften the car up and try to find some grip.

(Thanks to Todd Benne, founder of www.tainternetleague.com, for providing track information and a few photos from the weekend since this reporter is missing this event)