June 26, 2005

Top 10 finish for Beauchamp at June Sprints

Mike Beauchamp steered his EMP Stewart Components sponsored Van Diemen racer to an eighth-place finish in the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) June Sprints at Elkhart Lake, WI over the weekend.

The famed event on the historic Road America track saw Beauchamp (right) start 11th in the main event after posting a qualifying lap of 2-minutes, 17.6-seconds. Unfortunately, trouble found the Green Bay, WI driver on the very first lap.

“I got a pretty good start and picked up a couple positions going into Turn 1,” said Beauchamp. “In Turn 5, I got turned around and caught up in four-car pile up. That dropped us all the way back to 26th. I started chasing down cars, passing 16 of them before a full-course caution came out. The green flag came out with just two laps left and I was able to run down two more cars before the checkered flag to finish eighth.”

Despite the problems, he was satisfied with the finish.

"With four national champions (including the reigning champion) in the field, just breaking into the Top-10 is gratifying,” said Beauchamp. “To finish eighth after dropping all the way to the back of the field made it feel like a win. My front wings, rear wing and front tie rod were all damaged in the spin but I just got to work and started picking off cars. These are some of the best amateur drivers in the country so I'm pretty happy with the results."

Beauchamp, now fourth in the division point standings, will return to Road America for his next event on Sunday, July 24.