Notes:
*Rum Bum Racing continues to lead the championship, with a provisional 51-point margin
*22nd podium result for Rum Bum Racing
Kansas City, Kan. (17 August 2013) – Just one week after taking a dramatic race victory at Road America last weekend, Rum Bum Racing was back on the GRAND-AM podium on Saturday.
Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi combined for a run to second place with the No. 13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche at Kansas Speedway after Plumb fought “…like a terrier chasing a tennis ball” for the lead in the final laps of the race.
But with a championship chase to consider and knowing that the car he was dueling with had a better launch from the slow-speed corners, Plumb ran out of time to make a move to the front, coming home in second place as Rum Bum Racing celebrated its 22nd GRAND-AM podium result.
Longhi opened the race from third on the grid and held station on the inside line at the start. The race was set on a bipolar race track, with a long wide open section of oval combined with the slow tight infield section. The claustrophobic confines of the infield made for some dicey moments, particularly as the GS class machinery moved through the ST class field. It was exactly that kind of traffic that saw Longhi take side to side contact and shuffled back to 11th in the order.
But Longhi kept his cool, slowly working back up to top-five contention before turning the car over to Plumb.
The yellow flag flew shortly there after, but the Rum Bum strategy wasn’t dealt a blow as the restart saw Plumb already up to fourth place. After an hour of racing, a final restart with just three minutes to go had Plumb running second, ready to fight the Camaro for the win. But after a few hard-charging laps, it was not meant to be as Plumb finished just .425-seconds adrift of the race winner.
“I was like a terrier with a tennis ball, I saw it and just couldn’t help myself,” said Plumb of the chance for victory. “But they had a strong car and congrats to them. It kills me to not get the win, but they deserve some good fortune. So thanks again to Continental Tire, AST Shocks and Luis Bacardi at home.”
While the final yellow flag once again set the stage for a nail-biter of a finish, Longhi stayed as cool out of the car as he had been inside of it.
“I really don’t worry that much in the car because I have faith in everyone,” said Longhi. “Matt and Joe and everybody on the team. It is just such a good team, I keep saying it over and over again. We knew that we had to be careful, the car was good and it was fast and we were just trying to stay out of trouble, which I almost managed to do. I got put off the road. I was passing another GS car and he literally turned up on me like it was Days of Thunder or something and at that point I almost wrecked on the oval. So to come back from all that and be up on the podium with some good points, everyone is happy and they should be, it was a great effort.”
Rum Bum Racing now holds a 51-point championship advantage as the team travels to Laguna Seca next month for Round 10 of the championship.
