Fuel pickup problems hinder Bradley at Portland

July 27, 2004. Portland, OR. Scott Bradley weathered the record temperatures at Portland but couldn’t outrun a fuel pickup problem that cropped up midway through Round Six of the SCCA Speed World Challenge Series Touring Car Championship ay Portland International Raceway and after running as high was eleventh would have to nurse is car home in 19th place.

Outside of the final result the weekend was one of the best we've had so far. In opening test day we made a fair amount of progress on getting a good balance in the car,” Bradley said. “We sorted through quite a few of the problems we have had during the year and the car really started to get to where I like it. Unfortunately in the final session of the day though we lost a transmission and the repair process forced us to miss the first of two official practice sessions.”

Despite the lost sessions cam out blazing in the final Friday practice session, when temperatures topped out at 103 degrees, sitting just outside the top ten for most of the session. “We knew we had a car that would be good for qualifying, but with the temperatures expected for the race were more focused on tire management,” Bradley explained. “I laid down a lap that was good enough for 16th and decided to not make a huge effort to better the time because we wanted to save tires for the race.”

When the green flag dropped Bradley was quick to move up from his 16th position on the grid, passing three cars in the first lap and working his way towards the top ten. “For the first few laps of the race the car was great. I hung onto the lead pack and got as high as 11th. I could see we were getting a bit of a gap to the cars behind us and I was able to do so without even pushing the car,” Bradley related. “I knew come midway point of the race I would start my push to the front as others wore out their tires.”

The strategy would fall by the wayside on lap six when his Circuit City/Sony/Peak Travel Group Protomotive Mazda Protegé started having fuel problems. “At first it was not that bad I only lost a couple of positions but with each lap the problem got worse,” Bradley said. With six laps to go it got really bad as the car would not rev over 6K without completely shutting down. So for the final laps all I could do was coast around and hope it didn't completely shut off.”

Despite the disappointment Bradley remains optimistic as the series heads for Round Seven at Mosport International Raceway outside of Toronto, Canada. “It was a tough day because of the high temps the hard work Jim Jordan, Dave White and Kerry Brookshire put in over the weekend, and also the promise of such a good car early on in the race, bradley commented. “It does give me hope though for the next few races because the car has really started to turn around. I'm looking forward to Mosport and Road America two of my favorite tracks.”

For more information about Scott Bradley please visit www.speedrcr.com.