MOVING UP Courtney Climbs to Top Ten Finish at Long Beach

Long Beach, California (April 19, 2009) - Jeff Courtney, driver of the #99 KENDA Tires Dodge Viper Competition Coupe took to the streets at the 35th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in sunny California. Courtney pushed through the field to a 10th place finish.
"Long Beach is a great event, I had a great time here," said Courtney. "We struggled with some suspension failures during early practice. This took away from valuable set-up time, especially considering very limited practice time at this event," said Courtney. Courtney ended up qualifying mid-pack in the 15th position.
"Despite qualifying 15th, I love the challenge of trying to gain positions against such stiff competition," said Courtney. "I was pushing for better than a tenth place finish but I felt as if I really used up a lot of the car and tires moving forward and advancing through lap traffic."
The Long Beach track winds through city streets and leaves drivers with little recourse. Drivers need to use extra caution to avoid crashes.
The Long Beach track is the only street course SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT runs in 2009. "I'm always glad to come out of a street course in one piece, as you know, the concrete walls get very narrow," said Courtney. "I'm glad to have the #99 KENDA Tires Dodge Viper Competition Coupe come out of Long Beach intact."
Despite a 12th place qualifications and high expectations, teammate Dave Welch suffered some tough luck suffering a brake failure sending him back to 19th position.
Check out the SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge GT Championship race on the historic Long Beach track on the SPEED channel on Friday, May 22 at 2 p.m. EST.

HEADING TO LONG BEACH Courtney Prepares for Second Race of Season

Milwaukee, Wisconsin (April 13, 2009) - Jeff Courtney, driver of the #99 KENDA Tires Dodge Viper Competition Coupe is preparing for the 35th Annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. After a promising run at the season opener at Sebring, Courtney and the Woodhouse Performance Team are looking forward to a good finish.
"I don't want to dwell on Sebring," said Courtney. "The team and I just want to answer back with a great run at Long Beach." Long Beach is an historical street event that gives drivers little chance to maneuver. "At Long Beach you really can't make mistakes; if you do, you can pay for them big time," said Courtney. "So much is going on at Long Beach, it's just a cool, all-around event -I'm really looking forward to it."
The television broadcast of the Sebring race encountered technical issues so look for a new schedule date for that race at http://www.world-challenge.com/ airing on the SPEED television network. Watch Courtney in both the Touring Car and GT races.
Courtney again teams up with David Welch in the #13 Numerix Dodge Viper Competition Coupe for the Woodhouse Performance Team. "I'm looking forward to racing with Dave again, he's a good driver and teammate," said Courtney.
Part of SCCA Pro Racing SPEED World Challenge Championships' new partnership with Internal Combustion Group is the new live audio streaming of race weekends. If you can't travel to California to the race, tune in to the World Challenge website to hear Tom Hnatiw's exciting moment-by-moment broadcasting of the race as well as interviews with special guests. It's the next best thing to being there; listen at www.world-challenge.com on Sunday, April 19th by clicking on the goracetv.com link on the left side of the event page.