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| Portland, Oregon (June 21, 2003) - Today, under a ominous cloudy sky in Portland, Jonathan Macri, driver of the #84 -- NTN Bearings Polestar Atlantic finished 8th in for round five of the CART Toyota Atlantic Championship series. This afternoon’s race got off to a bumpy start for Macri as he and Alex Figge (#69) made light contact in Turn 1 throwing both cars into a spin. “We went into Turn 2 three-wide and two of my tires went up on the curb,” recalled Macri. “Luckily though, I was able to turn around and continue on.” Macri did continue on, although, now, he found himself at the back of the pack running 13th. “For the next couple of laps I was able to make up a few positions, but I knew without a yellow flag, it was going to be difficult to make it to the front,” said Macri. “On Lap 9 I started to close the gap between me and (Bryan) Sellers. And, by Lap 11 I made the pass on Sellers and re-gained my 8th place starting position.” The second half of the race Macri held his 8th place position to the checkered flag finish, with a top speed of 100.660 mph. Unfortunately, he could not push on to further his position. “The balance of the car was really good throughout the race until the last five laps, “ said Jim Griffith, NTN Bearings -- Polestar Atlantic Team co-owner. “The car went loose at that point and from there it was hard for Jonathan to make any time up.” Now the NTN Bearings Polestar Atlantic team is putting Portland behind them on looking to the future. “Starting from the 8th position, I was anxious to move to the front of the pack, but unfortunately, that didn’t happen for me this weekend,” said Macri. “The team gave me a good car for the race, so I want to thank them for all of their hard work. I also want to thank my sponsors, especially NTN Bearings. Now, we just need to look forward and hope for better results in Cleveland.” Macri is third in the Toyota Atlantic Championship standings with 64 points overall. Speed Channel will televise the race from Portland International Raceway tape-delayed on Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. PST, 4:00 p.m. EST. The 35-lap race in Portland will be televised on the Speed Channel Monday, June 23, 1:00 p.m. PST, 4:00 p.m. EST. Round six of the 2003 Toyota Atlantic Championship takes place in Cleveland for the Cleveland Grand Prix presented by U.S. Bank on July 5. Further information is available on the team’s web site www.jonathanmacri.com, or the Toyota Atlantic series site at www.toyotaatlantic.com. ### |
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