Daytona Beach, Florida – July 5th, 2009 – The Beyer Racing team had an impressive run yesterday at the Brumos Porsche 250 at Daytona in which the #13 Lennox Chevrolet Riley led the Rolex Sports Car Series field for the first time in the rookie team’s career with 19 year old Ricky Taylor behind the wheel. It was a blistering hot and humid day that tested the limits of fitness and endurance of the four young Beyer Racing drivers (Jared Beyer, Mike Forest, Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor) and proved that they are ready to compete with the top runners of the series.
Ricky Taylor took the green flag in the #13 Lennox Chevrolet Riley Daytona Prototype after qualifying in the eight position for the third time this year with a lap of 1m43.249s. Taylor picked up two positions on the start and then on Lap 4 moved into the Top-5 by out-braking and passing the #12 Penske machine in Turn 1. After a caution period on Lap 11 the Beyer Racing crew opted to stay out while the leaders pitted to adopt an alternate strategy, which handed Taylor the lead of the race. On the restart the Apopka, FL native opened an impressive gap and led the first 11 laps of his career at his home race. Taylor pitted on Lap 23, seconds before the mandatory 45-minute pit window had expired, handing the controls over to teammate Mike Forest. After the pit stop shuffle Forest found himself once again showing the speed of the #13 car and battling for the top positions, while at the same time desperately waiting for a caution period that would allow the Beyer Racing team to get back in sequence with the leaders and take advantage of their alternate pit strategy. Unfortunately the yellow flags never waved and Forest was forced to pit under green flag conditions on Lap 57 loosing precious time and positions. Ricky Taylor brought the car to the checkered but after the unfortunate green flag stop was only able to climb to the 12th position, a disappointing result in an otherwise impressive race.
For the crew and drivers of the #5 Lennox Chevrolet Crawford machine the race marked the end of a hectic week in which the crew had to prepare a new Crawford chassis and fit it with a Chevrolet engine in only a few days, and in which the drivers, Jared Beyer and Jordan Taylor, had only a few laps due to limited practice time to adapt their driving and learn the handling characteristics of the new car before the race. After scoring a season best qualifying effort of 13th with a lap of 1m44.387s, Jordan Taylor managed to pick up positions on the start and was running in the Top-10 when he noticed an issue that would make for a long day for him and his teammate. Not only was the temperature extremely high inside their #5 machine as in any other Daytona Prototype, their chassis also radiated additional heat in the pedal area making it uncomfortable and quite painful for the drivers. After Taylor communicated the problem through the radio, Jared Beyer was fitted with additional heat protection before jumping into the car on Lap 19 for his stint. Beyer had a tough task at hand as he barely had any practice laps with the Crawford chassis before the race due to various minor problems that arouse during the very limited practice sessions. The New Braunfels, TX native was able to quickly adapt to the new car and ran his fastest lap times of the weekend during the race. Taylor got back behind the wheel on Lap 46 and took the checkered flag for the 70-lap race. Despite their heating problems and the fact that they ran a brand new chassis with virtually no testing before the race, the duo of Jared Beyer and Jordan Tyler managed to bring the #5 Daytona Prototype home in 15th place.
