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Monrovia, California (Tuesday, April 9, 2019) – US RaceTronics’ drivers added three podium appearances on Sunday to wrap a successful season-opening weekend at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, AL. Pro driver Bryce Miller, driving the No. 34 Lamborghini of Beverly Hills, started Sunday’s race eighth overall and fourth in class. The No. 09 Lamborghini of Calgary driving duo of Damon Ockey and Jacob Eidson added a ton of excitement to Sunday’s race. Ockey started the race in P7, but lost a bit of track position when he made a brief excursion off-track in the opening stint.
 Despite the mishap, Ockey handed the car off to Eidson in good shape. Eidson came out of the pitstop P3 in class with a 14-second deficit, but quickly put his head down and drove the wheels off his Lamborghini Huracan Evo. Just a few laps into the second stint, Eidson moved into fifth-place overall and second in class, but he didn’t stop there. The young American continued to narrow the distance to the front runners with fast lap after fast lap and with six laps to go made passes on the third and fourth place cars to win the ProAm class and finish P3 overall. With wins in both Saturday’s and Sunday’s races, the drivers will head to Watkins Glen with the early ProAm points lead. Ron Atapattu drove another clean race in the No. 24 Elephantea /ShipOCI Lamborghini of La Jolla. The LB Cup driver finished Sunday’s race sixth in class as he continues to learn the intricacies of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo Huracan Evo. Atapattu returned to Lamborghini racing this weekend for the first time since 2001 when he drove the Lamborghini GTR in the Lamborghini GTR SuperTrophy Series and has shown consistent speeds on-track. He plans to do some more testing in the car before heading to Watkins Glen in June.The team will be back on track next at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, N.Y. June 27-29.
Quotes following Sunday’s LSTNA Race 2:
Bryce Miller – Co-driver of the No. 34 Lamborghini of Beverly Hills
“Definitely much happier with the way today’s race went. Got a clean start and I got around a couple cars and was up to P6. After a little bit more action on track I think we were running P5 for most of the first stint and I was able to put in consistent laps. I wish I could have gotten around McKay (Snow), but he was running really good, really consistent and it’s tough to pass here. But I think I was able to put in some good laps as well and hand over a nice car to my teammate. He was able to get around a couple of guys and bring the car home P2 overall, so I’m really happy with how the race went.”
Patrick Liddy – Co-driver of the No. 34 Lamborghini of Beverly Hills
“The car was amazing. We drove a clean race and took advantage of opportunities to pass when we had them. We were really lucky and caught a couple of breaks. I always want to win, but I’m pleased with today’s second-place overall finish and am looking forward to Watkins Glen.”
Damon Ockey – Co-driver of the No. 09 Lamborghini of Calgary
“It was a great race today. Started P7 and came out of the first couple of corners a couple of places ahead, but I made a mistake and went off once so that dropped us back a bit. I was able to bring the car into the pitstop in pretty good shape though for Jake and he put down some pretty amazing laps. This whole race win was all Jake. His drive was stellar.”
Jacob Eidson – Co-driver of the No. 09 Lamborghini of Calgary
“Overall, just looking at the weekend in general, it was a really great race weekend… especially to start off the season. You always want to start off on the right foot and I think that’s exactly what we did. I’m really happy with how Race 1 and Race 2 went. Damon had an awesome start in Race 2; he even made up a few positions going into Turn 2. He definitely did his job and handed the car off with really good track position. We knew we could catch the guys in front when I hopped in. I just had to put my head down and put some clean laps together. The tires were falling off very quickly but Damon did an awesome job of maintaining the tires so that they weren’t really bad when I got in the car. We were able to catch the two class leaders to finish P1 in class and then the cherry on top of the sundae is the P3 overall in the race. I’m extremely happy.”
Ron Atapattu – Driver of the No. 24 Elephantea/ShipOCI Lamborghini of La Jolla
“Well, it’s probably better than yesterday’s race. It’s very hot in the car and for me to be in the car by myself for that long it takes a lot and towards the end of the last few laps I was feeling hot. Never-the-less it was very good. I was battling a few cars, but I never got close enough to pass them and then the leaders came by so I kinda lost pace with that, but overall, I was doing consistent laps. I think it was a pretty good experience getting used to the car and I think I can pick up more speed as I go along. This is the first event. Both races I finished the car with no excursions, no going in the grass, no gravel. All weekend long we had no issues so I know we can probably increase the limits in the driving as we move forward.”
Shane Seneviratne – US RaceTronics Team Owner
“Today’s race was a good conclusion to the weekend. I’m proud of all of our drivers. Ron finished 15th overall, but he had a very consistent race. We’re just going to get back home and do some testing and try to get him better acclimated to the car. I’m proud of him for staying out of trouble all weekend and finishing the race strong. So, we’ll pick it up from where we left off and try to get a better result at Watkins Glen. Really proud of Jacob, Damon, Patrick and Bryce. Patrick and Bryce finished second overall; that was a good accomplishment for us to have that overall podium. Jacob and Damon finished first in their class as expected from them and finished third overall on the podium, so I’m really proud to have two cars on the overall podium. They (Eidson and Ockey) were able to stand on two podiums today, so that was a good accomplishment for the team. The mechanics, crew chiefs, engineers… everyone did a great job and I’m proud of the whole team. We’re hoping to have Steven Aghakhani back with us and have four cars for the next race. We’re going to regroup and bring our best efforts to Watkins Glen. Hats off the Series. They did a great job as always. It was a great start to the season.”
Peter Jacobs – US RaceTronics Senior Engineer
“Shane put together an amazing team. All the drivers did a fantastic job this weekend. The crew did an exceptional job putting the 34 car back together and making sure it was competitive enough for a second-place finish in the second race after Bryce’s mishap on the last corner of the last lap of the first race. I’m proud of everybody’s efforts. Jacob did an outstanding job today. He went from a 14-second deficit down to I believe a six-second deficit in the race and finished third overall. He turned the third fastest overall race lap and was the fastest car throughout the second stint. Patrick, Bryce, Damon and Ron all did great jobs today as well and I’m looking forward to seeing what they can all do at Watkins Glen.”
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www.USRaceTronics.com, and through Twitter www.twitter.com/usracetronics, Facebook www.facebook.com/usracetronics, and Instagram www.instagram.com/usracetronics
#### *Photos Courtesy of Jamey Price
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Miller drove a strong first stint moving up to fifth-place overall before handing the car off to his teammate Patrick Liddy who drove an exceptional second stint. Liddy pushed hard and put down consistently fast laps to earn a second-place overall finish in his first weekend with the team. In the extremely competitive LSTNA Pro class, the co-drivers stayed focused, took advantage of passing opportunities and executed a flawless pitstop in only their second race as teammates.|
About US RaceTronics
US RaceTronics (USRT) originated in 2005, founded by Shane Seneviratne to compete in the Atlantic Championship, a formula race car series with races throughout North America. The team finished 5th in points its first year and continued its success during the succeeding years, ultimately amassing a total of 21 podiums, 7 poles, 5 race wins and finishing 3rd in the 2009 Atlantic Championship. USRT was put on hold after series officials announced the Atlantic Series was put on hiatus. Seneviratne fully returned to racing in 2015 after receiving an invitation to manage the O’Gara Motorsport entries in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo North American (LBSTNA) Series. The team won the Team Championship, Dealership Championship, Pro Championship with driver Richard Antinucci, and Amateur Championship with Ryan Ockey. The success of 2015 reignited Seneviratne’s passion for racing and he relaunched US RaceTronics to compete in the 2016 LBSTNA Series where Damon Ockey won the Amateur Championship and the team’s Pro-Am driver Brian Thienes finished third in points. Success continued in 2017 with drivers Edoardo Piscopo and Taylor Proto winning both the North American and World Championships in the Pro-Am class. 2018 saw the team win the North American LB Cup Championship along with second-place finishes in the PRO and AM Championships. To follow all of the 2019 Series action and the US RaceTronics team, make sure to follow the official Twitter account @usracetronics for live updates along with Facebook.com/usracetronics and Instagram http://instagram.com/usracetronics. To become a driver, learn more about the series, or attend a race, visit www.usracetronics.com for more information.
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BRYCE MILLER RACING 