Another Solid Weekend for Tim Paul

With the Series recently completing a doubleheader at Lime Rock Park, with two races in one day, Paul, a student at Franklin Pierce University, brought home an eighth place effort and a sixth place run later in the day. The eighth place more notable as the CellMark Paper sponsored entry had to charge from a distant 16th on the grid.

“Friday's qualifying was tough. We didn't get out until after half way through the session due to a bad starter motor,” said Paul.

“For race one I had a plan. Starting on the outside, and knowing there is a tendency for guys to jump down low at the end of pit wall to defend I decided I was just going to run outside, hoping that it would be open and brake late and drive around the field. Now, if you know auto racing, this is like planning on hitting a home run. It's a great plan but it's almost never going to work that perfectly. But this time it did.”

That left Paul in 11th place after the opening series of corners around Lime Rock. Paul then systematically moved up to eighth place, picking off car after car.

Thanks to a good set up from the GTP Motorsports team, he started seventh for race two; as the race grid was determined on fast laps for race one due to a truncated schedule at Lime Rock.

“We got a decent start and then just lapped,” said Paul,  a sixth place being accomplished with the help of a few cars going off the track ahead of them.

“Overall Lime Rock did not go as well as I had hoped it would. The SMR/GTP crew was fantastic as always, never missing a beat even in the ridiculous heat and humidity, and when things were going wrong on the car early in the weekend. Michael Witson and Glenn Philips, Stevan McAleer and my father Richard Paul never wavered in their support, and we came through, for what it was,” he continued.

Not only is it the sixth top ten in six starts, in all six races, Paul has finished in the top eight.

The strong effort in at the 1.53-mile, seven-turn road course in Connecticut leaves Paul fourth in the points standings, with eight races to go. But, the difference is he is now on the heels of third place, and second is achievable too, if things go the right way at New Jersey Motorsports Park, June 29 – July 1.

About SMR: Stupid Monkey Racing (SMR) was initially formed back in 1994 to run karting events in the northeast by Rick Paul for his son Tim. After incorporating in 2003 the team initially ran sprint cars and midgets in conjunction with the Race House team. In 2010 the focus became road racing in the F2000 Series. With ongoing sponsorship from CellMark Paper USA the team continues to support driver Tim Paul and also provide series sponsorship through Hard Charger and Championship awards each year. In 2011 SMR partnered withGlenn Phillips and GTP Motorsports for engineering and logistics support resulting in a sixth place finish in the championship standings. Scotsman Stevan MacAleer continues to provide coaching services and run selected races for SMR when not racing in the Mazda Playboy Cup series. Look for the bright green and orange cars at a track near you.