February 16, 2003

Chad Block helps to contribute to Dyson Racings first Sebring 12 Hour Win

Dyson Racing scribed their name in the record books by winning the LMP675 Class with the #20 Thetford/Norcold/Gestetner MG Lola Saturday March 15th. The car was piloted by Chris Dyson, Chad Block, and Belgian Didier de Radigues.

After a long week of set-backs and a shortened qualifying run, caused by a spin while Chad was piloting the car, the #20 car came through with speed and consistency to win the LMP675 class. Less than one hour into the race Didier de Radigues had a rear upright failure which sidelined the car for almost an hour, but they Dyson crew did an outstanding job of replacing the entire rear-end and gearbox assembly to get the car back on track.

Once they were underway, with Chad at the helm, they experienced brief rear brake problems which brought the car back in briefly for a brake bleed. Later during a driver change, from Chad to Chris, the car had a small fuel fire which which was quickly extinguished by the crew and the car was back underway. Chad went on to set the second fastest lap for LMP675, second only to James Weaver in the #16 car, with the power backed off so the engine wouldnt have any issues.

While the #20 car continued to circulate the #16 car of James Weaver, Andy Wallace, and Butch Leitzinger was in the pits with a power steering failure. After the rack was changed the car went back out briefly, to set the fastest race lap at the time by a second, before it needed to be retired with another steering failure.
The #20 car continued to run like clockwork as Chad, Chris, and Didier avoided any contact on track during the remaining hours to finish at the top of the podium.

The following comments were made after the race:

"The Dyson crew did an outstanding job and made my first outing with them an awesome one. We did want to challenge for an overall but encountered some problems, one being my qualifying mistake, but we rebounded to take the class win, my first here, and Dyson'f first here also. Hopefully I will be back with them to challenge again. Chris and Didier were probably the best teammates I've had so far in my career, our communication level was excellent. Max Crawford, Pat Smith, Randall and all of the crew guys were outstanding and I need to thank all of them for giving me a great environment to work in. I hope Rob Dyson and the whole team were happy with my and the other driver's performances. If the three of us have a choice, I'm sure we will be back to assault the 900 cars again, when we do the results will show." - Chad Block- post race.

"Our guys did such a phenomenal job all week. They worked their tails off and it's great to give them the win. Max Crawford and his crew came in this week and it boosted everyone. There's no way we could have done it without them. I'm also very happy for Pat Smith, who wanted to take a win at Sebring before he called it a day. It's not the overall victory that we'd hoped for, but it's the next best thing."-Chris Dyson- post race.

Please look to the multimedia page shortly for many pictures of the Sebring event.