1999 Mosport International Raceway

The Motorola Cup is a North American Street Stock Championship sanctioned by Professional Sports Car Racing and ASN Canada FIA.

The series, which showcases drivers and manufacturers' vehicles, is televised across North America on Speedvision, CTV Sportsnet and RDS.

The 1999 edition of the Motorola Cup consists of twelve events:

Sebring International Raceway
Road Atlanta
Back to back rounds at Mosport International Raceway
Double-headers at Toronto’s Exhibition Place and Trois-Rivieres
Road Atlanta
Watkins Glen International
Sebring International Raceway
Daytona International Speedway

With a few exceptions, the races were mainly 3-hours in length. The cars are relatively unchanged from their road-going versions – modifications are mandated primarily for safety – roll cages, window nets, etc. They also used spec DOT-approved tires produced by Hoosier. Based on performance potential, the cars are divided into four groups:

Grand Sport (GS): This category is reserved for the fastest cars and includes the Pontiac Firebird, BMW M3, Acura NSX, Ford Mustang Cobra R, Porsche 993 and Toyota Supra Turbo.
Sport Class – (S): Popular vehicles found in this group are the BMW Z3 Coupe, Acura Integra Type R, BMW 328, Lexus GS 400, Audi S6 and Eagle Talon.
Touring Class – (T): Cars include the Acura Integra, Mazda 626, Mazda MX-6, Audi A4 and Honda Prelude.
Compact - (C): At the bottom end of the performance range are vehicles such as the Honda Civic Si, Acura Integra GSR, Hyundai Tiburon and Mazda Miata.

Close competitive racing with cars that fans could relate to contributed to the popularity of the series. It also provided an environment for automotive manufacturers to test and showcase their products.

To encourage participation and competition, the prize money was distributed based on class size – more cars competing in a class meant that more money was allocated to that group. The series prize fund was also bolstered by a Contingency Awards Program.

Race four of the 1999 Motorola Cup season was conducted at Mosport International Raceway, just one month after the previous round at the same track. As usual, the contest around the ten turn 2.459-mile road course would be three hours in length.

The start of round four for the 1999 Motorola Cup series at Mosport International Raceway. Leading the field of forty-three starters into corner one is the pole-winning No. 0 Ford Mustang Cobra SVT of Scott Maxwell and Greg Wilkins. Beside the Mustang is the other front row starter, Benoit Theetge and Peter Cohen, sharing the No. 16 Mazda RX-7 Turbo. Behind the fastest qualifiers is the No. 11 Powell Pontiac Firebird.

Suspension problems led to the retirement of the No. 0 Multimatic Motorsports Ford Mustang Cobra SVT in the previous round. With the independent rear suspension replaced with a solid rear axle, the Mustang ran trouble-free. Scott Maxwell put the car on the pole and along with his teammate, Greg Wilkins, dominated the three-hour contest for their second victory of the season.

Sport class competitors John Bourassa and Lance Stewart were on a roll. They won round two at Road Atlanta and followed that up with a victory in race three at Mosport International Raceway. The No. 10 Team Hurricane Acura Integra Type R qualified behind the class-leading Team Spartanburg Racing BMW Z3 Coupe but won the event by a one-lap margin.

The high mileage Oldsmobile of Frank Del Vecchio and team owner Ed Magner won the Compact class. The No. 48 WTF Engineering Achieva was gridded twenty-eighth overall and first in their category for round four at Mosport International Raceway. During the race, the team encountered an issue with the alternator. They rewired the charging system to run off the battery and replaced the battery with each stop.

Despite heavy contact in Moss corner with the Touring class points leading Mazda 626 of the Nonnamaker brothers, Kuno Wittmer and Philippe Letourneau earned their first Motorola Cup series victory. The No. 82 De Sigi Autosport Honda Prelude started fifth in their category, but as the quicker cars ran into trouble, the duo moved up the race order. After ninety-six laps, they crossed the finish line in first.

The team principals for Two Friends Racing, Gary Smith and John Kohler, shared the No. 47 Zippo sponsored Ford Mustang Cobra R. The car started sixteenth overall and in the Grand Sport category. The team chose to use a one-stop strategy which moved the pair up the race order. However, the Hoosier tires were not up to the three hours of competition and the duo finished in the runner-up spot.

The second Two Friends Racing second entry was driven by Jeff Lapcevich and Terry Borcheller. The No. 17 Mustang used in the race was a backup required after Borcheller wrote off the primary car in practice. The Ford was twelfth fastest in qualifying. The team used the same strategy as the Smith / Kohler car. They advanced during the race but were no match for the lead Mustang and finished third.

Planet Earth Motorsports entered three Mazdas in the Touring category at Mosport International Racing. Sharing the No. 43 Mazda MX-6 was Richard Starita and John Wymore. After three rounds the ,pair had two podium results and a fourth-place finish. In their second visit to Mosport, they qualified sixth in class and finished in the runner-up position.

Finishing second, behind the Compact class winning WTF Engineering Oldsmobile Achieva of Ed Magner and Frank Del Vecchio, was the No. 27 Bill Fenton Motorsports Honda Del Sol of Bob Beede and team owner, Bill Fenton. Their record to date included a victory in the season opener at Sebring International Raceway and a runner-up result at Road Atlanta.

The Grand Sport Mazda RX-7 Turbo was not a factor in the previous round at Mosport; however, when the series returned, it was a threat for the win. Sharing the Mazda in race four were Peter Cohen and team owner Benoit Theetge. The car started on the outside of the front row and jumped out to an early lead. Unfortunately, several off-course excursions led to the Mazda’s retirement on lap-41.

Peter Schwartzott and Bob Endicott entered round four, hoping to earn a ‘hat trick’ in the Touring category. The No. 71 Schwartzott Racing Acura Integra Type R was fast in practice and qualifying but was suffering from an overheating problem. The addition of an oil cooler would address the situation, but the rules prohibited such a modification. The duo retired after forty laps, ninth in class.

The Grand Sport and overall winners of round three at Mosport International Raceway was the No. 32 Phoenix American Motorsports Pontiac of Marty Miller and Stu Hayner. Upon the return to Mosport, Hayner was replaced with John Heinricy. The duo started in the sixth position but similar to other class winners in the previous race, they had a disastrous weekend. An accident forced the Pontiac to retire on lap-32.

FINISH	START	DRIVER	CAR	LAPS	STATUS
1	1	GS	Maxwell / Wilkins	Ford Mustang Cobra SVT	101	-
2	16	GS	Kohler / Smith	Ford Mustang Cobra R	101	-
3	12	GS	Borcheller / Lapcevich	Ford Mustang Cobra R	101	-
4	7	GS	Fitzgerald / Pfeffer	BMW M3	101	-
5	13	GS	Yott / Conway	Pontiac Firebird	100	-
6	4	GS	Kahn / Miller / Heinricy	Pontiac Firebird	100	-
7	15	GS	McDonald-Cadieux / Shep / Pilgrim	Pontiac Firebird	100	-
8	10	GS	Pulls / Berggren	Pontiac Firebird	99	-
9	11	GS	Rehagen / Dishaw	Ford Mustang Cobra R	99	-
10	3	GS	Powell / Goad	Pontiac Firebird	98	-
11	14	GS	Sherk / Neville	Acura NSX	98	-
12	22	S	Bourassa / Stewart	Acura Integra Type R	97	-
13	21	S	Lally / Stewart	BMW Z3 Coupe	96	-
14	29	T	Wittmer / Letourneau	Honda Prelude	96	-
15	32	T	Starita / Wymore	Mazda MX-6	96	-
16	31	T	Shanaman / Shanaman	Mazda MX-6	95	-
17	41	S	Stanko / Van Sicklen	Acura Integra Type R	95	-
18	9	GS	Culver / McMillin	BMW M3	94	-
19	28	C	Magner / DelVecchio	Oldsmobile Achiva	94	-
20	34	C	Fenton / Beede	Honda Del Sol	94	-
21	30	C	Spec / Phillips III	Mazda Miata	94	-
22	36	C	Craig / Hebert	Hyundai Tiburon	94	-
23	38	C	Keravich III / Colletti	Mazda Miata	93	-
24	33	GS	Hornkohl / Zaratte	Porsche 944 S2	93	-
25	40	C	Lauzon / Plumb	Honda Del Sol	93	-
26	37	T	Vicic / Kowalski	Acura Integra GSR	93	-
27	24	S	Wolfkill / Wolfkill	BMW 328is	92	-
28	43	C	Matz / Nolfi	Mazda Miata	91	-
29	44	T	Baglier / Luffy	Mazda MX-6	89	-
30	26	T	Wagner / Hartmann	Audi A4	84	-
31	25	T	Nonnamaker / Nonnamaker	Mazda 626	78	-
32	39	C	Bonneau / Holdener	Honda Civic Si	72	Accident
33	20	S	Liebengood / Korman	BMW 328is	68	Clutch
34	35	C	Swain / Cullen / Craig	Hyundai Tiburon	62	Mechanical
35	27	T	Linder / Colleti	Acura Integra Type R	52	Mechanical
36	18	GS	Aquilante / Bartone / Weinberg	Pontiac Firebird	49	Mechanical
37	2	GS	Theetge / Cohen	Mazda RX-7 Turbo	41	Accident
38	23	T	Schwartzott / Endicott	Acura Integra Type R	40	Overheating
39	6	GS	Miller / Hayner	Pontiac Firebird	23	Accident
40	42	C	Moser / Whitaker	Mazda Miata	15	Engine
41	8	GS	Kent / Espenlaub	Pontiac Firebird	9	Accident
42	19	GS	Tennyson / Pabst	Porsche 996	6	Mechanical
43	5	GS	Lacey / Malowney	Ford Mustang Cobra SVT	5	Accident
44	17	GS	Danaher / Black	Pontiac Firebird	1	Radiator

Copyright Notice:

All content (photographs and text) appearing on this website are the exclusive property of © www.zoompics.com and are protected under International copyright laws. The subject matter on this website may not be reproduced, copied, stored or manipulated.