Hamster Wars 2: South Jersey Edition.

Salt Lake City, UT (May 7, 2012)- When Magnus Racing and Kinetic Motorsports made a wager to be the first to get Andy Lally to his 100th GRAND-AM series podium, few would have expected the ensuing deluge in Homestead, Florida, to put such a damper on both teams’ plans. With Magnus Racing taking seventh in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and Kinetic Motorsports taking fourth in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge, both teams seek to continue the wager in to this weekend’s events at Thunderbolt Raceway in South Jersey’s famed New Jersey Motorsports Park.

With Andy Lally currently holding 99 combined podiums in GRAND-AM competition, the wager is simple. Whoever gets Lally to his 100th podium first, be it the no. 10 Infinity Audio Forte Koup in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge or the no. 44 Magnus Racing Porsche GT3 Cup in The Rolex Sports Car Series, will force a team member from the opposing team to dance in the signature Kia “hamster suit” at the next series event (in this case, Mid-Ohio).

Having the advantage of running first during Saturday’s B+ Heroes 200 presented by BCKSTGR, Kinetic Motorsports will look to earn their third podium of the season in defense of their current championship points lead. Should Kinetic achieve the goal, Magnus Racing Team Manager Shannon Davis will be forced to adorn the hamster suit, to be seen on the grid at Mid-Ohio.

Should Kinetic fail and Magnus Racing manage to achieve their second podium of the year during the Global Barter 250 on Sunday, Kinetic co-driver Nic Jonsson will fulfill Kinetic’s end of the bargain.

“I had no idea the guys had been planning this at Homestead,” stated Lally. “It would have been nice to wrap this up there, but both races didn’t quite go our way, but we have a great couple race cars headed in to New Jersey. Nic and Shannon are great guys for doing this. Nic is a pretty hairy guy so it won’t be much of a challenge, but Shannon is about 6’3” so I’m not sure how he’s even going to fit in it.”

Lally is no stranger to success at the Millville, New Jersey locale, located just a couple hours south of where he grew up in Long Island, New York. When the track made its professional racing debut with GRAND-AM in 2008, Lally took double victories; winning both with Kinetic in the Continental Series, as well as with a Porsche in the Rolex Series.

“We want to get Andy his 100th podium very badly,” stated Magnus Racing Team Owner John Potter. “However, we’ll settle for getting his 101st. Kinetic is a good group of guys, and we definitely want to make up for ground lost during the strange race everyone had at Homestead.”

The Global Barter 250 will take place this Sunday, May 13, and can be seen live on SPEED at 1PM ET. Saturday’s Continental race will be broadcast on SPEED in two weeks on Saturday, May 26 at 2PM ET.

---

Magnus Racing will continue to provide updates and coverage throughout the week via their Facebook (facebook.com/RacingMagnus) and Twitter (@MagnusRacing), as well as via www.magnusracing.com. You can also follow Andy Lally on Twitter (@AndyLally).

More information about Magnus Racing can be found at www.magnusracing.com. Any organization interested in learning more about how to be involved with one of the most unique and visible teams in sports car racing can e-mail info@magnusracing.com. All press inquiries can be directed to press@magnusracing.com.