Source: nascar
Date: 04/27/2007

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Johnny Borneman (No. 8 Twisted X Boots/Red Line Oil Ford) entered this season focused on making a bid for the championship in the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series. To be a serious contender, the 29-year-old second-generation driver from Ramona, Calif., knew he would have to avoid the mechanical woes that plagued him early last season.

“We ran good in 2006,” Borneman said. “It’s just that in the first five races we had DNFs, with broken motors. If we could have just finished somewhere in the top 10, we’d have been in the hunt at the end. We had really good finishes. It’s just the DNFs killed us.”

Borneman closed out the 2006 season with a podium finish in the season finale at Altamont Raceway Park. He is hoping for similar results when the West Series returns to the half-mile track near Tracy, Calif., for the Altamont 200 on Saturday, April 28. The event will be televised to a national audience live in high definition on HDNet. In addition, SPEED is to provide an enhanced replay.

Altamont is a track that Borneman took to right away. ”The first lap, I knew I liked it,” he recalled of last year’s event. “We were good all through practice. In the race, we were real competitive and we came out with a good strong finish.”

Borneman is confident of a similar outcome with this visit to Altamont. “I expect the same results we had last time,” he said. “Hopefully, it will be a top five. I’d be disappointed with anything else. We’re going to take the same car back. I think we can run good there.”

After struggling early last season, Borneman is optimistic about contending for the title this year. “We worked real hard over the off-season preparing these cars and testing them, with the new motor and new body style,” he said. “All the cars got torn down to the bare chassis and media blasted. We think we have a pretty good handle on things.”

Like many other West Series teams, Borneman Motorsports has added the Grand National Division spec engine to their inventory. “They seem to be real reliable,” Borneman said of the new powerplants.

Consistent performances, meanwhile, are what Borneman says it will take to win this year’s championship. “It will require being consistently in the top 10,” he said. “You’re going to have guys that are going to fall out of the top 10. And if you can sneak a win or two here or there and a couple of seconds, I think it’ll be enough.”

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