From a press release issued by CCS Florida:

CCS Florida Region at Moroso Motorsports Park
May 31, 2004

Champion Racing Team’s Marco Martinez dominated the Memorial Day event at Moroso Motorsports Park, winning seven of the nine classes he entered. He began the day with a bit of a rough start, finishing third in the GTO and GTU races, but found his groove after the lunch break and finished first in all of his afternoon events.

Martinez was able to work his way quickly to the front and then open a gap on the rest of the field in most of his races. But he really had to battle the competition in the most exciting event of the day, the Unlimited Grand Prix race. Jim Pihokken had nabbed the holeshot with Scott Ritchey close behind in second place early in the race. Martinez was not far behind in third. By lap two, he had passed Ritchey and closed in on the leader. Martinez made the winning pass at the entrance to the turn three chicane in lap three. He maneuvered underneath Pihokken at the entrance to the turn and took over the lead. The rest of the race was a two-rider battle for the lead dominated by Martinez. Behind the leaders, Ritchey held fast to his third place position while his teammate, Ed Lis battle with Anthony Cabrera for fourth. In the white flag lap, Cabrera passed underneath Lis in turn two to take over fourth place. In a fight to the finish, Cabrera maintained his position through the checkered flag. Martinez’ lap times during the Shootout dropped to within a fraction of a second from the record had had previously set at Moroso.

On the podium, Martinez commented, “My hat’s off to Jim (Pihokken). He rode really hard. I didn’t think I had anything for him. I was so tired and my hands were hurting. I was cramping and trying to stay with him for the first two laps. And, I felt like, well, if I can hang with him, I can make a move. And then I stepped it up and I was able to get the lead. I don’t know how I pulled this one off. I was just about to be satisfied with third in the Shootout, but thank God, that I had a little bit of strength left and was able to win it.” He went on to praise his team and thanked all of his riders stating, “They did awesome this weekend. I’m really proud of them. And, my crew, Richard, everybody that comes to the track and helps me out. I couldn’t have done it without you guys.”