Photo by John ThawleyB-K Motorsports' Mazda had high hopes for the Acura Sports Car Challenge at the 2.25-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course this weekend. This was round 7 of the American Le Mans Series, scheduled for 3:15 p.m. ET on Saturday, July 21. The race was broadcast live on XM Satellite Radio's Sports Nation Channel and American Le Mans Radio via americanlemans.com, which also will featured IMSA's Live Timing & Scoring. CBS Sports broadcasted the race from 2 to 4 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 22.

The team hopes of repeating its 2005 LMP2 victory when they won at Mid-Ohio with Guy Cosmo and Jamie Bach in a rotary-powered Courage. With its new competitive race package underpinned by a Lola chassis and a newly engineered Mazda MZR-R engine, those high-hopes are justifiable.

The new package also features power steering and paddle shifting, which are great driver luxuries missing from the teams former Courage chassis. The Mazda MZR-R has a lot more horsepower than the previous package and the Lola can get away with a lot more because it has a lot more downforce. The car is a much more drivable, user-friendly car. And the car runs lighter in weight this year compared the former chassis/engine package.

Looking for trouble-free race, the team hit their fist snag in Saturday's morning warmup. Though Jamie Bach took #8-P2 Lola/B07-40/Mazda through its paces and set the morning's first fast lap in class with a 1:41.939, the car's differential let go. With just a few hours to go before race-time, the crew found themselves replacing the rear section of the driveline. Though Jamie Bach and Ben Devlin had shown themselves to be contenders throughout practice and qualifying, suddenly it appeared the #8 Lola B07/46-Mazda's 10th place starting position might not be enough. Now their fate was in the hands of the B-K crew and the clock.

With near-perfect racing weather at hand, the American Le Mans appearance at Mid-Ohio was yet another near sell-out. The cars took to the celebratory "for-the-fans" grid, [an ALMS tradition] and the race got underway at with the green flag falling at 3:26PM.

Starting the #8-P2 Lola/B07-40/Mazda from the 10th position on the grid, Ben Devlin did a stellar job of avoiding a first lap incident between the #1 Audi and #9 Acura. But then at 3:38 pm, just 12 minutes into the race, Ben pulled into the pits. He took on 4 tires, fuel. but no driver change. The team removed the rear deck lid for inspection but the car would not restart. The next 50+ minutes would be spent behind the wall.

At the 1 hour and 7 minute mark, Ben Devlin returned to the track hoping the team had resolved the reported boost problem. Less than 20 minutes later, he was back in the pits and headed behind the wall. At 5pm, just 1h 34m into the race, the team would officially retire the car due to problems with the turbo.

Determined to stay focused, the team remains upbeat as the Series will next race on B-K's "home" circuit in Wisconsin. The next round of the American Le Mans Series is the Generac 500 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisc. The four-hour race is scheduled for 4 p.m. CT on Saturday, August 11. American Le Mans Radio will have live coverage at americanlemans.com, which also will feature IMSA Live Timing & Scoring. NBC Sports will broadcast the race from 2:30-4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 12.