Northern California native Scott Pruett finds himself in familiar territory three races into the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series — on top of the Daytona Prototype standings.

Pruett, who was born in Sacramento and lives in Auburn, launched the new season with a victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, teaming with Juan Pablo Montoya and Salvador Duran in the No. 01 Comp USA Lexus Riley for Chip Ganassi Racing for his second win in the prestigious sports car race.

Pruett and this year’s regular teammate, Memo Rojas, were split between two teams for the twice-around-the-clock race. Their first race as teammates, Pruett and Rojas finished fourth in Mexico and followed that with a third at Homestead-Miami.

That gives Pruett a one-point edge over Sun Trust Racing’s Max Angelelli and Jan Magnussen with former open-wheel Canadian star Patrick Carpentier and Milka Duno a dozen points back as the series heads to Virginia International Raceway at the end of April.

This story continues below
Advertisement

In May, the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series makes the first of two Northern California stops. On May 18-20, the series will be at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to kick off the circuit’s 50th anniversary season.

BIKES AT INFINEON: Today and Friday, Infineon Raceway will be graced with the stars of the American Motorcyclist Association, who will have an open test session on the 12-turn 2.22-mile road course as a tuneup for the Kawasaki AMA Superbike Showdown May 18-20.

The weather has plagued tests in prior years, but not so this year. The weather man has boldly predicted sunny skies and 70-degree weather in the Sonoma Valley.

If you haven’t seen these guys perform their 180-mph ballet on two wheels, today and Friday is a perfect time to get a feel for what they do. It’s nothing short of spectacular.

Defending series champion Ben Spies and his Yoshimura Suzuki teammate Mat Mladin, the six-time Superbike champ, will be trying to continue the team’s domination, while a couple of Northern California natives, the Bostrom brothers — Ben and Eric, who were born in San Francisco — will present a challenge.

DUBLIN’S MACDONALD TO DEBUT: Veteran driver Bret MacDonald of Dublin will debut in the Champ Car Atlantic Championship this weekend in the series’ season opener on the streets of Las Vegas for Polestar Racing Group.

“I’m really excited about this year,” MacDonald said. “I’m fortunate to be in with a great, professional team like Polestar and working with a driver that’s as talented and experienced in these cars as Ronnie Bremer [his Polestar teammate] will just be a tremendous help to me. I know I’m going to learn a ton this season and hopefully be competitive along the way.”

CHAMP SERIES SET TO START

The last of the major racing series is finally set for its first race of 2007. Sebastien Bourdais is back and ready to make a run at his fourth straight Champ Car World Series title. His three consecutive championships are the first by an American-born driver since Ted Horn in 1946-48. Bourdais has racked up 23 victories in four seasons, which is 13th in series history.

- Staff report

THIS WEEK’S PIT STOPS

NEXTEL CUP

WHAT: Samsung 500

WHERE: Fort Worth, Texas

WHEN: April 15

BUSCH

WHAT: Pepsi 300

WHERE: Lebanon,Tenn.

WHEN: Saturday, 12:30 p.m.

NHRA

WHAT: Summit-Racing.com Nationals

WHERE: Las Vegas

WHEN: April 15

IRL

WHAT: Indy Japan 300

WHERE: Suzuka, Japan

WHEN: April 21

CHAMP CAR

WHAT: Las Vegas Grand Prix

WHERE: Las Vegas

WHEN: Sunday, 1 p.m.

FORMULA ONE

WHAT: Malaysian Grand Prix

WHERE: Kuala Lumpur

WHEN: Saturday, 11:30 p.m.