Scion News, Updates & Info

LOS ANGELES, April 22 /PRNewswire/ — As if he was shot out of a cannon, Toyota-United’s Ivan Dominguez, affectionately known as the “Cuban Missile,” won yesterday’s opening 70.4 mile stage 1 of the 2008 Tour de Georgia Presented by AT&T. 119 riders contested the race, which was held in sunny mild conditions on a mostly flat circuit. Ivan Stevic from Toyota-United was in an early breakaway of six riders that never gained more than a minute advantage over the field for most of the race. “With 8 kilometers to go, the Pro Tour teams formed an alliance and drove hard to catch the leaders. Our guys were waiting in the wings to spring Dominguez to the finish if Stevic’s group was caught,” said Len Pettyjohn Team Director for Toyota-United. With 1,000 meters to go, Henk Vogels the team captain of Toyota-United led the charge with Dominique Rollin, Ivan Dominguez and Hilton Clarke on his wheel to set up the sprint for Dominguez. “Henk put us in a perfect position and took me to 500 meters where I let loose with everything I had to deliver Ivan as close to the finish as possible before he blew past me with 200 meters to go and easily won,” said teammate Dominique Rollin.

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Racing in the streets:

Drew La chey has traded in dancing shoes for a racing helmet. The second-season “Dancing With the Stars” champion and former member of the pop group 98 Degrees qualified for the Toyota Pro/Celebrity Race, a 10-lap charity race that is part of the 34th annual Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Calif. “This is very different than Dancing With the Stars,’ ” Lachey told the Associated Press. “The only way it’s similar is that you have a very short window to try to perfect an art form.” Lachey will compete against celebrities including William Fichtner from “Prison Break” and Wilmer Valderrama from “That ’70s Show” in modified Scion tCs on a 1.97-mile, 11-turn circuit through downtown streets of Long Beach. “You get to race very fast and legally,” Lachey said. “That was one of the big draws for me to do this.” The other was charity. The race benefits children’s hospitals. The celebrity winner also will receive a $20,000 donation to the charity of his choice.

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