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Sunseeker races through Dakotas

July 21, 2005

SIOUX FALLS, S.D.--Nearly halfway through the 2,500-mile North American Solar Challenge, Western Michigan University's Sunseeker is officially in sixth place in a tightly grouped pack of lead cars now heading for the Canadian border.

Official race standings are based on cars' times through a checkpoint at Sioux Falls, S.D. Twelve cars made it through the checkpoint July 21 and finished the race day spread out along a strip of Route 75 that hugs the South Dakota border with Minnesota.

The WMU team spent the night near Elkton, S.D., while the lead team from the University of Minnesota made it to Big Stone City, S.D., by the mandatory 6:30 p.m. stop time for the day's racing activities.

At the Sioux Falls checkpoint, which is 1,100 miles into the race, Minnesota regained the official lead, with a time of 27:20:44. The University of Michigan is second, the University of Waterloo is third and University of Missouri-Rolla is in fourth place. Third-day leader Massachusetts Institute of Technology is now fifth and made it through Sioux Falls 25 minutes ahead of Sunseeker. Sunseeker's posted time was 29:43:33.

Racing resumes at 7:45 a.m. (CDT) today, as competitors head for the next checkpoint in Fargo, N.D., under mostly sunny skies. Today's racing is expected to see the the lead cars cross the Canadian border at the Pembina-Emerson port of entry.

The race began July 17 in Austin, Texas, and concludes Wednesday, July 27, in Calgary, Alberta. Of the 20 cars that began the race, 18 are still in the running.

Go to www.americansolarchallenge.org and click on "GPS Tracking" to see the current location of each car along the race route.

Media contact: Cheryl Roland, 269 387-8400, cheryl.roland@wmich.edu

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