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| A Chipotle car (maybe Trigga) crossing the line |
After a two week hiatus, GASCAR returned to Indianapolis this time for a few trips around the infield. The racing picked up where it left off in Wisconsin (after some minor difficulties) with another rather large pack for the first 5 laps of the race. Initially, Instink separated from the pack and had to be the prerace favorite to take home the victory. 2nd through 7th was a mob consisting of Roadie, Trigga, Viking, Mini, Ford, and Recent is an assortment of orders. Top Fuel, crippled by his handicap struggled behind the pack. After some light bumping in the group Recent sustained damage and joined Top in the back, where Proof was also. As the group began to thin out, Trigga picked one car off after another and set his sights on the lead where Instink had accumulated a large lead. Viking was able to work into third, in front of Mini and Roadie, by the time he hit the pits on lap 8. At this point, the race had strung out as pit stops cycled through for everyone, except Trigga in Mini. With his motivation for staying out still unclear, Trigga continued in the front as Mini, mostly patiently, sat in 2nd hoping for his chance to get a lap lead and the bonus point.
During this lull, Ford fell back, struggling in his GASCAR return. As pit stops continued to cycle through it became evident that Viking was breaking off hot laps by himself by passing Instink while he was in the pits. Finally, around lap 26, Trigga hit the pits allowing Mini to get his bonus point. The cycle completed and Trigga's once dominant lead had been shrunk to a few hundred feet with Viking in hot pursuit. Instink settled into his second podium and Roadie was just ahead of Mini for fourth. The last few laps ticked away and Viking eliminated what remained of Trigga's lead. Coming to the green to begin the last lap Viking pulled right and raced Trigga into the first corner, taking the lead. Trigga pulled back to the inside going into turn 3. Slight contact ensued and Trigga was able to pull back into the first position and had a sufficient lead to end all contention for the win from Viking. Meanwhile, Mini had managed to get around Roadie for fourth. I am unsure as to what was taking place back there but Mini ended up with the spot. Between the fights, Instink became the only driver to finish each race on the podium. The rest of the field finished as follows:
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| Bonus pic, Viking checking out the top of the mountain. |
- Trigga*
- Viking
- Instink*
- Mini*
- Roadie
- Top
- Ford
- Recent
- Bad
- Proof
I chased down Roadie after my pit stop and was parked on his bumper at the end of lap 32. I used the draft coming down the straightaway to pull along side and pass him under braking at Turn 1 as lap 33 started. After that, I just had to hold him off. I thought Roadie was going to pass me using the draft coming out of the final corner but he backed off in the middle of the last corner when I squeezed him. Roadie's Ford GT is strong but not quite strong enough to catch the AndrettiFuel F40 with that much of a gap.
ReplyDeleteYou're lucky i was severely handicapped Mini! If I didn't have to add that extra weight! haha. It was a good battle between me and mini the first and last parts of the race. Good race Mini!
ReplyDeleteWhat is with all this civility?!
ReplyDelete