|
Infineon Race Recap (6/23/08)
By D. Snyder
The
road course at Infineon Raceway is the site of race 16 for the 2008
EDD Cup Series title. The first of two road course races, Infineon
brings the drivers into the twisting, turning world of road course
racing for 40 laps of gear grinding, left and right turning action.
Taking the pole with a blistering time, and for the first time this
season, was Holman in the 062 Ford with a speed of 98.363mph
(1:13.198). Starting on the outside pole is Snyder in the 82
Chevrolet at 94.635mph (1:14.286). Points-leader Jdlierle rolls off
in the fourth position.
The green
flag flies over Holman and Snyder leading a 26 car field up the hill
into turn 1. Holman leads the first lap and picks up those all
important bonus points early with Snyder following. The first
caution of the race comes out early on lap 2, when Jizzle in the 22
spins his car coming off turn 12, collecting the 9 of ELLIOTT-1 and
27 of Lmsc27. Under the caution, Holman decides to hit pit road,
handing the lead to Snyder. The race resumes on lap 5 with Snyder
leading Jdlierle.
Caution
number two comes out quickly when in turn 1 Holman and Racer45 get
together, sending the 72 around. Snyder decides to pit under this
caution, along with about half of the field. Jdlierle stays out and
inherits the lead, with IROC moving into second. Race restarts on
lap 8, and again the yellow flies quickly when Happy29 gets into the
69 of Iron. IROC pits with Slotracer and Ice-10 and a few others,
moving Cha Ching in the 81 to second, and Tyeman to third. Race
resumes on lap 11 and once again a quick caution flies when in turn
3, Holman and Bell26 tangle. White~gold is caught up in the accident
and retires to finish twenty sixth. As the 062, 26 and 890 are
wreaking, Tyeman in the 66 gets into the tire barrier on the exit of
turn 4 and blows his engine, forcing him to retire in the twenty
fifth spot.
Green flag
waves over the field again on lap 14 with Jdlierle leading Cha Ching
and Modfan66. Its not out for long as on lap 15, caution number five
is slowing the field again, when Blues*Angel spins in turn 7. At the
same time, the turn 4 tire barrier claims another victim when
Racer45 takes the turn too wide. Unlike Tyeman though, he continues
on. Snyder and Nyracer both pit under the caution and the leaders
stay out.
The green
flag waves again on lap 18 for the start of the longest green flag
run of the race. Modfan66 wants the lead as he passes Cha Ching in
turn 7 for second and then Jdlierle in turn 12 for first. When the
green flag run, a few cars start hitting pit road starting with
Jdlierle and Cha Ching on lap 19, moving Holman moves to second. Lap
20 brings MovinTarget in the 911 on pit road. Lap 21 brings a lead
change when Holman outbreaks Modfan66 getting into turn 12. A lap
later brings both of them to pit road for green flag pit stops,
giving the lead to Slotracer in the 66 with Snyder and IROC
following closely.
Caution
number 6, ends the long run on lap 22 when the 27 of Lmsc27 spins in
the esses. Most of the leaders decide to pit except for Snyder and
Happy29. Race resumes on lap 26 with Snyder leading the 29 of
Happy29 and points-leader Jdlierle. Another quick caution slows the
field for the seventh time when Blues*Angel spins in the esses.
Snyder and Happy 29 pit under this caution, handing the lead back to
Jdlierle in the 01. Race restarts on lap 29 with Jdlierle leading
MovinTarget and Cha Ching. Caution number 8 again slows the field on
lap 29 when Caltech and Jizzle get together in turn 2. MovinTarget
decides to pit from second.
Race restarts
on lap 32 with Jdlierle leading Cha Ching and Holman up the hill
into turn 1. Caution number 9 flies then, when Cha Ching gets into
Jdlierle, kicking off a plate style pile-up involving pretty much
the whole field. Only Holman, DOC, Bell26, Nyracer, and Jizzle get
through it. Most of the cars involved receive very little if any
damage and continue on. Only the 69 of Iron (who ends up on his roof
in the accident) and the 860 of Caltech retire. Right ahead of the
accident, Bell26 and Doc touch going into turn 4 sending DOC
spinning and he retires from the race. Pole-sitter Holman takes over
the race lead after the dust settles.
The green
flag restarts the race on lap 35 with Holman leading Nyracer and
Bell26. Caution number ten brings another pile-up though smaller
when Smokey spins in turn 11. Ice-10 spins his car trying to avoid
Smokey and slides across the track. With no where to go Steadfast1,
Blues*Angel, MovinTarget, Kyper, Jarik and Jizzle are caught up in
the pile-up. Jizzle is forced to retire from the damage, but
everyone else continues.
The final
race restart happens on lap 38 with Holman still leading. Getting
into turn 1, Bell26 and Cha Ching get together sending the 26
spinning and bring out the final caution of the race. Racing back to
the line, Nyracer tries to take the lead but Holman manages to hold
him off and cross the line to take the caution as the leader, giving
Holman his second victory of the year. Nyracer finishes second,
followed by Snyder in third. Points-leader Jdlierle brings his car
home fourth and increases his points lead to a comfortable 108
points. Rounding out the top 5 is Cha Ching in the 81.
Race Stats:
Race Time – 1:37:48
Cautions – 11 for 23 laps
Lap Leader – 01 of
Jdlierle (17 laps)
Hard Charger – 27 of
Lmsc27 (+15)
Hard Luck – 890
White~gold (-16)
Safe Driver – 62 of
Slotracer
Lead Changes – 8 among 5
drivers
Fastest Lap – 062 of
Holman (1:16.201)
Cars Running at Finish – 18 of 26
|
