The A-Heat Race:
On Friday afternoon, the Mercedes-Benz of both Koffing and Kayleigh McAlpine proved fast enough to occupy both spots on the front row. Koffing slid the #109 car through Turns 2 and 4 and due to the slightly colder temperatures in the afternoon, that translated to an almost full-throttle lap. Marnie Roxy and Michelle Oxford had also done quite well in the morning, and across the two heat races, the worst position that the McAlpine Motorsport Mercedes-Benz qualified, was 5th.
Being fast on Friday does not necessarily mean being fast on Saturday; though it should be said that both of the McAlpine Motorsport Mercedes-Benz in the A-Heat race scored points paying finishes.
The start of the A-Heat Race was a different matter. A-Compound tyres take a wee bit longer to come up to operating temperature than either the Bs or Cs and both Koffing and Kayleigh McAlpine slid back into the clutches of the pack very quickly.
The initial leader of the race was Garfield Arbuckle who was being chased by Stanley Spidalski who found initial drafting help from Dr George Claw and Darth Vader. Arbuckle showed flashes of the days of old, when 9 years ago he pushed Patrick Mann all the way to the last 5 laps of the season; only to lose the championship due to a cut tyre.
Spidalski in the Team UZKA Ford, wasn't all that bothered about challenging for the lead and was content to sit behind the orange Chevrolet for the first few laps.
The act of ruthlessness that spoiled both of their afternoons, came on lap 14 when Vader who had enough of sitting behind the pink #26, decided to push the Ford to the front of the race. Going down the back stretch, they ran right up to the back bumper of the #9 and tried to hold their nerve going through Turns 3 and 4. Coming out of Turn 4, Arbuckle had a wiggle and turned Spidalski down the track; and sent himself upwards and into the outside wall. Naturally, Vader, Claw, McAlpine and Robotnik all pierced the hole in the traffic which had been created and they went on to do exceptionally well.
Although sparks flew and Arbuckle's car had acquired a new Dover stripe, no caution was brought out and the two of them both limped back to the pits and effected pit stops under green. This practically ruined any shot that they had of scoring any points and Arbuckle came home in a commendable but pointless 12th; while Spidalski just sort of lumbered around and finished in 16th.
"Yeah, I know that this is just a racing incident and I'm not blaming anyone but at some point you have consider if it is everyone else's fault or your own. No great show can go on forever. It is for this reason that I am announcing my retirement at the end of the season and that one of my seven sons, I don't know which one, will take over the number 9 in 20X3."
"Do you know which son is likely to take over?"
"It's either going to be Angry, Ugly, or Sticky. Lovely is already the Crew Chief, Root-Beer is in the crew for the number 8, Buff-Fluff wants to stay in the crew for the 76, and Oh-No isn't fast enough."
- Garfield Arbuckle, to U62-TV
You could practically throw a blanket over the top four for most of the afternoon. The situation was such that the lead car in the group who had to push the hole into the air, ended up being the slowest of the four; with the car immediately behind being a touch faster.
The driver who led most of the laps in this race was Kayleigh McAlpine, who reasoned that she would rather be out the front and have calamity unfold behind her than barrel head long into it. Of the 100 laps which took place after the mid race round of pit stops, she led 84 of them.
Dr George Claw being a three time champion, also knew that being out front was not the fastest way to get around the track; so he spent most of the afternoon immediately tucked up behind the blue and orange Mercedes out front. He complained that the Tau V8 from Kia was a little bit down on power and admitted that he had been trying to agitate for a mid season refresh and a new suite of parts. Kia for their part said that they were working on it but that nothing yet had eventuated.
Ellie McIllan driving in a Cassell prepared Holden, was doing her own bit of complaining over the radio. As Dover is an abrasive concrete racetrack, the team opted to put A-compound hard tyres on the car. This meant that the car ran slightly skatey and loose. At a one mile track like Dover, McIlian could drive her way around the problem but it meant that she was only ever hanging onto the lead pack and couldn't control the pace of the race.
The only driver of the four who had a pleasant afternoon was Darth Vader. He unhurriedly rolled around at the back of the group for most of the century of laps and took to the top of the racetrack reasonably often because he could keep the throttle open for a longer proportion of the lap.
He eventually struck on lap 193 and had to check up behind McAlpine coming out of Turn 2, before rolling around the top of the track through Turn 3 and 4 and would get stranded up there for a number of laps while the other three hugged the bottom and wouldn't let him back in. He finally effected the move on lap 196 and got better drive coming out of Turn 2 and was able to put his car in front of McAlpine going into Turn 3.
Dr Claw tried to follow Vader around the top of the track but McAlpine closed the door on him and that was the order which remained until the flag fell; being Vader, McAlpine, Claw, and McIllan.
About the only thing which remains the same from season to season is that there is always constant change. Drivers are always looking for better rides and teams are always looking for better drivers.
Samuel Toucquanne arrived at the works Chevrolet team two and a half years ago and had expected to see better results by now. Chevrolets proved to be up to par by winning the odd race but Garfield Arbuckle in the twilight of his career hasn't been able to extract anything out of them in a while and the other seats are kind of revolving doors of talent.
The unexpected news to the paddock was that Project Layton would come to and end at the close of the season and although Sonia Hirokawa would remain in the series in the #40, she would be moving on from the manufacturer. This left a possible two seats in Wartburgs and DK Racing was very quick to acquire the licences.
It was a kind of meeting of several circumstances at once which saw Samuel Toucquanne wander through the paddock and speak to Donkey Kong. The presumption for 20X3 is that Toucquanne will be in either the #93 or #94 slot but the numbers themselves are kind of arbitrary.
Toucquanne's race here at Dover was mediocre at best. 15th place in the A-Heat Race was enough to qualify for the feature but he didn't really do much in the feature race. In fact, the only points paying position that Toucquanne has had this season was a sole 4th place in a B-Heat race; which kind of suggests that if he hadn't jumped ship then he would have probably been pushed out anyway.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Darth Vader
6 - Kayleigh McAlpine
4 - Dr George Claw
3 - Ellie McIllan
2 - Koffing
1 - Jean-Luc Pikachu
On Friday afternoon, the Mercedes-Benz of both Koffing and Kayleigh McAlpine proved fast enough to occupy both spots on the front row. Koffing slid the #109 car through Turns 2 and 4 and due to the slightly colder temperatures in the afternoon, that translated to an almost full-throttle lap. Marnie Roxy and Michelle Oxford had also done quite well in the morning, and across the two heat races, the worst position that the McAlpine Motorsport Mercedes-Benz qualified, was 5th.
Being fast on Friday does not necessarily mean being fast on Saturday; though it should be said that both of the McAlpine Motorsport Mercedes-Benz in the A-Heat race scored points paying finishes.
The start of the A-Heat Race was a different matter. A-Compound tyres take a wee bit longer to come up to operating temperature than either the Bs or Cs and both Koffing and Kayleigh McAlpine slid back into the clutches of the pack very quickly.
The initial leader of the race was Garfield Arbuckle who was being chased by Stanley Spidalski who found initial drafting help from Dr George Claw and Darth Vader. Arbuckle showed flashes of the days of old, when 9 years ago he pushed Patrick Mann all the way to the last 5 laps of the season; only to lose the championship due to a cut tyre.
Spidalski in the Team UZKA Ford, wasn't all that bothered about challenging for the lead and was content to sit behind the orange Chevrolet for the first few laps.
The act of ruthlessness that spoiled both of their afternoons, came on lap 14 when Vader who had enough of sitting behind the pink #26, decided to push the Ford to the front of the race. Going down the back stretch, they ran right up to the back bumper of the #9 and tried to hold their nerve going through Turns 3 and 4. Coming out of Turn 4, Arbuckle had a wiggle and turned Spidalski down the track; and sent himself upwards and into the outside wall. Naturally, Vader, Claw, McAlpine and Robotnik all pierced the hole in the traffic which had been created and they went on to do exceptionally well.
Although sparks flew and Arbuckle's car had acquired a new Dover stripe, no caution was brought out and the two of them both limped back to the pits and effected pit stops under green. This practically ruined any shot that they had of scoring any points and Arbuckle came home in a commendable but pointless 12th; while Spidalski just sort of lumbered around and finished in 16th.
"Yeah, I know that this is just a racing incident and I'm not blaming anyone but at some point you have consider if it is everyone else's fault or your own. No great show can go on forever. It is for this reason that I am announcing my retirement at the end of the season and that one of my seven sons, I don't know which one, will take over the number 9 in 20X3."
"Do you know which son is likely to take over?"
"It's either going to be Angry, Ugly, or Sticky. Lovely is already the Crew Chief, Root-Beer is in the crew for the number 8, Buff-Fluff wants to stay in the crew for the 76, and Oh-No isn't fast enough."
- Garfield Arbuckle, to U62-TV
You could practically throw a blanket over the top four for most of the afternoon. The situation was such that the lead car in the group who had to push the hole into the air, ended up being the slowest of the four; with the car immediately behind being a touch faster.
The driver who led most of the laps in this race was Kayleigh McAlpine, who reasoned that she would rather be out the front and have calamity unfold behind her than barrel head long into it. Of the 100 laps which took place after the mid race round of pit stops, she led 84 of them.
Dr George Claw being a three time champion, also knew that being out front was not the fastest way to get around the track; so he spent most of the afternoon immediately tucked up behind the blue and orange Mercedes out front. He complained that the Tau V8 from Kia was a little bit down on power and admitted that he had been trying to agitate for a mid season refresh and a new suite of parts. Kia for their part said that they were working on it but that nothing yet had eventuated.
Ellie McIllan driving in a Cassell prepared Holden, was doing her own bit of complaining over the radio. As Dover is an abrasive concrete racetrack, the team opted to put A-compound hard tyres on the car. This meant that the car ran slightly skatey and loose. At a one mile track like Dover, McIlian could drive her way around the problem but it meant that she was only ever hanging onto the lead pack and couldn't control the pace of the race.
The only driver of the four who had a pleasant afternoon was Darth Vader. He unhurriedly rolled around at the back of the group for most of the century of laps and took to the top of the racetrack reasonably often because he could keep the throttle open for a longer proportion of the lap.
He eventually struck on lap 193 and had to check up behind McAlpine coming out of Turn 2, before rolling around the top of the track through Turn 3 and 4 and would get stranded up there for a number of laps while the other three hugged the bottom and wouldn't let him back in. He finally effected the move on lap 196 and got better drive coming out of Turn 2 and was able to put his car in front of McAlpine going into Turn 3.
Dr Claw tried to follow Vader around the top of the track but McAlpine closed the door on him and that was the order which remained until the flag fell; being Vader, McAlpine, Claw, and McIllan.
About the only thing which remains the same from season to season is that there is always constant change. Drivers are always looking for better rides and teams are always looking for better drivers.
Samuel Toucquanne arrived at the works Chevrolet team two and a half years ago and had expected to see better results by now. Chevrolets proved to be up to par by winning the odd race but Garfield Arbuckle in the twilight of his career hasn't been able to extract anything out of them in a while and the other seats are kind of revolving doors of talent.
The unexpected news to the paddock was that Project Layton would come to and end at the close of the season and although Sonia Hirokawa would remain in the series in the #40, she would be moving on from the manufacturer. This left a possible two seats in Wartburgs and DK Racing was very quick to acquire the licences.
It was a kind of meeting of several circumstances at once which saw Samuel Toucquanne wander through the paddock and speak to Donkey Kong. The presumption for 20X3 is that Toucquanne will be in either the #93 or #94 slot but the numbers themselves are kind of arbitrary.
Toucquanne's race here at Dover was mediocre at best. 15th place in the A-Heat Race was enough to qualify for the feature but he didn't really do much in the feature race. In fact, the only points paying position that Toucquanne has had this season was a sole 4th place in a B-Heat race; which kind of suggests that if he hadn't jumped ship then he would have probably been pushed out anyway.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Darth Vader
6 - Kayleigh McAlpine
4 - Dr George Claw
3 - Ellie McIllan
2 - Koffing
1 - Jean-Luc Pikachu