After a couple early slaps of paint between the Can-Am cars things got a little weird. Elliot Forbes Robinson (EFR) in one of the Dyson cars contacted Jim Matthews in a 333SP just before the uphill to the chicane. While some eyes will say it was Matthews'
inexperience that caused it, the old adage 'it takes two to tango' can apply here. EFR clearly dove under Matthews as he turned in at the apex. While EFR may have been on the line, Matthews was there first and was already turning in, particularily evident by the scrub along the right side of the Ferrari just in front of the rear wheel. Over zealous driving? Me thinks so! Especially considering it was in the first 5 laps!
Then, for God knows what reason, Scott Shubot decided to try and push his way through the rear of Andy Wallace in the esses. With no track left, the R&S of Wallace took off the front left end of Shubots car and spun off the track. ??? Shubot quickly became the goat in the Dyson pit. Not long after that caution another incident: a little dance at the bottom of the diving turn between the GT3 BMW of Boris Said and Howard Katz in the Downing Mazda Kudzu led to some harsh remarks for the SV cameras by the truck driver. Said, not once, but twice degraded the competence of the Mazda driver, adding "that's the
problem with this series, it just isn't the level of competition as the American LeMans Series......." OUCH!!!! While I'm not going to debate the comments made (they are well documented on various sportscar message boards-including SV and PSCR), they did seem a little 'heat of the moment'. However, Boris put his racing boot in his crooked toothed mouth in such a way that it may take all summer to dislodge it! Shame on you Boris! Keep your thoughts to yourself!
Moving ahead, the #20 Dyson car of EFR, Butch, and Rob Dyson kept the lead for the middle to late part of the race. And then an amazing thing happened: car owner Rob Dyson jumped in to run to the checker in front of his sponsors and
| team friends at his "home track" and
you know what? He blew it! Getting in with about 39 minutes to go and a healthy lead ole
Rob thought he had it in the bag. However, 2 laps later Didier Theys brought the #27
Ferrari in for 4 tires and a splash. This was the beginning of the charge that would yield
an incredible result..... Dyson (the team owner and sportsman racer) continued on as best
he could but as we know, he is not the lead driver (foreshadowing). His team mate Andy
Wallace did an excellent job reeling in Dyson, but behind Wallace, Theys was cutting through the slower GT2 and 3 traffic in a dash for the front that was reminiscent of Mad Max three years ago (more foreshadowing). Next |
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