Round 10: Utah

Split car drivers racing in Utah
41 Cosmic Nova
26 DJ Kurtis
4 Henry Williams -R-
07 Henrietta Fitzwater -R-
22 Tommy Turbo -R-
8 Luke Trigger
10 Marco Rossi -R-

At Old Spice Speedway under the lights, the atmosphere is tense. With two races to go for the 1 in 70, drivers are hurrying to get their last points before the event, either they are going for the championship or trying to get in the championship fight. Utah is the strange state to have a race at, but don't judge by the cover. In practice, Sora Keyblade, Marco Rossi, and Binky Louviere have finished in the top 10. Baby Tribe 5000 and Pontiac Motorsports shown promise. Cosmic Nova, Nick Pericles, Cyrus LaTerza, and Jake Baskinger are struggling in practice, finishing 28th or worse. To me at least, it's anyone's race. The track requires balance to the car, but talent is the biggest need. It's a driver's track. Everybody's curious to see the one-lap pace in qualifying.

The big problem everyone is going to face is each other. During practice, Alan Cavagnaro got spun twice in practice, and Ashley Brock got involved in another accident. Reason why is the aggression is an all-time high. Drivers are beating and banging all of the time especially in Turns 1 and 3. This could be the craziest race this season. Drivers are also passing a lot in Turn 3. You will think that road ringers like Nova, Angel, and Kurtis are going to make the hairpin every time. No, they are having over driving the hairpin and don't have the grip on the concrete since they are carrying too much speed. The black surface in Turn 3 is the preferred line, but middle line does work if the driver is alone. When either challenged (or pressured), breaking away, or closing in, one mistake will cost you almost a second. That's right, a second!

The battle for the points lead switches over to Cyrus LaTerza after Austin. However, with a new track, you have no idea what you expect. You may get LaTerza to the point, and you may go far as Dillon Young.

1 in 70 CUTOFF:

If you look in the standings, LaTerza is up top, but the 41 team of Cosmic Nova and Maxwell Chan are in. No joke, a split car could take the number one spot in owners point. This will not matter for LaTerza right now. All he cares about is the drivers title for now. The only thing that will benefit the 41 team is they are trying to increase the gap to lock in for World Finals III. The top 6 in owners are pretty much locked in for the 1 in 70. Last driver in is Henry Sandfer, and first driver out is Kyle Collins. Drivers like Finguy, Collins, Dalton, and the 4 team need good runs at Utah. Tsunemochi and Sandfer have their inconsistent results this season. If they screwed up now, getting into the top 14 while at Chicagoland is a tough task.

Qualifying will be out in the next couple of hours.

Qualifying Results

P # DRIVER TIME
1 16 F Duncan 44.988
2 15 N Tsunemochi 45.167
3 26 D Kurtis 45.303
4 17 C LaTerza 45.352
5 24 H Sandfer -R- 45.444
6 48 J Baskinger 45.479
7 5 D Young 45.500
8 32 C Dodd -R- 45.571
9 22 T Turbo -R- 45.636
10 11 K Collins 45.775
11 70 J Shelly 45.799
12 31 P Williams 45.825
13 41 C Nova 45.842
14 20 S Angel 45.866
15 19 J Dalton 45.874
16 44 A Percle 45.880
17 2 W Lewis 45.882
18 84 N Pericles 45.887
19 8 L Trigger 45.913
20 18 A Cavagnaro 45.933
21 83 C Louviere 45.935
22 92 J Finguy 45.938
23 42 R Sanchez -R- 45.971
24 12 R Smith -R- 45.972
25 01 R Vonlanthen 45.973
26 0 P Sparrow 45.990
27 4 H Williams -R- 45.999
28 7 J Johnston 45.999
29 40 Chris Louviere 46.028
30 00 J Percle 46.054
31 88 D Smith 46.081
32 1 R Manson 46.083
33 38 S Keyblade 46.108
34 99 A Brock -R- 46.123
35 10 M Rossi -R- 46.141
36 9 J Richards 46.171
37 29 G Moore 46.178
38 07 H Fitzwater -R- 46.211
39 66 C Burnfardt Jr. 46.262
40 28 B Sakuraba 47.126
41 69 B Louviere 47.522
42 55 P Percle 54.013

One-lap pace from a couple of drivers are interesting. Foxy Duncan takes his first pole of season, setting time under 45 seconds. Nasu Tsunemochi starts 2nd who is the one of the drivers along with Foxy to set times under 45.3 seconds. From 3rd to down is the best of the rest. DJ Kurtis is the highest split car driver in 3rd while Cosmic Nova, his last season rival for IES, starts 13th. Henry Sandfer starts 5th as the highest rookie, but rookies Chris Dodd and Tommy Turbo are doing wonders in 8th and 9th respectively. Points leader Cyrus LaTerza starts 4th to have three Team Thunder drivers in the top 4. No other championship rival besides Dillon Young starts inside the top 10.

Princess Percle is seven seconds off from Binky. It's not because she is slow which is true within itself. It's because hit the wall off of Turn 6 by the pit entry. GG Princess.

Race could be out during the week.

Finguy: "It's going to be a miracle if we can get things right. I'm hoping the team will play to their strengths here... ...Not looking like it with me eh? Better than Decatur but... Getting closer..."

Pericles:" Gonna Have to Work My way up through the Field then.."

Smith:" Haven't had the Best season, I'm literally Racing for My IES Team's Arch Rivals or Something of that Sort...Weird."

Dodd, 8th: "An awesome Q run by the #32 Tide Pontiac, really happy with our speed as of late."

Turbo, 9th: "Wow! What a great lap, very excited to be starting up front!"

Race is out.



Next race will be at Chicagoland.

Finguy: "We did our job. Nice ob out there. We just need wins now..."