Road America Race Thread ** SPOILERS **

[BobbyB]

Junky, Seb, Tags, Darren, Max, Carpentier, Moreno at the moment

[BobbyB]

Junky sets another fastest lap at lap 29/34

[BobbyB]

Lap 31 Bourdais & Tags are slugging it out for 2nd with fast laps

[BobbyB]

Junky still has it on the last lap!

[ghinzani]

he winned

[evo]

And as such takes a three point lead in the championship.

[Raven]

[touringlegend]

What happened to Darren Manning towards the end - he dropped to 6th.

[paulzinho]

OK British Eurosport were ridiculous, they showed delay coverage until about 00.30 British Time then left saying racing wouldnt be underway for a while....

BUT if they switched to live coverage we couldve watched the damn race....


BLOODY JOKE!!!!!!!!! IDIOTS!

Good to see Junky win though.

Oh and I agree with Gentizolli, they're men they should race in the rain. No-ones forcing these guys to race cars for a living!

[MLM]

Congrats to Bruno!

[Fish_Flake]

He might be a pathological whiner, but Bruno certainly knows how to get around Elkhart Lake. That's his second win at the track.

[boom boom]

Good race I was there and Saw Bruno do donuts right infront of me

In 97 they raced in constant rain, albeit after a contstant down pour and 2 hour delay, but it rianed all thorugh that race more than it did when they called it today

Some of the Marshalls in turn 3, who really didnt know to much about what was goign on said it was becasuse water was running over the track on the straight before canada corner... though I didnt hear it form anywhere else and I was nt down in that area at todays race...even if it was, RA should have solved that problem from 2 years ago when they stoped the race after a crash from hydroplaining on the running water

If there was running water then they should stop the race till it is fixed, but they have raced there in the rain before much harder than it rained today

[BootsOntheSide]

They should've been racing in those conditions. It wasn't that bad. Are the current dirvers a bunch fo faggots or what?

Great win by Bruno though, and at least we got some rgeat racing in the end.

[rustyfan]

I think the Surfer's Paradise farce from last year had CART scared, despite the fact that there was less rain at RA and also a lot more room as opposed Surfer's Paradise.

[rustyfan]

Argh, darn that 10-min rule.... "...a lot more room as opposed to Surfer's Paradise." was what I had planned to write.

[Crash Test]

What's RA's problem? Obviously it would rain there on more weekend's per year than just the CART one... or does the water run across the track only on the CART weekend's? How hard is it to install drains??

[Emfa]

Originally posted by touringlegend
What happened to Darren Manning towards the end - he dropped to 6th.

The word was that he lost 3rd gear. Quite a shame, as he had put in an inspired drive. Darren continues to impress...

[Neil C]

I won't defend CART's decisions regarding the rain, but I do know a few things about running at RA in the rain.

It's a 4 mile track with three long straights. One of them is through the woods. I'm sure proximity and availability of safety crews is a factor in the rain.

I don't recall seeing running water on the track, and I've raced there during an absolute downpour. But that was 1984 and the track drainage may have changed since then. On such a long track, it would be difficult to guarantee proper drainage. I've seen the track when it was dry in some places, yet pouring rain in others.

I can't say I loved racing in the rain in an openwheeled car, it is very dangerous, especially because of visibility. Driving totally blind at any speed, much less racing speeds, is madness. That said, I always did well in the rain, and it makes for great races. If conditions permit, and professional race drivers are capable of handling it, they should race.

[macdaddy]

A Sob Story By Macdaddy

So here I am in St.Catharines for the weekend to pick up the kids (who spent the last week here to allow us the freedom to go to Toronto a few daze ago). We're all sitting around the BBQ and drinking a few lagers, so I decided to set up my Dad's VCR to tape the race. (So delighted that TSN had picked it up in the first place!) After everybody left, I sat myself down in front of the tele, only to find out that the tape was faulty! And it appears that there will be no rebroadcast. So, I've missed it. And I'm sad.

So my Dad asks me, "If Paul's won five times, and Bruno only once, how can he be in the points lead?" I ponder this for a moment and counter, "Because."

[Snrub]

I missed it too. On the bright side I got to do a little racing myself.

CART's point system has typically worked well in the past. Drivers could make minor mistakes and they could stay in the championship. This year it has rewarded Bruno for having a lackluster perormance on the best team and car (NH & Players seemed tied for the top).

[brightline]

Although this is Bruno's first win, I would hardly call his season lackluster. He has been on the podium more often than not, and he has kept his nose clean. Has Bruno even had a DNF yet? He has shown better consistency than Jourdain last year. Congrats Bruno!

[Dov]

Still, Bruno only has 1 win compared to PT's 5!

[f1manoz]

Rather disappointing race and I'm glad we were able to miss the 2.5 hours where they just sat around.

Junky deserved his win, while PT simply blew it. Tags surely has a win in him this year with another solid drive. Kudos to Manning who was desperately unlucky on the final lap. Top performance by Papis.

IMO the drivers are paid to race but not to put their lives on the line (we are no longer living in the 1950s). Road America in the dry is fearsome, in the wet, particularly going down the back on Sunday, would have been suicidal. CART made the right call in waiting for it to dry. THAT kind of decision took guts, considering the amount of flak the officials have since received...

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Are the current dirvers a bunch fo faggots or what?

I think that sort of comment is completely unnecessary and just pathetic. How about we stick YOU in a 190mph missile of a car and YOU drive around Road America at speeds that they carry. Yeah, not so brave now are we?

[rustyfan]

Originally posted by Dov
Still, Bruno only has 1 win compared to PT's 5!

Those 5 wins aren't worth much if you fail to be consistent. Out of 12 races so far this season, Tracy has finished outside the top-10 four times, while Junqueira has done so just once (in a race where Tracy failed to capitalize on that).

Here's a rundown of how they have finished so far in 2003;


03/05/03/02/04/17/02/04/03/03/02/01 - Junqueira (1st, 164pts)
01/01/01/17/12/12/03/02/02/01/01/15 - Tracy (2nd, 161pts)


As you can see Junqueira hasn't really lost a lot of points in those races where Tracy has finished ahead of him, staying pretty close to the front in all races but one.

Personally I'm not at all surprised that Junqueira managed to snatch the points lead at Road America (even if it happens to be a rather slim lead). Let's hope the championship remains this close right down to the final lap of the season finale at Fontana

[D.R.T.]

I really enjoyed the race. Here In aus the telecast was delayed by a day or so, but I really enjoyed some the battles especially between tags and Capentier. Then Manning and Papis. It is great to have these great cars back at Elkart lake,