# Road America/Mid Ohio SWC on Speed last night.



## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

What a great race at RA (at the beginning) with the Audi holding up Fitzgerald and the BMW "Train". Pobst was blocking right and left at various places after the Audi's tires started to give up. Fitzgerald and Billy Auberlen got by in the high speed kink, great racing. I appreciate Pobst difficulty but his blocking was terrible.

What kind of a decision was it to black flag Billy for moving to the right when Mike Fitzgerald braked at the restart? I'd read some quotes from Tom Milner about hyper sensitivity of the SCCA to PTG, but that was a cr*p decision. Even Johnny O'Connell said it right straight out in the broadcast. Billy deserved second place.

The accident at the end was all Phil McClure's error. Thankfully nobody got hurt, including Phil. What a mess. The podium didn't fully reflect who deserved to be there, just who got through the mess and the SCCA didn't remove from the race.

Mid Ohio Touring was great to see Ken Dobson qualify so well. Too bad he slid back behind the Mazda's again, even though he's got the M54 engine. Billy Auberlen drove a good race carrying a lot of weight. I was hoping to see Nic Jonsson do better. He and Jim Sofronas have two of the nicest cars there and I think they've got PTG power now. Mid Ohio is a great place, I haven't been there in a long time...maybe next year.


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## scottn2retro (Mar 20, 2002)

Dang, I missed the airings - I'll have to see if they'll re-air them.


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## PhilH (Jun 7, 2002)

SteveT said:


> What a great race at RA (at the beginning) with the Audi holding up Fitzgerald and the BMW "Train". Pobst was blocking right and left at various places after the Audi's tires started to give up. Fitzgerald and Billy Auberlen got by in the high speed kink, great racing. I appreciate Pobst difficulty but his blocking was terrible.


It was great fun to see the M3s finally swarming past the Audi in one corner after being held up for so long. :thumbup:


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## OBS3SSION (Oct 1, 2002)

I'm without Speed Channel until my new house is done and I can hook up DirectTV again.

Is there anywhere I can get a detailed accounting of the races?


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## bmwork1 (Jul 3, 2003)

OBS3SSION said:


> I'm without Speed Channel until my new house is done and I can hook up DirectTV again.
> 
> Is there anywhere I can get a detailed accounting of the races?


Tecmark cars of Sofronas and Jonsson are running Robello motors. PTG built motors for McMillin's cars last year but is not currnetly building any Touring car engines.

You can go to the world challenge web site and get live timing and scoring over the internet for official sanctioned practice days, qualifying and race results with limited narration.

IT DOES S_CK not to have the SPEED channel!

Jim Osborn
#24 WCTC


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## ezsce46 (Mar 7, 2002)

PhilH said:


> It was great fun to see the M3s finally swarming past the Audi in one corner after being held up for so long. :thumbup:


Did you guys see the launch by Randy? never drag race a RS6. 
But all that horsepower just eats up the tires.

Another thing, the crash near the end was totally avoidable. What makes the vett driver think that he can just cut right back on the track?

Overall a very exciting race :thumbup:


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## elbert (Mar 28, 2002)

ezsce46 said:


> Did you guys see the launch by Randy? never drag race a RS6.
> But all that horsepower just eats up the tires.
> 
> Another thing, the crash near the end was totally avoidable. What makes the vett driver think that he can just cut right back on the track?


Actually, the tire wear is probably due more to the weight of the car and Audi's tendency to understeer.

As for McClure's accident, it was probably avoidable. But this is racing so he was trying to win and he ran out of talent. He can cut back into the track; where in the rules says he can't?


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## binaryfarms (Feb 2, 2003)

*also on HDnet*

It wasn't on their schedule, but I was just home at lunch and HDnet was showing the Speed GT at road america in High Definition. Hopefully this the start of more coverage on their part.

Pretty good commentary, and picture quality is great. As with other sports, the wider aspect ration lets them fit a lot more in one shot without having to constantly track all the action. Mclure's wreck was pretty spectaclar and scary in HD, though not quite as harrowing as the in car from Siad and Stuck that speed had. Pick a line, hold onto your butt and hope no one ends up in your way...

In other news, they actually asked 3R's crew chief if Fitzgerald brake checked Auberlen at the restart, and he copped out saying he wasn't in the car. Unfortunately, they didn't follow it up with driver. looked pretty fishy considering they were on an uphill climb and he wasn't very close to pace car. I suppose if Auberlen is on your tail, you do whatever you can to keep him behind you.


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## SteveT (Dec 22, 2001)

binaryfarms said:


> It wasn't on their schedule, but I was just home at lunch and HDnet was showing the Speed GT at road america in High Definition. Hopefully this the start of more coverage on their part.
> 
> Pretty good commentary, and picture quality is great. As with other sports, the wider aspect ration lets them fit a lot more in one shot without having to constantly track all the action. Mclure's wreck was pretty spectaclar and scary in HD, though not quite as harrowing as the in car from Siad and Stuck that speed had. Pick a line, hold onto your butt and hope no one ends up in your way...
> 
> In other news, they actually asked 3R's crew chief if Fitzgerald brake checked Auberlen at the restart, and he copped out saying he wasn't in the car. Unfortunately, they didn't follow it up with driver. looked pretty fishy considering they were on an uphill climb and he wasn't very close to pace car. I suppose if Auberlen is on your tail, you do whatever you can to keep him behind you.


So they had it on HDnet again. I read where the actually had it on (unannounced) live. Getting tempting.

Fitzgerald made the comment during the Sebring race that with Bill behind him he needed to do things more quickly or he would be in trouble, so Bill's presence applies pressure . No disgrace in that though. Mike checked him up though, no doubt about it.


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