Qualifying Was Close, Race Was Closer

Road America is undoubtedly one of the best circuits in the country, and when the swarm of over 50 sim-racers from the UK&I Skip Barber League land for a ten lap race the legendary nature of the circuit is highlighted for all to see.  Matthew Daniels took pole position by two thousandths of a second with Sebastian Job alongside him in second while championship leader Tom Ward sat in third.

Ward went on the early attack at Turn Five of the first lap with the inside line on both Job and Daniels as well.  Ward and Daniels went side by side into Turn Six but Daniels carried more speed around the outside and then Job took the inside line at Turn Seven on Ward, dropping him back down to his starting position of third.

Ward pushes for the lead, before dropping back to third.

Unsurprisingly, Job got a strong slipstream from Daniels down the long Start/Finish and took the lead at the start of the second lap.  Daniels dropped behind Ward not long after that, but the real surprise came from Marcus Hamilton, who had started in fourth and was still there at the start of the second lap.  With a great run down Moraine Sweep, Hamilton swept through Daniels and Ward and grabbed the inside line on Job for Turn Five.  Hamilton carried a bit too much speed though, and made contact with Job at the exit of the corner, spinning Hamilton and causing Ward to lose positions to Ward and Daniels.  At the same time there was an incident in the mid-field involving a few cars (including Marc Mercer and Simon Povey).

Job runs wide, Hamilton spins, Mercer and Povey crash.

At the start of Lap Three, Ward lost out to Daniels down the straight, and then Job at Turn Three, dropping back down to his third place starting position yet again.

Ward drops to third once again on Lap Three.

Just one lap later and Ward was back into the lead at the start of Lap Four, but lost out to both Daniels and Job yet again on the long run down to Turn Five.

Ward dropping to third (yes… again).

Job’s charge didn’t stop there, however, as he used the slipstream coming out of Carousel to grab the inside line for Canada Corner.  Ward tried to follow Job through but wasn’t able to make the move stick until the final corner.

Job takes the lead at Canada Corner.

Job was unable to defend against the slipstream that Ward picked up and even had to defend second place from Daniels heading into Turn One on Lap Five.  All of this battling had also allowed Wojciech Swirydowicz in fourth position to catch up to the leading pack.  With Daniels and Job side by side through Turns One and Three, Swirydowicz got a much better exit and shot up the middle of them, taking second place by Turn Five.

Three-wide, and not for the last time this race.

In a lot of ways, taking the lead of this race was much easier than taking just about any other position, since the leader was one of the only people on track not getting a slipstream.  Swirydowicz confirmed the hypothesis with an easy move on Ward to take the lead for the first time, at the start of Lap Six.

Swirydowicz takes the lead on Lap Six.

On Lap Seven, Swirydowicz struggled after losing a position to Ward and then also Job who came from fourth to second place by the exit of Turn Five.

Swirydowicz gets mugged at Turn Five.

At the start of Lap Eight the pressure was really beginning to build and Job, Ward, and Swirydowicz went three-wide down the Start/Finish straight and also on the run down towards Turn Five.  Ward started the lap in the lead, and coming out of Turn Five he was right back into the lead.

Three-wide once again.

The trio went three-wide again at the start of the penultimate lap, but Ward overcooked it into Turn Three and lost significant momentum in the process.  As a result, Ward dropped to third once again, while Swirydowicz temporarily took the lead until Ward came back at Turn Five to challenge Job for the top spot.

Ward takes the lead at the entrance to Turn One, but loses it at the exit.

Job cemented his lead at the front, eventually, with the inside line at Turn Seven.  Job only held the position for a few corners though, and dropped back to third at Canada Corner.

Job with the lead, but only for the moment.

At the start of the final lap, Ward defended his lead more aggressively than ever before, gripping the inside line for Turn One very tightly.  He held off Swirydowicz up to Turn Five where, once again, he defended the inside line very hard.  Once again, though, he out-braked himself and dropped to fourth behind Richard Avery.

Ward runs deep, Swirydowicz profits.

With less than ten corners remaining, Swirydowicz was in the lead of the race, and with only one major overtaking location remaining at Canada Corner.  Swirydowicz did well through Carousel and carried enough speed through the Kink so that he didn’t even have to defend from Job at Canada corner.  Job’s last hope was that he could use the slipstream coming out of the final corner to edge past Swirydowicz before the Start/Finish line.  Swirydowicz was in complete control however, and beat Job to the line by just nine thousandths of a second after a nearly 26 minute long race.

Swirydowicz by a hair.

In the championship, Ward maintains his lead but it’s been cut to just 16 points with 197 points to Job’s 183.  Swirydowicz moves up to third place with his win at Road America, ahead of Mercer who was involved in the multi-car incident.

The championship standings after ten races.

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