(Milwaukee, WI) -- On a cold night in Rapids, defending Husarsbilt Cup champion Mike Lack turned up the heat on his championship challengers Thursday night at the Raven 250 at the Rapids Oval. With the win at the new oval, Lack took his second win of the season and extended his points lead to 33 from ten before the event as hometown favorite Ev Kamikawa was caught out on the tricky trapezoid, crashing early and ending the night sixth. Meanwhile a resurgent Mike Fitzlaff continues to climb the steps of the podium to second, with Matt Hayek back in a final in third. Lack's teammate, hoping to get back in the Husarsbilt Cup hunt crashed out in fourth place.
The
night was challenging for all the drivers as they faced a new oval they
had driven before and only seen on video. The adapted track built over
the top of more than a few annoyed businesses in the town of Rapids.
Rapidians are used to having IndySlotCar take over the streets of their
town for a classic street course that has been changing routes for as
long as the race as existed. This year mayor and racing czar of the
town, Ev Kamikawa, constructed a modified oval that used some of the
streets and then built bridges over some of the building to come up
withe trapezoid shaped oval.
Qualifying
proved to be too much for more than a few drivers, including Mike
Kristof who nearly parked it during his four lap effort, winding up
eighth but joined at the back by his Target Fitz Ganassi Racing teammate
Mike Fizlaff at the back. Dean Strom used a smooth and steady approach
to run four clean quick laps and land his third pole position of the
year, the most by any driver this season.
The
heats were grouped fastest to slowest and this anticipated a battle of
points leaders to make the final, however early on it became obvious the
speed and shape of the track were going to challenge even the best
pilots, as in quick succession veteran Dan Margetta, pole sitter Dean
Strom and hometown hero Ev Kamikawa all crashed out allowing Mike Lack
to advance to the final and wait. The second heat race turned out to be a
much more courteous affair as the drivers knew three of the four of
them knew they would be advancing to the Raven 250. Mike Fitzlaff
quickly advanced forward from his seventh starting position with Lack's
Lack-Wiedemann Motorsports teammate challenging for the lead early on.
Matt Hayek struggled in the inside lane while Target Fitz Ganassi's
second driver Mike Kristof stayed in the mix until the midway point,
once he moved to the inside lane it became obvious he would not be
moving on and a late crash-out guaranteed that the front three had
nothing to worry about with Fitzlaff scoring the championship point for
the heat win.
The
Raven 250 at Rapids final sorted out into a bit of a parade as Mike
Lack started to take control over his teammate, but Wiedemann pushed too
hard to try and keep pace and found himself crashing out right at the
midway point finishing fourth. A sloppy pitstop by Lack-Wiedemann
Motorsports allowed Mike Fitzlaff and Matt Hayek to briefly believe they
were going to have a shot at challenging the leader, but Lack stayed
smooth and eventually opened an insurmountable lead and Fitzlaff
eventually found himself well clear of Hayek. With Kristof lasing almost
his entire heat, he would place fifth, Kamikawa disappointing the
paying fans in the stands in sixth, with Hayek's Out Of The Box Racing
teammate Strom winding up seventh and Bargetta Racing's Margetta, who
was scolded by league officials following pre-race practice for
attempting to tamper with the league supplied tires, bringing up the
rear.
The
haulers and drivers will stay in Rapids for an extended stay as round
nine is contested on the streets of Rapids for the Too Clean Laundry
Grand Prix in two weeks.
