Kamikawa Is Back!
See the complete box score
(Milwaukee, WI) -- Six drivers have been to victory lane in the 2017-18 IndySlotCar season and the most glaring absence from the list of winners is two-time champion Ev Kamikawa, but last night, the home town hero of Rapids International came through and added his name to that list, taking the checkered flag at the Too Clean Laundry Grand Prix.
As
the veteran driver noted after the race, the car was hooked up all
night, qualifying on the front row, in fact, scoring the exact same lap
time as pole winner Mike Fitzlaff, but by a quirk in the rules as to how
tied qualifying times are broken, the driver that sets the time first,
gets the higher position, meant Kamikawa would grid second. Mike Lack
and Mike Kristof started on the second row, with Dan Margetta and Lack's
Angry Squirrel Speedsport driver slotted on the third row and
Black-Atom Racing's Bill Black and Pete Dorn on the final row.
Heats
were filled by random selection and Kamikawa led from the start of the
first heat, while Mike Fitzlaff tried to stay close, running fast on the
straights but not holding the track the way Kamikawa did. John
Wiedemann ran solidly in third in with the possibility that he could
still qualify for the final in the two heat format, meant every lap
could make the difference, ultimately it would, as he would score 82
circuits and come up one lap shy of Dan Margetta's lap total from the
second heat, finishing fifth for the third straight race. Fitzlaff would
advance to the final with a quality run two laps down to Kamikawa's
Ferrari. Mike Kristof made the biggest backward move on the night,
squandering a solid fourth place in qualifying, he was never a threat
and backed up to eighth on the night.
Mike
Lack started the second heat cleanly and kept the field behind him
while Dan Margetta overcame numerous spins early on to bump Wiedemann
and make his sixth straight final-four appearance. The Black-Atom Racing
teammates would battle each other throughout, with Bill Black holding
off Pete Dorn and finish sixth and seventh respectively.
The
20-minute final looked like the pole sitter would be able to reassert
his lead position, after Fitzlaff finished second to Kamikawa in the
heat, he took a solid lead in the opening half of the race, but
pit-stops would see the Ferrari team work swiftly to get the hometown
driver out in just eight seconds, it would take 20 seconds for
Fitz-Matador Racing to complete the service on Fitzlaff's #34 Wellbox
car and once the positions were swapped in the pits, Kamikawa never
looked back, while third and fourth place would swap between Dan
Margetta and Mike Lack, as the #41 ABC Supply car would lose power and
eventually Lack would have to jump out of the cockpit as the car
overheated and had a "hotseat" for the points leader.
Kamikawa's
victory was the 41st of his distinguished career, just one behind the
second place total, it was also his first since a win at the Black track
in January of 2017. The win also catapulted the Ferrari driver from
sixth in the Husarsbilt Cup standings to fourth and just two points
behind third-place Mike Fitzlaff. Meanwhile, Mike Lack continues to hold
a dominant 77 point strangle-hold on the championship over his Angry
Squirrel Speedsport teammate John Wiedemann with just five races left on
the schedule. The series takes a three week break before returning to
the challenging "de-slot" format of the Quarryfest Deslotmania at Quarry
Heights Raceway.
