Post by porrsjim on Oct 21, 2008 13:24:09 GMT -5
Greds Wins First .... EVER
(final)
BATHURST, New South Wales, Australia (PSS) -- Gary Redshaw was surprised to get the lead, surprised to hold it and celebrated with a spot of tea after picking up his first on-line win ever at the Mount Panorama circuit here Sunday.
Redshaw, driving a P2 Spyder, topped Paul Hamilton by 8.364 seconds on the winding 3.86-mile course after taking advantage of a fuel shortage by Dave Slee.
After getting the jump on Slee to start, Redshaw backed off when he noticed Slee had more power. The eventual winner was content to follow the leader until each pitted within a lap of one another.
"Forty-odd seconds later I'm on my way out and a few laps later I'm suddenly in first,'' a stunned Redshaw said.
As the race progressed, he mistakenly believed Slee was chasing him, not knowing the early leader had pit trouble. In fact, it was Hamilton trying to make the catch.
"It wasn't that exciting,'' Hamilton said. "Gary was far enough ahead that I never saw him at all after the first few laps. I only knew where he was by the (car's) telemetry.''
Redshaw and his Spyder held on for the win -- with a mere gallon of fuel remaining.
"I was celebrating by having a stimulating cup of tea,'' Redshaw said. "Being up in the front of the pack takes it out of you.''
Hamilton, racing in P1, finished 28 seconds ahead of third-place Tom Nasella, also a P1 driver. Greg Haley finished fourth and James Bowders fifth.
Hamilton got off to a somewhat frightening start.
"I was still trying to get settled in the seat and worrying about whether I'd effectively ended the evening for my own teammate when I came up to the hairpin leading to the back straight,'' he said. "I was already planning how to get under Gary's wing for a draft so I wanted to really get a good jump off the turn.''
That's when things turned ugly.
"Unfortunately, I completely forgot about cold tires and full tanks and just went right straight into the concrete on the outside. Little bits of carbon fiber went everywhere and I was trying to remember what was Australian for '$&@(@! #%*@%!!' but I figured I'd better see if the thing would still go straight. It did -- just not as fast as before."
Slee, who posted the fast lap in qualifying at 1:50.833 and in the race with 1:51.987, ran out of fuel on the last lap and wound up seventh.
"I didn't take enough fuel on the first stint,'' Slee said. "I was one gallon short.''
The race was marred by a first-lap incident involving eight cars at the rear of the field which blocked the track for several moments. No one was injured although several cars were heavily damaged.
(final)
BATHURST, New South Wales, Australia (PSS) -- Gary Redshaw was surprised to get the lead, surprised to hold it and celebrated with a spot of tea after picking up his first on-line win ever at the Mount Panorama circuit here Sunday.
Redshaw, driving a P2 Spyder, topped Paul Hamilton by 8.364 seconds on the winding 3.86-mile course after taking advantage of a fuel shortage by Dave Slee.
After getting the jump on Slee to start, Redshaw backed off when he noticed Slee had more power. The eventual winner was content to follow the leader until each pitted within a lap of one another.
"Forty-odd seconds later I'm on my way out and a few laps later I'm suddenly in first,'' a stunned Redshaw said.
As the race progressed, he mistakenly believed Slee was chasing him, not knowing the early leader had pit trouble. In fact, it was Hamilton trying to make the catch.
"It wasn't that exciting,'' Hamilton said. "Gary was far enough ahead that I never saw him at all after the first few laps. I only knew where he was by the (car's) telemetry.''
Redshaw and his Spyder held on for the win -- with a mere gallon of fuel remaining.
"I was celebrating by having a stimulating cup of tea,'' Redshaw said. "Being up in the front of the pack takes it out of you.''
Hamilton, racing in P1, finished 28 seconds ahead of third-place Tom Nasella, also a P1 driver. Greg Haley finished fourth and James Bowders fifth.
Hamilton got off to a somewhat frightening start.
"I was still trying to get settled in the seat and worrying about whether I'd effectively ended the evening for my own teammate when I came up to the hairpin leading to the back straight,'' he said. "I was already planning how to get under Gary's wing for a draft so I wanted to really get a good jump off the turn.''
That's when things turned ugly.
"Unfortunately, I completely forgot about cold tires and full tanks and just went right straight into the concrete on the outside. Little bits of carbon fiber went everywhere and I was trying to remember what was Australian for '$&@(@! #%*@%!!' but I figured I'd better see if the thing would still go straight. It did -- just not as fast as before."
Slee, who posted the fast lap in qualifying at 1:50.833 and in the race with 1:51.987, ran out of fuel on the last lap and wound up seventh.
"I didn't take enough fuel on the first stint,'' Slee said. "I was one gallon short.''
The race was marred by a first-lap incident involving eight cars at the rear of the field which blocked the track for several moments. No one was injured although several cars were heavily damaged.