WRS - RACE 2 - WISHY REAPS FROM CONTROVERSIAL NEEDLES PENALTY
- Trent Streams
- Nov 29, 2015
- 4 min read
Wishy Casawell won Race 2 of the Whishy Racing Cars, but not without a controversial call that left Needles fuming with officials.
Needles began the race on pole, and maintained his postion off the grid with a good start. The first lap of the 68 lap race was eventful to say the least, drivers barging their way through the midpack. Tigar, Frisbee and Fluro traded blows throughout the opening lap, almost ending up in the fence together a couple of times.
Unfortunately, Sammy, up in 22nd place at the time, did end up in the fence. On the first lap, Sammy tagged her front left on the inner wall of turn 5. Her car was visibly damaged from the contact, but she remained on the track. On the next lap, at the very same corner, her left hand steering failed altogether and she travelled straight ahead into the tyre wall. The Safety Car was called onto the track early, and the field had a chance to settle themselves after an action-packed start.
Needles led the restart 2 laps later, and showed true pace from the get-go. In the opening laps, he recorded a fastest lap of 1:12.73. He quickly built a solid lead over Maxie (2nd) and Bumper (3rd). Most of the action took place in the middle of the field, with a feisty battle between positions 16-21 for 10 laps. Sherbet and Twister came out on top there, whilst Finnie fell to the back of the train after a mistake cost her 4 positions in the space of a lap. The front runners spaced out, settling into their rhythm.
On lap 18, Tigar, after his team spent all last night putting his car back together after yesterday's heavy hit, lost control again over the turn 1 and 2 kerbs, and crashed into the outside wall in a similar place to yesterday. Tigar stormed out of the car, throwing his helmet into the medical car, distraught at the work he'd caused his team again.
A tough decision faced each of the teams. To pit or not to pit? Each car could probably marginally finish the race fuelwise in one stop, but those who pit here would no doubt need to make another later in the race. This Safety Car seemed a good time to do so, so most teams decided to bring their cars in for a refuel and a change of tyres. These teams would need to make a longer stint later on in the race, however, and depending on the any future Safety Cars, this could hurt them late in the race.
Aurora led Wishy and Bubbles, followed by three others who opted against pitting during the Safety Car. Aurora built a lead after the restart, whilst Needles and Maxie moved their way up towards the top once more. The six cars who decided against pitting on the 18th lap came in between laps 32 and 36, surrendering the lead back to Needles.
As luck would have it, the Safety Car came out at the perfect time for those who pitted on the 18th lap. Just before pitlane was scheduled to ignite with action, Dorsy got tangled with Marshy down the back straightaway and spun at 230kph. Wheels locked, she flipped and rolled twice into the outside wall, before sliding on her roof back across the track and coming to rest on the inside of the track. Mangled debris lay all across the track, and for the first time this season, the officials brought out of the Red Flag and all other cars were forced into pit lane.
The Red Flag worked out best for all those on the alternate strategy (those who didn't pit on lap 18), as they were able to catch up to the pack and then pass them as the rest of the field pitted under Safety Car. Aurora led Wishy to the 39th lap restart, and the six who didn't pit were now the top six in the race. Needles had scintillating pace like no other, however, and moved himself back into 3rd before the laps reached 45. Before they knew it, he passed Wishy and bore down upon Aurora, the race leader. Then came the incident that changed the race...
Right on Aurora's tail, Needles surged. With a good exit out of turn 7, he gained ground on the back straightaway and set himself for a passing move at 10. Some felt Needles was far enough up the inside of Aurora to take the position; others felt that Aurora had the right of way. As it happened, Aurora turned in and was collected and spun by Needles. Needles raced off in the lead, whilst Aurora rejoined the race in 3rd.
Both Aurora and Needles relayed grumpy radio messages back to their respective teams, both believing the other to be in the wrong, but it would be Needles' camp in the most strife, issued a controversial black flag drive-through penalty for the contact. Needles reluctantly drove his car through pit lane, muttering under his breath all the while, and all of a sudden, Wishy had the lead of the race, with Maxie trailing by 4 seconds behind!
Needles dropped back to 8th after serving his penalty, but quickly worked to reduce the margin and scour a top 5 result. Meanwhile, at the front, Bumper passed Aurora for 3rd and with 10 laps to go, the top 5 stood as follows: Wishy - 3 seconds to Maxie - 5 seconds to Bumper - 5.5 seconds to Aurora - and 7.5 seconds to Gilly.
Needles quickly got around Gilly at turn 7, before knocking off Aurora and Bumper in one move when Aurora tagged Bumper, running them both wide. As the laps ticked down, Maxie closed in slowly on Wishy, and Needles was catching them both at a rate of 1.5 seconds a lap, his car obviously tuned to perfection. It was a matter of too little too late for Maxie and Needles however, Wishy crossing the line 2.6 seconds before Maxie. To view the full race results, click here.
Bumper leads the compeition after yesterday's win in the Whishy Racing Series, with 276. Maxie trails by 12 in 2nd, and Wishy trails a further 7. For the full points table, click here.
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