Twenty-five members of the Red Sox Racing League traveled to Belgium for the “Masta Kink 30″ at Spa-Francorchamps GP course for week six of the RSR 2013 Season One schedule. Coming into the event with back-to-back wins Brad Vincent was the driver to beat at Spa-Francorchamps, one of the world’s most challenging tracks. Fast speeds, drastic elevations changes, and numerous twists and turns means that drivers must keep their focus on the track at Spa.
While competitors tried to keep pace with Vincent, Paul Hesla quietly returned to action after missing starts at Road Atlanta and Mosport. Normally a driver with two wins and a second place finish in three starts would warrant more attention, but the whirlwind of press and fans following Vincent through the paddock allowed Helsa to slip under the radar, or at least until qualifying started.
Once the official clock started logging lap times, everyone recognized that Hesla was back. Needing only three laps to secure his third pole of the season, Hesla put his stamp on the event with a blistering lap time of 2:20.312. Les Turner’s 2nd place effort of 2:21.329 led a competitive group of drivers making up the top-5 starting spots. Brad Vincent was third on the grid with a lap time of 2:21.442, while Tommy Rhyne posted a time of 2:21.529 and Dean Moll posted a time of 2:21.907.
Reed Rundell, John Koscielniak, Michael Gagliardo, Andrew Humphrey, and Scott Husted rounded out the top-10 starting spots. Gerald Livingston, Terry Daul, Kevin Kyle, Cyril Roberts, Tony Duffey, Andrew Gantman, David Weiss, Andrew Feldman, Jeff Thomas, Ed Sutcliff, Gilles Mourette, Dean Ayer, William Kabela, and James Prostell Jr. completed the starting grid.
The Spa circuit consists of nineteen corners along a scenic 4.35 miles layout. Turn one, known as La Source, is a sharp u-turn right-hander which leads downhill to Eau Rouge and a series of quick, high-speed uphill corners which funnel traffic onto the long section known as Kemmel Straight. Les Combes greets drivers in T5, and if they are lucky enough to survive the first right-left-right section without incident, they accelerate into the downhill at Malmedy and are immediately faced with another u-turn at Rivage. Picking up speed at the exit of T9, traffic continues downhill towards the double-left hand corners at Pouhon. Keeping the cars on the track at that area proves exceptionally hard as drivers attempt to maintain speed while setting up for another left-right-left through turns 12 and 13.
The next corner is a slow 90 degree T14 which leads to Curve Paul Frere at T15 where drivers can again apply full throttle shifting through their entire gearbox and reaching top speeds. Most drivers slightly lift their gas peddles for the gentle dog-leg left hand corner at T17 as they try to maintain momentum heading into the chicane at T18-19. Handled correctly, the sharp uphill at the exit of T19 leads drivers to the start/finish line.
Despite their reputation for being a safe group of drivers, even the seasoned veterans at RSR could not escape the axiom that mistakes made at any of the corners at Spa often leads to disaster. Things got off to a brutal start for Moll when he dropped from 5th place to last place in the first corner of lap one. His incidents began when Moll tapped the rear of Vincent’s slowing car in T1. Moll was hit from behind and spun at the exit of T1 when he was forced to slow dramatically to avoid harsher contact with Vincent.
Moll’s car came to a stop facing the wrong way in the inside lane at the exit of the corner. Several cars managed to avoid hitting him, and just when it looked like he was going to escape without further damage, Kyle drove into his front bumper just as he was rear-ended by Duffy. Gantman went wide to avoid the stopped traffic, but continued too far to the left and side-swiped Roberts as they charged downhill towards Eau Rouge.
Hesla maintained the lead as Vincent and the rest of the field negotiated their way around the course on the opening lap. Most were able to avoid serious trouble, but several drivers had minor off-track incidents reminding them how quickly the track could end their chances for a solid finish. Mourette had a scare when he got sideways in T5 on lap two and although he ran a number of very quick laps during the race, only 2 of his laps were incident free.
Gantman lost control of his car in T7 on lap seven. The resulting spin saw the TOC Racing 3 team driver hitting the inside wall and receiving minor damage to his car. Most drivers pitted during laps 6 and 7. Battling hard through the initial laps, Turner and Rhyne found themselves fighting for the same piece of track at Les Combes on lap eight. Turner got the short end of the contact and was forced to hold on for a wild ride when his car left the right side of the track and slid to a stop along the outside wall.
Roberts lost control of his car at Les Combes on lap eight. His car went off the left side of the track after he over-corrected, but Roberts avoided contact with the wall and escaped the incident with only the loss of one position.
Gantman wasn’t as lucky when he went too far to the left edge of the track exiting T1 on lap nine. His car was sent into a spin which forced him back across the track and into the inside wall.
Duffy had just made a pass for 19th place on lap nine when he waited too late to brake for T18 and he made contact with Feldman at corner entry. Duffy and Feldman both went off track after the contact, but were able to continue racing.
Hesla led every lap of the race through the pit cycle and appeared to be on his way to another win before a mistake on lap eleven ended his race. Vincent was the only driver who had kept Hesla in sight, so he had a great view of the incident. “Paul got a little aggressive going through the uphill at Eau Rouge, but I thought he had it saved until he caught the curbing on the right side of the track. His car was sent into a violent spin before it slammed into the tire barrier. I didn’t see him after the race and I hope he is okay.”
Vincent led the final laps of the race and notched his third win in a row. He had a 24 second lead over the second place finisher when he crossed the line. With a third and a pair of second place finishes to go with his three victories, Vincent left Belgium as the odds-on favorite to secure another RSR season championship.
Rhyne was in position to finish the race in second place, but an electrical problem on lap twelve forced the snake-bitten Northern Tool driver into yet another disappointing finish. “This is the third time we’ve dropped the ball in 2013″, said Rhyne after the race. “I am not happy about the poor showings, but we’ll come back strong next week.”
Rhyne’s misfortune meant that Turner and Rundell both secured their first podium finishes of the season. Turner had a five second lead over Rundell when he crossed the line for 2nd place. “We were happy to finally put the TeamDraft Batmobile onto the podium this season. I am looking forward to Watkins Glen next week.”
Rundell was pleased with his 3rd place finish. “This was our first podium of the season after scoring four top-10 finishes in a row. The TOC Racing2 team had a great night with my 3rd and Dean’s 5th place finish tonight.”
Scott Husted (4th place) finished just ahead of Moll (5th place). Moll’s race back through the field after his lap one incident was one of his strongest performances of the season. “The TOC Racing 2 team kept me calm after the incident”, said Moll after the race. “We knew we had a fast car, so I just concentrated on staying out of trouble and keeping the car in one piece.”
Husted’s 4th place finish was his best result of the season. Known as “Hylander” to his online friends, the Bethlehem, Pennsylvania driver was excited about finally getting his Ruger, Google, Rolex McLaren into the front pack. “This was probably the best race I’ve had in the past three RSR seasons”, said Husted. “I wasn’t too far behind the pace of the lead drivers and managed to keep the car out of trouble for the entire race. It was nice having the new equipment (a new computer and a triple-monitor setup), so perhaps this is the start of something great for TOC Racing. My crew was a bit slow during the pit cycle, but I found out it was because they were watching one of those “Harlem Shake” videos on YouTube when I came in for fuel and tires!”
Gagliardo (6th), Koscielniak (7th), Daul (8th), Humphrey (9th), and Kyle (10th) rounded out the top-10 finishing positions.
Vincent has a 26 point lead over Turner in the overall season championship standings. Rundell, Koscielniak, and Humphrey complete the top-5 spots. Rhyne, Husted, Patrick Guerin, Beard, and Gantman round out the top-10.
Team VBR (Vincent/Beard) leads the team competition. Teamdraft Srt (Thomas/Turner) are 40 points behind, followed by TOC Racing 2 (Moll/Rundell), Storm Front Racing (Koscielniak/Daul), and TOC Racing 3 (Gantman/Humphrey).
Next Race
RSR members travel back to the United States for the ”Schuyler County 30” at the Watkins Glen Cup Course on February 28, 2013.
Results / Standings / Video coverage
Race Results: http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_event_result/Red-Sox-Racing-League/2871
League Standings: http://rsr.ileaguerace.com/champ/show_champ/Red-Sox-Racing-League/432
League Video Site: http://www.youtube.com/user/draftin11
Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/all-news/three-in-a-row-for-vincent
Brian Hart Gene Hartley Masahiro Hasemi Naoki Hattori Paul Hawkins
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