Week 3, rounds 4 and 5 of the Truck Championship proved to be highly eventfull events. The first of the two races was held at the Joesville racetrack. Pole went to Sulla Looming from Crippy, Yuriko and Suku.
This event proved to be eventfull from the start to the end. Initially the front four got away well with Suku getting the jump on Yuriko. Near the tail of the field, however, I got a good start but going two abreast into T2 with Suzy we touched and I spun. Contact wasn't hard but was enough to unsettle my truck. As I caught the slide I lost time as newcomer Gage and Kiboe came past. Kiboe got into Gage and the first yellow was flown.
On Lap 6 Suzy pitted dropping to the tail of the field while the main battles were between Crippy and Suku for second and Kiboe and I at the tail. Kiboe proved to be hard to pass until he ran wide in T3 on lap 12 and I took the place. Around the same time Suku also took the place from Crippy.
Suku pitted on lap 13, surprisingly early, and at the same time Jafo worked his way past Yuriko.
The next few laps were quiet until Kiboe brought out the second Yellow flag after losing it in T3. Half of the field diving into the pits at the earliest chance. Unfortunatly the field hadn't completely closed up on the pace car and the short lap, combined with the fairly fast pace car, dropped several drivers a lap down.
Normally yellow flag stops are 'free' but in this case they cost several drivers dear. Two more yellows, both caused unfortunatly by myself, were features of the race as Sulla Cruised to a fairly easy win. She had Dropped to 3rd when pitting under the second yellow but regained the lead after the third.
The 5th round, unfortunatly, was a contreversial event at the Scotia Raceway. This tight 0.300 mile oval was expected to produce a lot of incident and as a result Crippy decided to run it without yellows. This turned out to be fairly unnecessary as only one incident would have flown them.. but boy was it a biggy.
Off the Start Sulla got a good one straight into the lead but behind Suzy got involved in the first of several collisions during the first laps. She got into Crippy exiting T2 giving me the chance for a run up the inside into T3. Suzy didn't give me any room causing us to collide, she bounced wide into Crippy and letting Suku through.
Suzy then bumped Suku almost into me exiting T2 on Lap 2 before completely ignoring me into T2 a lap later and driving me round. The spin caused Chaos. Suku was completely unable to avoid me despite braking hard and we hit head on. Gage glanced off Suku while my truck slide broadside on down the track. Crippy collected my tail as I slid past and finally Yuriko hit my pinball.
All that left us with a truck stranded mid track and with no real chance of a safe recovery. I had to turn round on the racing line with other cars at full pace. Further collisions caused by the totally unsafe location of my truck with every other truck in the field left me with two left side flat tyres and not a straight panel on the bodywork.
Being honest due to the position I was left in post spin Crippy should have restarted the race. When she implimented the no-yellows she was expecting a lot of spins but I don't believe ever expected a car stranded mid track facing the wrong way with no easy way to get the vehicle turned.. and certainly no safe way. To put it simply it's a lesson learnt and certainly no critism of Crippy as it's one of those mistakes I think most people would make if running their own league. It must be remembered she does this on her own and does a stirling job. Sadly however it put two drivers out of contention straight away.
Yuriko having retired with damage after her collision with my stranded car. I pitted for repairs and finished the race 8 laps down. Why Yuriko decided to instantly retire isn't clear as she could have gone straight into the pits for repairs.
The rest of the race was amazingly uneventfull apart from a late race collision between Suku and Crippy. The collision was caused by Suku's spotted calling 'clear' just as Crippy's nose was about to come alongside Suku. Suku went low in response to the clear call to protect her place just as Crippy's nose came alongside. Suku was forced into a spin and lost the place to Crippy.
As far as can be assertained pure racing incident caused by a poor spotter call.
Sulla won the race easilly despite a heavy collision with My damaged truck during the early accident.
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