TWF1: Dust, Heat and Sun!!

Miller Motorsports Park was the next round in the TWF1 circus and for once is a modern circuit devoid of chicanes that blight Tilke designed monstrosities. Unfortunately that doesn't make it overly popular with several drivers vocal in their dislike of the flat circuit.

The dislike didn't stop one of the most action packed events in the season so far as drivers consistently struggled to be consistent with most of them having several incidents during the race.

In addition 10 drivers had to start from the pitlane following penalties at previous events, this effectively meant there was, at least initially, two races.

Simon Baggett proved most adept in qualifying trim, putting in a stupendous lap half a second better than anyone else. In fact it was noticeable that this track, with a 1m45s lap, seemed to be creating a very wide grid with a full 2 seconds covering the first 10 spots.

From the start Simon lept into the lead while Rouke, alongside on the grid, didn't make such a good start. Rouke said, "My start was err.......i did two races this week, all went fine but aparently from 3rd place you cannot see the lights. at least i didnt and i panicked, geared up two, shoulnd't have done that, slow off the line like a turtle on prozack. 6 or 7 cars passed me and i just made sure it remained safe appart from diving inbetween 2 cars in turn-whathisname, that was rather exiting."

That left Timo Peltola in second while Rouke finished the lap in fourth behind Patrick Dobner. Fairly swiftly gaps grew in the field, Simon pulling away from Timo after the latter briefly challenged into T1, with Rouke and Dobner also breaking clear of the cars behind.

Further back leader of the pitlane starters, Eric Fulghum, was rapidly closing in on the tail of the main pack. As he did so he dragged his team mate and Costa Gozadinos along with him.

He caught Mark Abbott very quickly and by Lap seven was also past the struggling Ferrari of Kat Scott.

Meanwhile Ivor had become the first retirement as his car got bogged down in gravel near the end of lap 4. Tallini also succumbed to similar problems on lap 5, both incidents probably as a result of not updating the track correctly.

The Eric/David/Costa train continue to make inroads and by lap 10 they are fast catching up with the McLaren of Shazy Ahmed.

Up front Bagget's progress looked serene, steadily leaving Peltola behind while Rouke showed no ability to close in on Second. The Main battle at this stage was a little further down the field as Rick Stratton found himself embroiled in a battle with Ralph Maiph and Dobner, the latter dropping back after a spin.

At the back of the field several cars were already lapped, both Renaults appeared to be a handful around the track and only one of the Ferrari drivers seemed to be at home with their car. The Ligiers, Mark Abbott, Larry Thomas and Phillipe Marot, also appeared to be struggling and getting lapped frequently.

On lap 16 Corrado and Shazy both succumbed to the charging Heavy Metal Racing lead train and by lap 27 they had reached Rick Stratton. The latter had dropped back and after a spin was behind Eric, then on lap 31 the final twist in this eventful race took place.

David Kadlcak, Rick and Costa hand an incident that left Costa in ninth while DK let Rick back into 10th as he was the instigator.

Simon Baggett came home for an excellent flag to flag win ahead of Timo and Rouke. All three had impressive consistancy of well under half a second.

What was slightly surprising, and perhaps an indicator of the incident packed race, was that Kat Scott, who admitted to a terrible race, was 12th most consistant.

The field now moves onto a completely different challenge in South America.