St. Pete Repeat: It’s Alex Lloyd in DoubleHeader Trophy Drives
Two Indy Pro Series Racers Disciplined On-Track for Infractions
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
|
Alex Lloyd. Photo: JimHainesIRL |
Alex Lloyd’s hat-trick to start the season left Sam Schmidt Motorsports sitting pretty in the Florida sun shining down on St. Pete’s Pioneer Park as Sunday’s (April 1st) Indy Pro Series race brought the double-header weekend to a close. Driver and team take a bulging points lead into a brief racing respite ‘til May. Race officials also made some timely moves of authority to bring the racers in line as a long season looms ahead.
The Indy Pro Series finally found its way in Race Two of the 2007 St. Petersburg Grand Prix weekend.
A competitive, safe race that saw favorite Alex Lloyd take the checkered flag first for the third time in as many tries brought smiles all-around after a trying start to the year.
The success came as IPS officials served notice to drivers and teams that no hanky-panky on the track is tolerated in this series. Team Moore Racing’s Jonathan Klein learned the hard way, officially removed from the leader’s spot during competition for blocking another racer at speed. So did Chris Festa, who was also black-flagged in the event.
The win brought an early-season hat trick to Sam Schmidt Motorsports, one of the IPS’ most successful names. Lloyd now holds a bulging forty-eight point lead in the race for the Indy Pro Series championship though thirteen races remain to be run.
"I can't put it into words; what a start to the year," Lloyd said in Victory Lane. "I hoped we could get two. I thought two would be a fantastic start."
"Coming from sixth, the competition in front of me was going to be very hard. Sam Schmidt Motorsports and Lucas Oil have brought together a great team. Everybody pulled together as they have all weekend, all last weekend, all winter. The results of that effort are paying off.”
Action Heats Up in the Florida Sunshine on Sunday
AFS Racing’s Wade Cunningham finished second, under yellow, with Bobby Wilson of Brian Stewart Racing, Hideki Mutoh from Super Aguri/Panther and Team KMA’s Robbie Pecorari in line right behind.
|
Brad Jaeger at St. Pete. Photo: DanaGarrettIRL |
The yellow came out after a minor incident in the fourteenth turn of the raceway, when a car spun restarting for the combined white/green final lap.
Michael Crawford Motorsports' CR Crews took sixth place in the race while Playa Del Racing’s Phil Giebler finished seventh. In eighth place was Andretti Green Racing/AFS Racing’s Jaime Camara, ninth Rahal/Letterman Racing/Andersen Racing’s Joey Scarallo and closing out the top ten was forty-six year old Ken Losch.
Eleventh was Mickey Gilbert, then came Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chris Festa, Matt Jaskol in thirteenth, Klein, and Richard Antinucci of Eddie Cheever Racing was fifteenth.
Coloradan ski champ Jon Brownson placed sixteenth, Andrew Prendeville seventeenth in another RLR/Andersen car, Logan Gomez eighteenth, Brad Jaeger, Stephen Simpson, Tom Wieringa, Mike Potekhen, Sean Guthrie and Jay Howard last.
Klein shot to the lead on the first lap from his fourth position on the starting grid, and favorite Alex Lloyd rocketed up to third from sixth spot.
Lap two brought yellow on the course when Speedworks’ Jay Howard strayed off-course on the twisty downtown street portion of the circuit by the bay and bumped the wall. He was unable to continue and the car was removed from the track during a four-lap slow-down behind the Honda safety car.
When racing resumed on lap nine, Klein continued to lead but Lloyd used the restart to gain another spot to run second.
Yellow again, lap twelve this time, when Guthrie Racing’s Sean Guthrie and Mike Potehken of Apex Racing struck in turn four.
|
Yellow Checkered at St. Pete. Photo: ShawnPayneIRL |
Black Flag Flies for Klein, Festa
On the lap eighteen restart Klein blocked Lloyd and was black-flagged for the maneuver.
Kenn Hardley’s Stephen Simpson slowed to a stop with drive-train failure on the track during lap 24.
With only five laps to go Chris Festa also was black-flagged for on-track maneuvers.
Klein’s day went from bad to worse shortly thereafter when he went off in the Pioneer Park section of the circuit, trying to avoid a spinning Logan Gomez, but was able to restart and continue.
On the final restart of the day at lap 39 (of 40) Cunningham pressed unsuccessfully for advantage to take the lead from Lloyd.
Klein finished his day with a third incident, bringing out the final yellow of the day.
Jay Howard Drops Indy Hint
The momentum continues to grow for the racers of the Indy Pro Series. Many of the IndyCar Series drivers and teams took time-out from their own pre-race chores to watch the IPS drivers at work.
Though Howard’s day ended early, he put teams on notice that he wants to see more track time, one way or another.
“I’m not sure if I’m coming back (to IPS) or not. I’ll head back to Indianapolis and speak with some teams, figure out a plan. It’s looking good for the Indy 500, and I’ll try to do that. We’ll see,” he said afterwards.
Howard is the reigning Indy Pro Series champion, taking the Firestone Firehawk Cup home by virtue of a consistent set of racing performances throughout the 2006 season.
His team last year during that run? Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
Gap for Firestone Firehawk Cup Grows
The win brought Alex Lloyd’s championship points total after three races to one hundred and fifty-five. Hideki Mutoh’s one hundred and seven points has him sitting second, afront of Bobby Wilson’s ninety-one, with Chris Festa (83) and Robbie Pecorari (81) rounding out the top-five competitors.
The winner's average speed was 73.723 mph and the race timed out at 58:35.8707, less than ninety seconds shy of the time limit set for the event.
Lloyd's margin of victory, under the yellow checkered flag, was 0.2542 of a second.
Officially there were five caution flags displayed, for a total of eighteen laps.
Lloyd became the first Indy Pro Series driver to start a season with a sweep of the first three dates on the schedule, and can tie the record for consecutive IPS wins (four) with a win next time out.
Conditions were again wonderful for racing or watching, with temps in the high seventies and a cool southeasterly breeze fanning the stands and spectators.
|
Indy Pro Series at St. Pete. Photo: JimHainesIRL |
The Indy Pro Series drivers and teams now take a six week break as their IndyCar Series peers travel first to Japan, and then Kansas, leading into the glorious month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The annual Freedom 100 scheduled for the midwest’s favorite racing holiday, Carb Day, May 25th, is the next race on the IPS schedule.
Indy Pro Series Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Race Two Results
Tim Harms of the Indy Racing League confirmed that Richard Antinucci, driving the Cheever Racing entry owned by his uncle Eddie Cheever, also was black-flagged at the end of the race on Sunday (April 1st) in St. Petersburg.
Posted by: Allan Brewer | April 03, 2007 at 06:33 PM
Ridiculous race review; Klein's "blackflag" was bogus. Anyone there watching said so.
Posted by: larry b. | April 09, 2007 at 10:37 AM