No Surprises at Indy Pro Series Milwaukee Mile: It’s Alex Lloyd Again
Sam Schmidt Motorsports Domination Stretches to 159 Consecutive Laps Led
Drive for Five Sets New Benchmark for Sequent IPS Wins
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
Alex Lloyd, driving the number seven Lucas Oil/Isilon Systems Dallara of Sam Schmidt Motorsports, won the Road Runner 100 at the Wisconsin Fairgrounds to establish a further milestone in his career and write another Indy Pro Series benchmark into the record books.
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Alex Lloyd wins at Milwaukee Mile.
Photo: ShawnPayneIRL |
Lloyd led from wire to wire with a flawless drive to take the win over the twenty-two entrants who contested one hundred miles of competition at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday (June 2nd) evening. Only three other drivers could match his fast, consistently smooth driving and remain on the same lap over the course of the evening.
“What a day,” Lloyd said afterwards of the win. “I’ve been in Victory Lane twice in one day (referring to his pole-setting lap earlier).”
“It’s just been an unbelievable start to the year,” he added. “I have such a great team behind me. I have never driven for a team that is so well prepared, so great at what they do down to every individual. It’s been so much fun to drive for these guys.”
“The car was just fantastic as it has been all year” he concluded. “The last 11 laps we were just cruising around. The car was going perfect and that allowed us to pull away. I was very pleased. I’ve a great team and a great car, and I am really thrilled to be here.”
Apex Racing’s Mike Potekhen finished a career-best second, with Team Moore’s Jonathan Klein and Guthrie Racing’s Sean Guthrie (also setting a career mark) following between two to seven seconds in arrear. No one else could even come close to matching Lloyd’s pace despite several yellows and restarts that provided ample opportunity to try.
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Jonathan Klein (L), Alex Lloyd at Start.
Photo: SteveSnoddyIRL |
Potekhen summed up the day by commenting, of his pursuit of Lloyd, “We’re a brand new team to the Indy Pro Series and a second-place finish in our fifth race is pretty good. Alex had a really fast car, and honestly I don’t think I had anything for him. He just kind of left us in the dust.”
Bobby Wilson made a relatively successful return to his “home track” in Milwaukee by finishing fifth for Brian Stewart Racing; while Lloyd teammate Ryan Justice fully returned to form following his concussion at Homestead with a sixth place result.
Al Unser III of Playa Del Racing was seventh, RLR/Andersen’s Joey Scarallo finished eighth, while rookie Marc Williams was ninth for Michael Crawford’s team, and Brad Jaeger (Wilson’s teammate) was tenth.
Lloyd also set fastest lap in the race with a tour on lap twenty at 141.208 miles per hour, and set an average speed of 108.894 mph over the one hundred lap distance that included a number of yellow flag periods run over a total of twenty-two laps. The drive pushed Lloyd’s consecutive laps led over the last three races to a whopping 159 circuits (234 miles) at the front of the Indy Pro Series field.
Race is for Second Place as Suite of Superlatives Swells for Sam Schmidt Racing
Alex Lloyd continued his streak of firsts for the team with the victory, setting a new record for consecutive wins (5) in the history of the six year old racing series.
Lloyd also won at Indianapolis on the road course during the 2006 US Grand Prix weekend, and again near the season’s end at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California.
With that, Alex moves into a tie with Thiago Medeiros, Jeff Simmons and Mark Taylor for the most career wins (7) of an Indy Pro Series driver. Going back to last year, Alex Lloyd has been the victor in six of the last seven Indy Pro Series races contested.
For the team, the race marked the eighteenth win since its formation in 2001 by IndyCar driver Sam Schmidt, whose organization has achieved prominence through performance excellence throughout its history. The team was second in the entrant's championship points race last year.
In the 12-race 2004 season, in which SSM claimed its first Indy Pro Series championship with Medeiros, the team won six races—a mark they are only two races shy of surpassing in the current year with eleven racing dates still waiting on the calendar.
Wild Opening Laps Claim Seven Cars Within One Lap of Green Flag
The race began inauspiciously as Kenn Hardley’s Stephen Simpson found the wall only seconds after the cars were released from the pit lane to begin the race. Simpson knocked the right front wheel, tire and suspension askew as he bumped the backstretch wall before the Firestone Firehawk tires could warm to racing temperature.
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Logan Gomez Caught in 1st Lap Melee.
Photo: SteveSnoddyIRL |
The cars circulated the oval for several more parade laps behind the pace car before taking the green flag to get the race underway with approximately four minutes elapsed. The start saw Lloyd and Klein engage the battle while complete chaos erupted behind them.
Hideki Mutoh, Logan Gomez, Chris Festa, Jaime Camara, and Andrew Prendeville collided in a chain reaction affair that eliminated nearly a quarter of the field on the first lap. Robbie Pecorari, Al Unser III and PJ Abbott also were part of the melee at the exit of turn two on the tricky one-mile oval but were able to continue.
Eighteen cars resumed the contest after the dust, smoke and debris were cleared ten laps later. Mike Potekhen slipped past Klein on the restart, establishing the order of the first three for the remainder of the race.
Tom Wieringa brought out the yellow for a fourth time when he lost power on lap twenty.
The race then proceeded relatively quietly with Ken Losch’s accident on lap 81 the only further significant incident ontrack for the day, though Wade Cunningham’s retirement on lap 90 with fuel pressure problems brought a brief caution for him to clear the track.
Lloyd Leads As Pack Behind Him Closes Ranks Further
The pole and the victory added maximum points (53) to Alex Lloyd’s already formidable lead in the chase for the Firestone Firehawk Cup that goes to the champion of the Indy Pro Series at season’s end.
Lloyd (260 points) extended his lead to one hundred and twelve points over Panther’s Hideki Mutoh (148 points), who remains in second just ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Chris Festa (132 points). Bobby Wilson (129 points) and Mike Potekhen (121 points) lead a tightly-grouped pack of racers through tenth-standing Wade Cunningham with only 36 points spread between them.
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Apex Racing’s Mike Potekhen at the Milwaukee Mile.
Photo: JimHainesIRL |
Alex Lloyd will return to the scene of his very first Indy Pro Series win ever in a short two weeks, when the cars and drivers take to the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway as part of the undercard for the United States Grand Prix. There are two races scheduled for the weekend, one each on Saturday (June 16th) and Sunday (June 17th), in support of the Formula 1 event that attracts visitors from around the world.
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