2007 IRL Rd. 16--Belle Isle Indy Grand Prix

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Who will win the Belle Isle Indy Grand Prix?

Poll ended at Tue Sep 04, 2007 10:20 am

Scott Dixon
0
No votes
Dario Franchitti
1
50%
Helio Castroneves
0
No votes
who knows; it's an inaugural event
1
50%
 
Total votes: 2

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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:22 am

Race control reporting that Patrick will likely have to pit anywhere from laps 65-68
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:24 am

Looking at the telemetry, it appears Kanaan might have enough fuel to the end; listening to the IMS broadcast, AGR's Kim Green, Patrick's race strategist, said that all four drivers are running on differing fuel strategies, w/contingenies for each

Wheldon in to the pits.....................fuel, sticker tires; Wheldon will cycle through to 10th on the chart
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:26 am

Watching the pitlane..............Patrick's crew is prepping for a stop; it appears she will pit next lap

Franchitti will assume the lead; according to race control, if the Scotsman leads four more laps, he will get the three points for leading the most laps today
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:27 am

And Patrick has come onto pitlane.............crew changing tires and filling the #7 w/fuel; good stop, Patrick looks to cycle back to 8th in the race
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:32 am

Castroneves and Scheckter have crashed into turn 1; looks like hard contact btwn. them and both are into the tirewalls

Caution back out.............now the strategies will be out in force; it is looking more and more likely that this is going to be a timed event

Scheckter out of his car and walking to the infield care center; listening to the TV, it sounds like Scheckter was a bit ticked as it looked as though Castroneves didn't have the position in 1 and sent both of them into the walls
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:34 am

Lap 69 now.................

Top-5 at the moment
Kanaan
Rice
Dixon
Patrick
Franchitti

Castroneves has gotten out of his car but looks to be favoring his right leg some............... :shock: :shock:
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:39 am

GREEN FLAG! GREEN FLAG!!

Franchitti around Foyt for 5th..................

Kanaan leads, Franchitti trying to reel in teammate Patrick
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:41 am

Franchitti gets by Patrick; Patrick falls to 5th, Franchitti up to 4th..............

Franchitti has reset fast lap at 1:13.511
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:44 am

Top-5 at lap 75

Kanaan
Rice
Dixon
Franchitti
Patrick

--top 3 separated by less than 0.9 seconds
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:50 am

Race control has given the 10 minute call to all the teams; this has become a timed race...............

Top-5 at lap 81
Kanaan
Rice
Dixon
Franchitti
Patrick
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 7:58 am

2 laps remaining; top-5 still unchanged............
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:17 am

Race control telling the #9 to maintain his line through the lap(could he have been blocking?.....)

And Dixon just spun into the wall at 12; Rice into the walls as well....................Franchitti involved as well............Sacre bleur!!!!

Kanaan, it appears, will win the Belle Isle Indy Grand Prix!!! Checkers out, Kanaan wins!!!! Patrick finishes 2nd(career-best!) and Wheldon in 3rd............Franchitti got back going, but his car looks like a wounded duck and AGR's Michael Andretti, on the IMS broadcast, has said he will protest the results, but I don't see where he can protest(from the footage, it looks like Dixon made the pass on Franchitti entering 12, spun and rolled back into the walls right into the path of Franchitti; care to bet what race control's going to say................? :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: )
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 8:29 am

Top-10 from a wild, wacky and very exciting Belle Isle.............................

1st} #11 Tony Kanaan.........................................89 laps
2nd} #7 Danica Patrick........................................-0.489 sec
3rd} #10 Dan Wheldon........................................-1.221 sec
4th} #14 Darren Manning....................................-1.927 sec
5th} #55 Kosuke Matsuura..................................-1 lap
6th} #27 Dario Franchitti.....................................-1 lap
7th} #15 Buddy Rice...........................................-2 laps(out of fuel)
8th} #9 Scott Dixon............................................-2 laps(accident)
9th} #22 A.J. Foyt, IV.........................................-2 laps
10th} #20 Ed Carpenter......................................-2 laps
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Post by mlittle » Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:46 pm

Notes on the race....................................

~~As is typical on street courses, there were zero passes for the lead on-track; every lead change that occurred either happened on pitlane OR occurred when the leader peeled off onto pitroad, handing the lead to the next car in line; that said, this was actually a pretty darn' good street race....... :clap: :shock: :shock:

~~2 drivers who needed brakes in today's race didn't get them; clutch problems sent RLR's Ryan Hunter-Reay to the house early(he is leading in the rookie points standings, though...... :wink: ), while a driveshaft failure gave AGR's Marco Andretti his 9th DNF of the 2007 campaign(a campaign ending at Chicagoland next week........ :shock: :shock: )

~~Follow me............here is a list of those who won't be sending Christmas cards:(1)Scott Sharp, who thought Danica Patrick shoulda' been penalized after their dustup at turn 8 around lap 48, (2)Tomas Scheckter, who thinks Helio Castroneves should "focus more on racing than 'Dancing with the Stars' after Helio made a bonehead-attempt to pass Scheckter at turn 1 during the race; (3)Sam Hornish, Jr. towards Sarah Fisher after the two were involved in a 4-car crash on lap 31 after the first round of stops, and (4)AGR co-owner Kevin Savoree and TGR's Chip Ganassi, who nearly came to blows following the last-lap incident btwn. Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon...............to quote the famous saying, Can't you just feel the love? :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:

~~Two drivers who, to use the boxing expression, "fought above their weight", were Vision Racing's A.J. Foyt, IV(6th-place finish) and Foyt Racing's Darren Manning(4th-place finish); both, especially Quattro, drove smart the whole race, saved fuel where possible and made passes for position on-track :up: :clap:

All-in-all, it was a pretty good race, for a street circuit...... :lol: :lol: :shock: :shock: :shock: :shock:
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