Author: cpradmin

Retro CART League’s inaugural event at St. Petersburg saw the #61 car guide the field towards the green. Though initially followed by Warren and Smithem, Breuning slowly pulled a formidable lead and remained there until the 40 laps were completed. Warren fell victim to the walls about mid race, leaving Smithem to finish 2nd and Phil Peterson 3rd. Rookie Brandon Wimmler was 4th despite an unfortunate speeding penalty in the pits and Larry Eaglen had to overcome a few incidents as well on his way to grab 5th.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	1	1:5.300	0	22
Bill Smithem	2	3	1:5.370	0	16
Philip Peterson	3	6	1:6.197	0	14
Brandon Wimmler	4	5	1:5.665	2	12
Larry Eaglen	5	4	1:5.922	10	10
Matt Ortscheid	6	8	1:6.796	0	8
Donald Warren2	7	2	1:5.417	8	6
Chris C Brown	8	11	1:10.116	14	5
Andrew Forrester2	9	10	1:10.703	12	4
Ben Henry2	10	9	1:7.812	8	3
Billy Jordan	11	7	1439:59.1000	4	2

Taylor Jordan, already crowned S15 champion, led the field to the green flag flanked by Breuning, but it was Warren that grabbed 2nd place. At the end of lap one, Jordan out braked himself in the final turn and dropped to fourth.

Warren and Breuning raced for it until Breuning took advantage of a mistake Warren made and he took the lead.

Jordan worked his way forward and when Breuning went wide going up the hill to the corkscrew he took over. Breuning had to pit with minor damage. When the pitstop cycle was done, he found himself leading, because of a lengthy pitstop by Jordan. Back markers prevented Jordan from becoming the leader again and it was Breuning that took the win ahead of Bill Smithem. Peterson scored a solid third, with Jordan scored in 4th and Eaglen in 5th.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	2	1:13.475	8	21
Bill Smithem	2	3	1:13.360	13	16
Philip Peterson	3	6	1:14.433	10	14
Taylor Jordan	4	1	1:12.565	6	13
Larry Eaglen	5	8	1:14.598	14	10
Ian Wilson2	6	10	1:15.423	10	8
Andrew Forrester2	7	11	1:17.568	13	6
Donald Warren2	8	4	1:13.696	18	5
Matt Ortscheid	9	9	1:15.306	20	4
Rod Potgieter	10	7	1:15.237	1	3
David Tamira	11	5	1:14.371	4	2

Taylor Jordan led the field to the green flag on what was quickly becoming a ‘close as ever’ event at the tricky triangle. The first yellow was a result of three wide in turn 3, with Jordan getting caught between Peterson and the wall. His fast repair saved the day. Robert Love and Breuning were at it at the helm but Love later fell victim to an incident as well.

Jordan had caught back up to the front late in the race and was defending his lead hard. Breuning had a nose length on him going into lap 48-turn one, when the yellow came out. Jordan spun when slowing down and Breuning was safe as the race finished under yellow. Phil Peterson was 2nd, also coming back from adversity and 3rd was Jack Wilson, who ran a strong race up front for the 2nd half of the race. Smithem was 4th and Stuart Wright rounded out the top five.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	4	0:47.431	0	21
Philip Peterson	2	6	0:47.149	8	16
Jack Wilson21	3	8	0:47.215	16	14
Bill Smithem	4	2	0:47.410	0	12
Stuart Wright	5	12	0:47.251	8	10
Bill Colley II	6	11	0:47.262	0	8
Andrew Forrester2	7	9	0:47.707	8	6
Randy Dale	8	10	0:49.570	6	5
Taylor Jordan	9	1	0:47.65	8	5
Les Bentz	10	7	0:47.118	8	3
Mike Erter	11	5	0:47.344	2	2
Robert Love2	12	3	0:47.700	12	1

It was Bill Smithem leading the field to the green flag and leading, with Breuning going side-by-side in the first turns only to find himself facing the wrong way at the exit. Not having hit anything, his racing became a game of catching up in which he succeeded.

He passed Smithem for the lead with the help of the pit stop and the latter’s tires being ground down to the canvas. They were joined on the podium by Rod Potgieter, with Ian Wilson and Bob Mills rounding out the top 5. Andrew Forrester was the only driver taking home the ‘CR Award’.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	2	1:12.236	6	20
Bill Smithem	2	1	1:12.197	4	18
Rod Potgieter	3	4	1:13.13	2	14
Ian Wilson2	4	7	1:13.23	4	12
Bob Mills	5	8	1:12.954	2	10
Larry Eaglen	6	3	1:12.935	7	8
Philip Peterson	7	6	1:12.990	17	6
Andrew Forrester2	8	9	1:14.476	0	5
Rafael Rodrigues5	9	5	1439:59.1000	0	0

Jordan started from the pole and led the entire race at blistering pace in the wet, lapping the entire field. It was a race for survival behind them with Phil Peterson starting out fast in 2nd place but soon finding that the track was getting worse and worse. Breuning moved up to 2nd, in 3rd it was Bob Mills, while Smithem and Peterson rounded out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Taylor Jordan	1	1	1:25.603	3	22
Marcellus Breuning	2	4	1:28.622	1	16
Bob Mills	3	5	1:29.240	3	14
Bill Smithem	4	2	1:29.816	10	12
Philip Peterson	5	3	1:28.270	22	10
Andrew Forrester2	6	6	1:35.504	22	8
Rod Potgieter	7	7	1:31.825	13	6
Duane Gibbs	8	8	1439:59.1000	0	0
Ronald grayson	9	9	1439:59.1000	0	0