Category: Season 16

Starting from the pole, Patrick Day was a force to be reckoned with throughout the race. It was close up front with him, Breuning and Smithem slowly pulling away from the field. Breuning missed out on his pit stop by about 1.5 seconds, putting him just outside the draft while Day and Smithem raced for the lead. A yellow bunched them all up again and put Breuning and Warren back in contention for the final 10 laps. On lap 76, Breuning, Warren and Smithem got together at the exit of turn two, turning the race in a one lap shootout for the win. Patrick Day took the win, with last weeks Indy winner Andrew Forrester in a strong 2nd and Ian Wilson with a strong podium finish. Breuning and Warren rounded out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Patrick Day	1	1	0:27.751	0	22
Andrew Forrester2	2	8	0:27.865	0	16
Ian Wilson2	3	10	0:28.61	6	14
Marcellus Breuning	4	2	0:27.710	4	12
Donald Warren2	5	9	0:27.517	4	10
Bill Smithem	6	4	0:27.821	6	8
Chris C Brown	7	5	0:27.717	6	6
Chasen McCook	8	7	0:27.718	4	5
Larry Eaglen	9	6	0:27.847	6	4
Randy Dale	10	12	0:28.294	1	3
Jack Wilson21	11	13	0:28.13	14	2
Philip Peterson	12	3	0:27.875	4	1
Les Bentz	13	11	0:28.106	2	0

It was Rafeal Rodrigues that led the field to the green flag from pole and as often is the case at the Brickyard, the racing was fierce and fast from the get-go. A few crashes thinned the field and some of the faster drivers were unfortunately not spared in some of those crashes. Forrester and returning driver Patrick Day went a lap down, but about 2/3rds into the race they got lucky and got their lap back. With the field losing even more drivers, it was Breuning, Day and Forrester on the lead lap together. Fuel was a bit of an issue, because the latest yellow came just about 2 laps too early. But the three drivers saved enough and opened the battle with 3 laps to go. On the final turn of the race it was Breuning, Day and Forrester. But the draft is always strong and Forrester times it perfect; He got by, took the win from Day by 0.005 of a second, with Breuning in 3rd at 0.027. One of the closest finishes at the Brickyard in Retro CART League history.

It was the maiden win in the series for Andrew Forrester, known for his “wait and see’ approach, that already has paid dividends in many good points finishes. Now he can add a win to that list – At Indy, no less.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Andrew Forrester2	1	8	0:46.260	2	20
Patrick Day	2	2	0:46.67	2	16
Marcellus Breuning	3	6	0:46.706	4	15
Les Bentz	4	13	0:46.88	8	12
Chris C Brown	5	7	0:46.250	12	10
Jack Wilson21	6	9	0:46.332	16	8
Matt Ortscheid	7	5	0:46.301	8	6
George Sandman	8	3	0:46.722	4	5
Billy Jordan	9	12	0:46.54	10	4
Randy Dale	10	15	0:45.991	12	3
Philip Peterson	11	14	0:46.454	8	2
Taylor Jordan	12	4	0:45.905	12	1
Donald Warren2	13	11	0:46.418	12	0
Stuart Wright	14	16	0:46.276	9	0
Larry Eaglen	15	10	0:46.323	12	0
Rafael Rodrigues5	16	1	0:46.728	12	1

Though Jordan qualified on the pole, he started from the back of the grid. He wasted no time working his way forward and took the lead on lap 14. Breuning was no match for him up front and lost more time when a back marker spun in front of him, but luckily both drivers were able to continue. Bill Smithem dropped back after an early incident but kept going in a steady pace and brought it home in 3rd, ahead of Rod Potgieter and Larry Eaglen.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Taylor Jordan	1	1	1:11.959	2	22
Marcellus Breuning	2	3	1:12.814	0	16
Bill Smithem	3	2	1:13.216	8	14
Rod Potgieter	4	7	1:13.919	0	12
Larry Eaglen	5	8	1:14.44	4	10
Donald Warren2	6	4	1:12.998	14	8
Philip Peterson	7	6	1:13.710	4	6
Matt Ortscheid	8	9	1:15.723	0	5
Andrew Forrester2	9	12	1:16.553	8	4
Chris C Brown	10	11	1:19.950	4	3
Les Bentz	11	13	1:19.899	10	2
Ian Wilson2	12	10	1:16.30	2	1
Billy Jordan	13	5	1:17.760	2	0
George Sandman	14	14	1439:59.1000	0	0

Don Warren led the field to the green flag from pole, with alongside him Mike Erter, who quickly took the lead away from him. Breuning worked his way forward from starting 6th and started mixing himself in the fight for the lead. After the first yellow, it was Smithem that was first out of the pits followed by Breuning. When trying to pass into turn 1, Breuning touched wheels very slightly with Smithem – unfortunately enough for Smithem to bend the suspension. Breuning was unscaved. After another yellow, the fight up front was between Erter and Breuning, with the former holding a low line perfectly, making it almost impossible for Breuning to pass. At the end, Eaglen, Ian Wilson and Andrew Forrester were closing in on the fun, unfortunately a slight touch with Eaglen ended Wilson’s ambitions. At the line, Erter held on by 0.020 over Breuning, with Forrester snatching a podium finish from Eaglen and Les Bentz rounding out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Mike Erter	1	2	0:23.201	4	21
Marcellus Breuning	2	6	0:23.173	8	16
Andrew Forrester2	3	7	0:22.975	8	14
Larry Eaglen	4	4	0:23.123	13	12
Les Bentz	5	11	0:23.476	6	10
Jack Wilson21	6	10	0:23.140	15	8
Caleb Rybalka	7	9	0:23.225	4	6
Randy Dale	8	12	0:23.313	8	5
Ian Wilson2	9	8	0:23.67	8	4
Chris C Brown	10	5	0:23.68	4	3
Bill Smithem	11	3	0:23.225	12	2
Donald Warren2	12	1	0:23.254	17	2

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