IndyCars - Mid-Ohio: "Iconic" is the word

[MarkyS]

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Sunday Morning at Mid-Ohio - USF2000 hold their final race of the weekend…

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…and taking his 2nd WIN of the season was Hunter McElrea for Pabst Racing, from pole. P2 was yesterday’s WINNER, Christian Rasmussen for Jay Howard Driver Development, while P3 went to Colin Kaminsky for Pabst - just like yesterday.

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Yesterday, Christian took the lead from P2 at the drop of the green. It was not to be today, as Hunter kept the lead, with Rasmussen slotting in behind him by the time they were in the keyhole. Matt Round-Garrido for JHDD made another great opening lap and went from his P10 start to P6. On lap 3, Jack William Miller for Miller Vinatieri made a pass on now P7 Braden Eves for Cape Motorsports on the inside of Turn 8. Eves pushed wide, and lost three more spots, dropping to P11. On lap 6 Yuven Sundaramoorthy in P5 for Pabst Racing fell to Round-Garrido and then to Jak Crawford for DEForce Racing.

Lap 8 saw Eves regain two spots to take over P9, but on lap 12 his Cape Motorsports teammate Darren Keane took over P9 and sent Braden back to P10. On lap 13 Round-Garrido lost P5 to Jak Crawford. One lap later Darren took the P8 spot from his teammate, Reece Gold. On a charge, Keane next went after P7 Yuven Sundaramoorthy and took him on lap 15. Keane then attacked Round-Garrido and finally took P6 from him on lap 17, for a total of 11 positions gained in the race.

On the penultimate lap Yuven and Round-Garrido made contact in Turn 5, dropping them down to 14th and 13th respectively. In the chaos, Eves was able to get past his teammate Reece Gold, moving into P7 at the end. That was the last pass of the race and Hunter WON by just a half a second over Christian. A great contest through the whole pack.

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Notable:

• Hunter took pole, Fastest Lap and the WIN, earning maximum points, while points-leader Braden Eves was only able to garner a P7. Eves started the season with 5 WINS but with his slipping down the finishing order for the last few races, Eves’ lead has been substantially whittled away. It is now in single digits.

• This is Colin Kaminsky’s 4th podium of the year.

Braden Eves - slipping into McElrea’s clutches

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Here is your happy podium - That’s Christian Rasmussen in P2 on the left, Hunter McElrea in P1 in the middle and Colin Kaminsky in P3 on the right:

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With these results, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Mid-Ohio:

1 - Braden Eves 260
2 - Hunter McElrea 251
3 - Darren Keane 207
4 - Colin Kaminsky 199
5 - Christian Rasmussen 198

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The next 2 outings for the series will be at Portland, August 31-September 1, in support of the IndyCar race.

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[MarkyS]

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Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio - The Indy Lights hold Race 2 of the weekend…

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And earning another perfect WIN , with pole and Fastest Lap, was Oliver Askew for Andretti Autosport. P2 was a determined Toby Sowery for BN Racing / Team Pelfrey, while P3 went to Rinus VeeKay for Juncos Racing.

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While Oliver, P2 Rinus and P3 Toby got away cleanly at the start, the same wasn’t true for P4 Robert Megennis for Andretti and P5 Dalton Kellett for Juncos Racing, as they went side-by-side through Turn 1, making contact that sent Kellett’s car into a spin. Megennis was forced through the gravel trap to avoid him, and P7-starter Aaron Telitz for Belardi Auto Racing was also forced off track to survive. High-sided on the curbing and unable to move, Kellett brought out a full-course caution.

On the lap 3 restart Sowery made an attempt to pass VeeKay in the keyhole, on the outside. Unsuccessful there, he finally grabbed P2 from Rinus on the back straight on lap 4. By this time Oliver was well clear of a Push-to-Pass attack, being almost 3 seconds down the road. (Push to Pass only works within a 1.5-second range). On lap 6 Megennis and Teltiz, who were battling for P6, made contact in Turn 2. Telitz dropped to P7, while Megennis came to pit road for repairs. He would rejoin, but 4 laps down.

VeeKay and Sowery then each set Fastest Lap in contesting each other. By lap 15 Toby was almost within range to use P-to-P on Askew, but Oliver then turned up the wick again to regain a safe zone and in the doing reset Fastest Lap. He would finish the race over 5 seconds to the good.

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Notable:

• This was Oliver’s 6th WIN of the season, and along with his other perfect WIN yesterday, pout him well into a safe points lead.

• Rinus has been very consistent, and this was his 9th podium in the 13 season starts, but he needs to beat Askew in the last few races to have a hope for the title.

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Here is your happy podium - That’s Toby Sowery in P2 on the left, Oliver Askew in P1 in the middle and Rinus VeeKay in P3 on the right:

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With these results, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Mid-Ohio:

1 - Oliver Askew 349
2 - Rinus VeeKay 304
3 - Ryan Norman 266
4 - Toby Sowery 250
5 - Rob Megennis 249

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The next outing for the Indy Lights will be at Gateway Motorsports Park, now called World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, August 23-24th, in support of the IndyCar race. But first, they will test at Gateway mid-August.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio - The Stadium Super Trucks hold Race 2 of their weekend…

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…and for this one the WINNER was young Gavin Harlien, while Matty Brabham took P2 and P3 went to Jeff Hoffman.

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The race will be featured in the “Off Season” thread when it is made available. In the mean time, here is a taste of it:

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https://twitter.com/PghRacingNow/status/1155544909199360001

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As one fan put it, “I promise you, I have NEVER seen people run to the fence to watch a race more than I’ve seen it for the Super Trucks. An unbelievable show at Mid-Ohio!”

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Here is your happy podium - That’s Matthew Brabham in P2 on the left, Gavin Harlien in P1 in the middle and Jeff Hoffman in P3 on the right:

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While points have not yet been awarded, with his two podiums this weekend, it is likely that Matthew Brabham is still in the series points lead.

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The next outings for the SSTs will be August 23-24th at Road America in support of the NASCAR XFINITY series.

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M

[MarkyS]

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Sunday afternoon at Mid-Ohio - the IndyCar race!

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…will surely be remembered, for the 6th WIN at the track for Scott Dixon for Chip Ganassi Racing and for the last lap battle for the WIN that Scott had with P2 finisher and teammate Felix Rosenqvist, resulting in the the closest Indy car finish at Mid-Ohio and third closest on a road course in Indy car history. P3 was Ryan Hunter-Reay for Andretti Autosport, only 1.5 seconds down the road. This was a tight one!

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The Ganassi team had all bets covered by having Scott run a two-stop strategy while Felix ran a three-stop strategy. In the exceptionally clean race - no cautions - they both ended up in the same place at the end, battling for the lead. The difference was that Scott was on very worn red alternate tires while Felix was on good primary blacks and hungry for his first win. The action for the final ten laps was nail-biting, and not just at the front.

On the final lap points-leader Josef Newgarden for Team Penske made the choice to try to pass Ryan Hunter-Reay for the P3 spot and spun out instead, killing his engine. He ended the race in P14. He thus threw away another opportunity to finish ahead of 2nd-in-the-points Alexander Rossi for Andretti Autosport, who was running in 6th at the time. Rossi would finish P5 and Newgarden’s teammate Simon Pagenaud would finish P6, thus both ended the day to the better of Newgarden, closing the points gap.

This was a great one from start to finish.

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Notable:

• Dixon’s 46th career WIN pulled him within six of Mario Andretti (52) for 2nd place on IndyCar’s all-time list. A.J. Foyt ranks first with 67 career WINS.

• Alexander Rossi was running on fumes at the end and literally ran out of fuel just after passing the start / finish line, and had to walk back top the pits.

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Scott Dixon (left) and Felix Rosenqvist on the podium

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With this result, here are the TOP FIVE in points leaving Mid-Ohio:

1 - Josef Newgarden 504
2 - Alexander Rossi 488
3 - Simon Pagenaud 457
4 - Scott Dixon 442
5 - Will Power 356

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The next outing for the IndyCars will be at Pocono for the ABC Supply 500, August 18th.

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M

[MarkyS]

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NBC has released an extended race highlights reel…

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…and it probably still can’t do it justice, but take a look:

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IndyCar: Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio | EXTENDED HIGHLIGHTS | 7/28/19 | Motorsports on NBC

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