Tight Race at Monza

The race at Monza seemed to be by the numbers - until the very end.

As at Monte Carlo the week before, qualifying seemed to be a toss-up between Chumbawumba in the Orange, and Larry Camelson in the Red.  Chumbawumba won out by a tenth of a second!  Harry Chapman in the Green car came in third, with a decent performance.  Jürgen Wolfgang and The Stig seemed to be doing practice laps during the qualifying round.  The Yellow car, driven by The Stig, just barely edged out  Jürgen Wolfgang's purple.

Most of the race had the field keeping pace with their qualifying positions, but by the 2nd half of the race, Harry Chapman started falling behind.

In what would seem like a repeat of last week's Monte Carlo race, Larry Camelson was neck and neck with Chumbawumba going into the final corner.  Camelson gunned it to squeak by, but ended up spinning out, once again causing chaos for the rest of the racers trying to navigate the final corner.
Chumbawumba found himself in first, followed closely by both Wolfgang, and The Stig! 

The crowd went wild as all three racers pushed their engines to their absolute limits.  I don't know where the power came from, but Wolfgang and The Stig both passed Chumbawumba at the last minute, with The Stig pulling out ahead using the slip!

Languishing in last place was Larry Camelson, as his spinout allowed Harry Chapman to easily navigate around him through the corner, sealing 4th.

After 2 races the standings are led by Jürgen Wolfgang, followed by The Stig.  Next race will be a return to Silverstone!

		Monte Carlo (Practice)	Monte Carlo (Monaco)	Monza (Italy)	Silverstone (England)	Nurbürgring (Germany)
TEAM	DRIVER	Seas Qual	Race 01	Race 02	Race 03	Race 04	Driver Points	Driver Rank
Purple	Jürgen Wolfgang	2nd	1st	2nd			10	1
Yellow	The Stig	5th	3rd	1st			9	2
Orange	Chumbawamba	4th	2nd	3rd			7	3
Red	Larry Camelson	1st	4th	5th			3	5
Blue	Harry Chapman	3rd	5th	4th			3	4
Race 1 Notes:	La Rascasse	Larry Camelson (spinout)
	La Rascasse	The Stig (spinout)
Race 2 Notes:	Curva Parabolica	Larry Camelson (spinout)

First Race of Season 2 at Monte Carlo

The first race of the season - Monte Carlo - was anything but dull.  It was a fight to see who would end up as top dog in the standings.


During qualifying, The Stig had an almost casually bored attitude in the car.  It certainly showed in the results, as he ended up in last place by a few seconds.


Poll Position went to the aggressive Chumbawumba in Orange, followed by an equally hungry Larry Camelson driving the Red car.  Harry Chapman, Jürgen Wolfgang, and finally The Stig rounded out the positions (Green, Purple, and Yellow).


By the time all drivers hit the Mirabeau corners, not much had changed for the top 2 drivers in regards to positioning, but the back of the field had changed drastically.  Wolfgang and The Stig were 3rd and 4th, with Harry Chapman in the Green car taking up the rear.

Those same positions were maintained through the tunnel.  Second place Camelson in the red car desperately trying to keep pace with Chumbawumba's orange, but he couldn't do it.  Harry Chapman pushed his car, but something went wrong and it lost its gain.  His engine doesn't sound right, and that may affect his chances.

All the cars except the leader careened into the chicane, risking everything to get the lead.  Jürgen Wolfgang made a bold move to jostle Camelson's second place spot, and the Harry Chapman gained ground and ended up side by side with The Stig.

 
The last turn, La Rascasse, before the finish was to prove the most eventful.  Chumbawumba, the leader, took the turn at a cautious pace.  Sensing weakness, Larry Camelson in the red car decided to floor it, but miscalculated the wear on his tires and spun in the corner, causing chaos for the pack following behind.

Chapman's green tried to pass but couldn't get around the spun Red, having to stop himself by slamming on the brakes.  The Stig passed Chapman and Camelson, but was going too fast for the corner and ended up spinning out himself.  This allowed Wolfgang in the Purple to navigate around the pack while shredding the last of his tires - ending up neck and neck with Chumbawumba at the end of the corner.
In the final pull to the finish, Wolfgang pushed his cars already superior acceleration and allowed him to pull ahead of Chumbawumba for an exciting finish.

The recently spun cars, slowly navigated the remainder of the corner, and then floored it to the finish line, and a neck and neck finish necessitated going over the video reel to determine 3rd, 4th and 5th.  In the end, 3rd place went to The Stig, followed by Larry Camelson, and in last was a Harry Chapman, who made the crowd roar with his attempted takeover at the end.

All in all, a VERY exciting Premier race for the Certified Insanity Racing's second season!

After the first race, the season standings are as follows.  The next race will be... MONZA:

		Monte Carlo (Practice)	Monte Carlo (Monaco)	Monza (Italy)	Silverstone (England)	Nurbürgring (Germany)
TEAM	DRIVER	Seas Qual	Race 01	Race 02	Race 03	Race 04	Driver Points	Driver Rank
Purple	Jürgen Wolfgang	2nd	1st				6	1
Orange	Chumbawamba	4th	2nd				4	2
Yellow	The Stig	5th	3rd				3	3
Red	Larry Camelson	1st	4th				2	5
Blue	Harry Chapman	3rd	5th				1	4
Race 1 Notes:	La Rascasse	Larry Camelson (spinout)
	La Rascasse	The Stig (spinout)

Practice at Silverstone

A practice lap at Silverstone was all that was needed to convince racers and their teams that many last minute adjustments needed to be made.


The practice lap ended as a competitive slugfest.  There were 2 spinouts, and a crash - definitely pause for thought.


Teams have assigned their drivers, and their numbers and livery colors have been chosen.  Rounding out the field are:





Jürgen Wolfgang of Das Boot Motors in Purple

Harry Chapman of Steinmann Racing in Green

Chumbawumba in Orange

The Stig in Yellow

Larry Camelson of Amerimuscle Racing in Red






It will be full of exciting times, especially for the Steinmann team's mechanics, as they are under a time crunch to get Harry's car operational again after this dramatic crash during practice: