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| September 28, 2008 News |
| EKN Trackside: Mazda RoboPong 200 - Sunday Report |
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For complete coverage, visit the Event Page
 | Jimmy Simpson edged Billy Lewis for the win but would lose the victory to a post-race penalty
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
No one can question that the excitement was off the charts throughout the weekend at the fifth annual Mazda RoboPong 200 presented by Bridgestone in New Castle, IN. Beginning well before the green flag fell sometime after 1:00 pm, the fence line and restaurant area were both filled with spectators to see 84 karts battle for 200 laps around the New Castle Motorsports Park. Following 200 miles of bumping, pit strategy, and endurance, it came down to the final two corners for the provisional victory between the Simpson Racing and Lewis/CKS Racing teams. Although Jimmy Simpson would cross the line 0.03 -seconds ahead of Billy Lewis, the Lewis team would be awarded the victory following a post-race penalty that was assessed to the Simpson squad.
The day began with a morning warm-up held under clear blue skies and bright sunshine. Following the session, the teams began race preparation while spectators roamed the pits to get an up-close view of the many karts that wrere set to compete, also bumping elbows with some of the best karting pilots in the country while getting autographs from their favorite IndyCar Series/Firestone Indy Lights drivers. Once the drivers settled into their machines on the grid, the call to start their engines was given by Indianapolis Motor Speedway chairman Mary Hulman George.
Thankfully, the 84 karts worked through the opening corners clean with no spins or mishaps. After the field strung themselves out covering nearly half the track after just a few laps, multiple small battles formed throughout the field. Up front, Zach Beard in the MRP entry utilized their pole position start to lead the field in the opening laps. A lead pack of four karts broke away from the rest, including Beard, Caleb Loniewski (DB Motorsports), Kyle Wiegand (Team Top Kart USA) and Indy 500 winner Dan Wheldon (CometKartSales.com). Wheldon appeared to be the quickest of the group as he took lead around the 10-lap mark. He would continue to battle with Loniewski as the other two would drop back following contact that would drop Beard outside the top-10.
 | H Power squad nearly had the victory until a rear gear took them out of contention
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
The fight for the lead grew to three when Indy Lights driver Cyndie Allemann (H Power) got her tires warm and the carburetion correct, moving up from outside the top ten by lap 30. The trio put on a great show for the fans as they worked through lapped traffic and swapped the lead each and every lap. Scheduled pits stops began with the DB Motorsports entry making their first on lap 48, handing the Kosmic over to Ryan Paul Miller. Wheldon, however, would make contact while working around lapped traffic and bent his axle. That would cost they team a couple of laps in their pit stop, however, an engine failure during Mark Dismore Jr.’s stint would end their day early and put them 75th in the final order. Over the next 10 laps, teams would make the run onto pit lane and service their karts with fuel and a driver change.
Once the stops were all complete, the FirstKart.com team that included defending race co-winner Chris Larson and Indy Lights driver Bobby Wilson came out leading after running fifth going into the pit stops. With Larson taking the first stint, Wilson took over and paced the field with a sizable lead. With no issues on track, they led until lap 99 when they pitted for the second time. Larson would take over, however, a chain failure in his first few laps would bring them to pit lane multiple times and eventually out of the race, classified in 61st. This put the H Power entry back at the point as young Spencer Pigot ran second during his entire segment before handing back the Gillard machine to Allemann.
 | Jimmy Simpson made up a 20-second gap to take the provisional win
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
The H Power team showed the way until the third rounds of pit stops took place, making their stop on lap 153 with normal maintenance and putting Pigot back in the seat for the final leg. They would lose the lead for two laps as Lewis/CKS Racing held the point for two laps before they made their stop - including a change of the right rear tires with Lewis taking over for Jeremy Warren. Pigot would assume the lead with Simpson Racing’s Evan Batt running second until their final stop on lap 164. That would hand the second spot to Team Margison Racing that included Nathan O’Rourke and 63-year old Dick Margison. They had their Arrow machine getting great fuel mileage, roughly five to six laps more per stint, making their final stop for gas on lap 171.
With under 30 laps to go, Pigot had a comfortable lead over Lewis with the Racer of Tomorrow squad running third with Josef Newgarden and Brandon Newey partnered up. Simpson ran fourth with O’Rourke running his third stint in fifth, one lap down. A heartbreaking moment occurred on lap 182 as Pigot pulled off in the infield, disgusted to find the rear gear had shredded the teeth and would not power his machine around the course. A mere $20 part cost the team a $5,000 payday.
This would hand the lead over to Lewis with the rest of the field moving up one spot. During that time, Simpson advanced to second to drop Newgarden to third. The attention now turned to the gap between Lewis and Simpson as it nearly shrunk a second a lap as they closed in on five laps to go. With two laps to go, Simpson could see Lewis in his sights and was able to be on his bumper after getting the white flag.
 | Following the post-race penalties, Lewis-CKS Racing was awarded first place
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
Getting a great run out of the tight turn 12, Simpson pulled alongside the leader down the long straight to turn 13. Simpson would exit as the new leader, however, Lewis would not go down without a fight. A strong draft down the ‘pond straight’ toward the final corner would allow Lewis to move to the inside of Simpson as they entered the corner. Lewis went deep on the braking point and drifted to the outside, keeping three tires on the track and just dropping the right rear. Simpson executed the inside-out move to the apex as expected and the two crossed the line side-by-side.
At the line, Simpson raised his hand in victory as he would edge Lewis by just 0.034 seconds. In his attempt to get to the line first, Lewis dropped his right-rear tire in the dirt again, this time spinning as he tried to save it. Not slowing down, he flew through the pit lane fence and luckily not injuring himself or any bystanders. His first words as people scattered to his aid were ‘did I win?’. Just a few feet away, Simpson came on to pit lane celebrating the victory.
Once things settled down, officials had a chance to go over the notes from the race and discuss a yellow flag situation on lap 157 involving Simpson/Batt. A local yellow was displayed for a spun kart, however, officials caught Batt - who was driving at the time - passing under yellow. Multiple drivers throughout the race were given pit lane penalties during their pit stops, however officials were unable to serve the Simpson Racing team their penalty before their final stop. Thus, officials gave the team a 10-second penalty for their infraction, awarding Lewis/CKS Racing the win and demoting Simpson Racing to second.
 | An impressive run by Team Margison Racing to the podium against the toughest field in the event's five year history
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
Team Margison Racing would track down the younger Racers of Tomorrow team in the final laps to stand on the podium in third - thanks in part to consistency and fuel mileage. Reid Jeffries and Sergio Pena (SR Racing) ended fifth, one lap down. The second Lewis/CKS Racing team, piloted by Michael Lewis/Michael Busse were three laps down in sixth with Ron Petersen/Colton Aldridge (JD Byrider) four laps back in seventh. Racers of Tomorrow Too was the second entry that shared Brandon Newey alongside Conor Daly - with Daly running the majority of the laps to end up five laps back in eighth. Mike Melott/Jeff Morone (M & M Racing) crossed in ninth and MRP ending up tenth despite carburetion issues.
Looking at the top-10, nine of the teams were local drivers - based in the Indy area. Nine karts ran Parilla, with Rotax making up the tenth spot, while eight of the teams were aboard Arrow karts with a Gillard in fifth and a Birel in tenth.
EKN has many notes on the events/issues with many of the teams, so if you have questions or comments, post them on the Official Discussion Thread and we’ll try to get them to you in a timely manner. |
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