ACRL: Mid-Ohio Sunday Race Report

Lexington, OH, June 4, 2000 -- If Wide World of Sports needs a new graphic for their "The Thrill of Victory, the Agony of Defeat" intro, American City Racing League's second race of the Mid-Ohio doubleheader would be a prime candidate. Saturday winner Andy Lally, sitting in for Duke Johnson in the Team St. Louis No. 4 Carbir was going for a hat trick after winning Saturday's ACRL outing and Sunday's three hour Motorola Cup event. Lally took off from the pole and had a comfortable lead over John Fergus (Columbus) and David Downey (Chicago) when disaster struck. Coming onto the front straight, Lally suddenly slowed and pulled to the left, a broken CV joint ending his day. A jubilant Fergus commiserated with Lalley's bad luck on the victory podium, but gladly accepted the winner's trophy. Second place finisher Downey, back after a 7-month layoff, stayed with Fergus the whole race, but couldn't find a way by. A.J. Smith took third, and led Team Philadelphia to their second team victory in as many days. Dan Dubrovich of Team New York, who changed gear ratios just before the race, finished all alone in fourth. The remaining finish order was scrambled on lap 12, when John Burke (New York), Jeff Clinton (St. Louis), and David Dullum (Washington) tangled in the keyhole while running sixth, seventh and eighth in a tight pack. Bob Liebert (Columbus) was also involved, but all cars were able to continue. At the checker, Burke was fifth, Jim Ballard (Philadelphia) sixth, Clinton seventh, Liebert eighth, Sports 1600 winner Adam Burrows ninth, and Team Philadelphia's Jack Banha, the lone Classic Sports 2000 driver in the field, tenth. Engine problems sidelined David Ferguson (Salinas) and Team Portland drivers Steve Knight and Mel Hawkins.

Asked after the race if he could have caught Lally, Fergus noted that he had made some changes to the car to avoid overheating the front tires, and may have over-adjusted. Downey, who finished just 1.1 7 seconds behind, was delighted with his Lola's performance in light of the fact that the car hadn't run for seven months. Sports 1600 victor Adam Burrows said he had developed an engine miss mid-race, allowing his teammates John Faulkner and Dag Grala to close up on him, but the problem mysteriously cleared up and he ended with a 19.042 margin of victory. Faulkner and Grala ran nose to tail at the white flag, but an incident at the Keyhole dropped Grala back 18 seconds, still good enough for third. After three Eastern Division races, John Fergus leads the S2 class, Adam Burrows takes over the S1600 lead from Mel Hawkins, Jack Banha claims the CS2 lead, and Team Philadelphia leads the City Team Points.

The American City Racing League Eastern Division will race next with the Grand American series at Road America July 7-9. The ACRL series, using a unique team racing concept, races Ford-engined Sports 2000, and Classic Sports 2000 cars, as well as Toyota-powered Sports 1600 cars, with drivers required to run Hoosier ACRL-stamped R-45 compound tires and a spec fuel.

<pre> Mid-Ohio Sunday Race Results: Finishing position, start position ( ), driver, team, chassis, class, laps complete, qualifying time, best race lap, reason out (if any).

1 (3) John Fergus, Columbus, Carbir, S2, 20, 1:26.454, 1:27.275 2 (2) David Downey, Chicago, Lola, S2, 20, 1:26.280, 1:27.208 3 (4) A.J. Smith, Philadelphia, Pratt-Miller, S2, 20, 1:27.556, 1:28.618 4 (6) Dan Dubrovich, New York, Doran, S2, 20, 1:28.088, 1:28.903 5 (8) John Burke, New York, Carbir, S2, 20, 1:28.616, 1:29.549 6 (11) Jim Ballard, Philadelphia, Lola, S2, 20, 1:29.924, 1:31.035 7 (7) Jeff Clinton, St. Louis, Lola, S2, 19, 1:28.475, 1:29.622 8 (13) Bob Liebert, Columbus, Miller RM-2, S2, 19, 1:31.032, 1:31.125 9 (12) Adam Burrows, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:30.680, 1:32.668 10 (14) Jack Banha, Philadelphia, Swift, CS2, 19, 1:31.760, 1:33.317 11 (16) John Faulkner, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:32.649, 1:34.253 12 (15) Darius Grala, Boston, SVC, S16, 19, 1:32.332, 1:33.544 13 (17) Darryl Shoff, Philadelphia, Swift, S2, 19, 1:32.780, 1:34.629 14 (5) Craig Chima, Columbus, Lola, S2, 18, 1:27.576, 1:28.083 15 (9) David Dullum, Washington DC, Lola, S2, 18, 1:28.966, 1:29.579 16 (1) Andy Lally, St. Louis, Carbir, S2, 17, 1:26.114, 1:27.134 17 (18) Mel Hawkins, Portland, SVC, S16, 6, 1:33.904, 1:38.068 18 (19) Steve Knight, Portland, SVC, S16, 5, 1:33.929, 1:33.637 19 (10) David Ferguson, Salinas, Swift, S2, 4, 1:29.494, 1:30.295

Race Time: 30:15.955minutes Race Length: Miles: 45 Track Length: 2.25 miles S2 Margin of Victory: 1.171 S16 Margin of Victory: 19.042

S2 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:26.114 (Lally) S2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:27.134 (Lally) CS2 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:31.760 (Banha) CS2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:33.317 (Banha) S16 Fastest Qualifying Lap: 1:30.680 (Burrows), New Qualifying Record S16 Fastest Race Lap: 1:32.668 (Burrows), New Race Record

CLASSIC S2 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 3 RACES: 1 Jack Banha (R) 204 * Alain Nadal (R) 102

S2 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 2 RACES: 1 John Fergus 195 2 Dan Dubrovich 186 * 3 A.J. Smith (R) 177 4 Duke Johnson 157 * 5 Craig Chima 156 6 John Burke 147 * 7 Jeff Clinton 143 8 David Dullum 140 9 Bob Liebert 134 10 Jim Ballard 119 Darryl Shoff 119 12 Andy Lally 102 13 Martin Ryba 88 David Downey 88 15 David Ferguson 64

S2 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 3 RACES: 1 John Fergus 295 2 Dan Dubrovich 270 * 3 A.J. Smith (R) 265 4 John Burke 227 * 5 Craig Chima 220 6 Jeff Clinton 216 7 Bob Liebert 204 8 David Dullum 201 9 Jim Ballard 195 10 Darryl Shoff 186 11 David Downey 181 12 Andy Lally (R) 162 13 Duke Johnson 157 * 14 David Ferguson 119 15 Martin Ryba 88

S1600 DRIVER POINTS AFTER 3 RACES: 1 Adam Burrows 306 2 Mel Hawkins 286 * 3 John Faulkner 274 4 Steve Knight 272 * 5 Darius Grala 181 6 John Warner 88