A crash late in the race ended Christina Orr's run to home in her first race in the Firestone Indy Lights at Kentucky Speedway this afternoon. After a poor qualifying session which saw her start 24th and last, Orr showed superb skills and made a number of clean passes to get up to as high as fifteenth during the race. However late in the race she spun and hit CR Crews who was trying to get passed, ending both their races.
The race
For a driver who hadn't competed on an oval before joining the Firestone Indy Lights this season, Dillon Battistini is doing quite nicely.
The Ewell, England, racer won for the fourth time - all on ovals - in the No. 15 National Guard Delphi car for Panther Racing. This time, Battistini prevailed by 0.0814 of a second over James Davison in the Kentucky 100 at Kentucky Speedway.
The victory also moved Battistini to third (tied with Arie Luyendyk Jr., 57 points off the lead) in the championship standings with three races remaining. Richard Antinucci, who gained six positions to finish fourth in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, takes a four-point advantage over Raphael Matos to the doubleheader race weekend at Infineon Raceway in two weeks. Matos, who started from the pole in the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car for AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing placed sixth.
Ana Beatriz, who started on the front row in the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, led Lap 1. The remainder belonged to Battistini.
"I knew it was going to be hard to pass on this track," he said. "I have to admit, Matos was really strong in qualifying and practice throughout the weekend. I knew there was a chance at getting him at the start, and luckily I pulled that off and was able to hang on. I still had to fight off some really strong competition. Luckily, we were strong enough to hang on to the lead."
Battistini's final obstacle was a Lap 61 restart. He led Davison, who was driving the No. 11 Lifelock/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, by 0.1064 of a second on Lap 65.
"I think we definitely deserved to be up there," said Davison, who recorded his best finish on an oval in his rookie season. "A strong oval finish has been important to me and that hasn't been something I've been able to do so far this season for one reason or the other. I could have maybe taken a bit of chance by jumping Dillon on the restart, but I didn't want to end up losing a position, so we held on to a safe second."
Luyendyk finished third in the No. 26 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car. Battistini's teammate, Brent Sherman, finished fifth and Sean Guthrie was seventh in the No. 4 Car Crafters Guthrie Racing car. He started 16th. Beatriz was running in the top five before her car and the No. 25 Allied Building Products car driven by J.R. Hildebrand touched tires, sending both into the infield grass. Both cars emerged to finish the race, with Beatriz losing valuable points in the championship race with a 16th place.
Matos was pleased with holding firm in the title race.
"I finished sixth and Antinucci finished fourth," he said. "The good thing is that I am only four points behind and there are still plenty of races and we can improve and are real quick on the road courses and we are still in the fight for the championship. I feel great about going into the next couple of races. We have been doing good everywhere and on the road courses so Chicago should be good for us as well."
Race Results - Kentucky 100 9th Aug 08
1. Dillon Battistini
2. James Davison
3. Arie Luyendyk Jr.
4. Richard Antinucci
5. Brent Sherman
6. Raphael Matos
7. Sean Guthrie
8. Jonathan Klein
9. Bobby Wilson
10. Robbie Pecorari
also
21. Christina Orr
Alliance Motorsports
Kiwi Christina Orr had a steady start to her maiden outing in the Firestone Indy Lights series. Qualifying 24th with limited track time on an oval she will start with more confidence in tomorrows Kentucky 100.
Meanwhile AFS Racing/Andretti Green Racing's Raphael Matos figured out the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway oval for two-lap qualifications. Now his goal is to apply it to the Kentucky 100.
Matos earned his fourth SWE Race Car Parts pole award of the season with a cumulative time of 55.9064 seconds (190.604 mph) in the No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers Inc. car. He enters the 67-lap Kentucky 100 under the lights Aug. 9 tied with Richard Antinucci atop the Firestone Indy Lights standings by virtue of the one point earned for winning the pole.
Antinucci qualified 10th (56.5179; 188.542) in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car.
"It's very important to start up front at this track because it's so difficult to pass," Matos said. "We tested here a couple weeks ago and we had great speed. It feels so good to put everything together and get the pole. I was a little bit concerned because we went out so early, but the entire AFS/Andretti Green worked so hard all day. It feels so good to bring the boys the pole.
"Every point is important in this championship. It could be decided by 10 points, or just one point, so you have to get every point you can. It's good to get the pole. I just want a clean race so I can get as many points as I can."
Matos has transferred two of his pole starts into victories. In the season opener at Homestead-Miami Speedway (his other oval pole start), he finished eighth.
Ana Beatriz, third in the standings in the No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, tied her season high by qualifying second (56.0219; 190.211). Her other front-row start on an oval resulted in a trip to Victory Circle at Nashville Superspeedway.
"We just keep improving the car," Beatriz said. "We have put ourselves in a position that I think we can get a second win, but we will have to improve the car before the race because the Andretti Green car is really fast. I have to thank my Sam Schmidt team for teaching me all they know about ovals. They are very experienced in ovals. I am pleased to be starting on the front row because it is very hard to pass here. I just need to find a way to get around Raphael."
Arie Luyendyk Jr., still recovering from knee surgery two weeks ago, posted a combined time of 56.1725 seconds (189.701 mph) and will share Row 2 with Panther Racing's Dillon Battistini (56.1937 seconds; 189.630). Battistini has qualified in the top five on six of the seven ovals.
James Davison in the No. 11 Lifelock/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car (56.2052; 189.591) and Brent Sherman in the No. 16 National Guard Delphi car for Panther Racing (56.2995; 189.273) will be on Row 3.
Former Kentucky race winner Travis Gregg (56.3533; 189.093) in the No. 34 Sam Schmidt Motorsports car and Logan Gomez in the No. 23 Menard's Guthrie Racing car (56.3578; 189.078) will share Row 4. It's Gomez's season-high starting position.
Provisional Qualifying results
1. Raphael Matos
2. Ana Beatriz
3. Arie Luyendyk J
4. Dillon Battistini
5. James Davison
6. Brent Sherman
7. Travis Gregg
8. Logan Gomez
9. Daniel Herringt
10. Richard Antinucci
11. Jonathan Klein
12. Jeff Simmons
13. J.R. Hildebrand
14. Mike Potekhen
15. Pablo Donoso
16. Sean Guthrie
17. Bobby Wilson
18. CR Crews
19. PJ Abbott
20. Micky Gilbert
21. Franck Perera
22. Robbie Pecorar
23. Cyndie Alleman
24. Christina Orr
