Flashpoint Pro Series: Ken Carlin wins the season opener at Daytona
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FLASHPOINT RACING SERIES - PRO FIXED PRO DIVISION - SEASON OPENER AT DAYTONA
Saturday, February 16th, 2002
Cloudy 70 Degrees No Wind
The long anticipated day has arrived and the preparation for it showed in qualifying with the top 4 starters showing very competitive times. Last season's front runners showed their stuff though, filling the first three starting positions. Larry Miner, who finished 2nd in Pro Division points during the winter season, put the #43 car on pole with a qualifying speed of 186.955 mph. The winter season's Pro Division champ, #6 Scott Gilroy, qualified on outside front row. #28 Bill Jackson, Pro Division rookie and winter season Semi-Pro champ, took the 3rd starting spot.
The action started with the drop of the green flag and Jackson tucking in behind behind Miner to take 2nd spot coming out of turn 2, and then taking the lead coming out of turn 4 on the low side to lead the first lap of the Pro Division season and his first lap in this division. The racing didn't stop as Jackson and Miner, along with #26 Paul Travis, #2 Ken Carlin, and Pro Division rookies #99 Bruce English and #13 Chad Moore, swapped the lead for the first 14 laps. All this passing kept the field of twenty-two to within 3 seconds of each other. All the field, that is, except for #18 Sean Montgomery(22nd), who had lost the draft on lap 2.
Good car control was displayed by #55 Ron Stith(12th) on lap 6 when #25 Skip Carey(13th) touched his rear bumper going into turn 3. Stith slid onto the apron, regained control, and rolled on without losing position.
On lap 14, Travis(9th) hit the wall coming out of turn 4, then slid down the track collecting #3 Luke Sink(11th), sending both of them through the infield. The caution flag didn't come out then, but it did the following lap. Travis was limping his car to the pits and, with Carlin leading the pack into turn 3, slid up the track and into traffic. Yes ... 'The Big One'. Travis slid into English, who was running third. Then the usual chain reaction catastrophe happened, involving thirteen cars (over half the field).
Cars Involved: 28 Bill Jackson 99 Bruce English 43 Larry Miner 40 William Hills 26 Paul Travis 99 Wilber, Jr. 55 Ron Stith 27 Wayne Vickers 25 Skip Carey 30 Luis Sarabia 38 Rex Adams 76 Jason Brown 136 Jim Eklund
The entire field pitted under caution on lap 17 except for Brown and Montgomery. Brown led the field to the restart on lap 20. A 47mph pace speed on the restart caused some checking up which resulted in more chaos. Sarabia (10th position) got into the back of #17 Cory Vickers (8th position), triggering mass spinouts and black flags for 8 drivers for passing in the inside on the restart. Eight other drivers around the mess had very sub-par restarts. No caution was thrown. This left 6 cars in the lead pack: Montgomery, Carlin, Brown, Moore, #6 Scott Gilroy, and Pro Division rooky #09 Mick Chrisman. All would swap for the lead for the next 10 laps except Carlin and Moore.
The second caution of the day came out on lap 32 when Sarabia(14th) and Wilber Jr(13th), both a lap down, make contact going into turn 3, sending the Wilber Jr into the wall. Miner was also collected in the incident. Montgomery leads all the lead lap cars down pit road but Gilroy beat him out of the pits to take the lead for the restart.
The restart proved to be uneventful as the lead pack of 10 cars stayed pretty much single file. Things changed on lap 41 as Carlin went for an inside pass on Montgomery for the lead coming out of turn 4. Contact between the two sent Montgomery into the wall causing enough damage for him to lose the draft. Brown(7th) had to check up and also lost the lead draft. Evem with damage, Montgomery didn't pit and was able to hook up with English and #136 Jim Eklund (both a lap down) for the rest of the race keeping himself on the lead lap. Carlin takes the lead on lap 42 with Gilroy in second.
#026 Ernie Lukins went a lap down on lap 45 but was able to stick with the pack. Carey was the only other lapped car able to stick with the leaders after the last restart. With 25 laps to go there are 7 lead lap cars in the front pack.
Coming out of turn 2 on lap 49, Vickers(4th) and Moore(5th) pass Chrisman(3rd) on the outside. #54 Jon Wilson(6th) also tries to pass high but doesn't have enough time to clear Chrisman before the turn. While the two were battling it out for 5th position, the top 4 might have broken away if they didn't get racey. Vickers(3rd) goes low on the back straight to pass Gilroy(2nd). Gilroy, in his efforts to draft on the high side with Carlin(1st) rubs the #2 car just a bit on the bumper. Carlin had no problem handling it, but had to check up. This gave Vickers the lead on lap 50, his first time up front all night, but ended any possibility of a 4 car breakaway.
Carlin retook the lead on lap 53 and then things settled down and everyone pretty much remained single file for the next fifteen laps. Adams, Jackson, and Miner, who had been drafting together since about the beginning of the last restart, went a lap down to the leaders on lap 63. Hills(7th) lost the lead draft at this time. He had received damage in an earlier incident but had been able to stick with the pack. This left 6 lead lap cars in the front draft with 15 laps to go.
Gilroy(2nd) goes low into turn 3 to pass Carlin for the lead on lap 67. Carlin retakes the lead on the next lap passing Gilroy on the outside with help from Chrisman(3rd). Moore found it a little hard to keep the #13 car from scraping the turn 4 wall with 7 laps to go. Forty lap old tires probably played a role in ending his chances for a win.
With 4 laps to go, Vickers(3rd) passes Gilroy on the low side going into turn 1 to take 2nd position. Vickers then sees his chance for the lead. Coming into the tri-oval he goes for a pass on the high side but gets no help and ends up dropping back to 4th position. Carlin retains the lead with Gilroy following up in second.
On the same lap, Chrisman(6th) gets a run on the high side of Wilson(5th) coming out of turn 2. Side by side in turn 3, the two make contact sending Chrisman sliding at about a 45 degree angle. The two make contact again. Partially correcting Chrisman's flight path. That, and some excellent driving by Chrisman, made for a great save.
For the final 3 laps, Carlin was successful in holding off Gilroy for the Daytona victory, winning over Girloy(2nd) by .07 seconds! Caution came out after the leader had crossed the finish line for the win when Sarabia got into the back of Sink coming out of turn 4 sending the #3 car spinning down the front stretch.
Official Daytona Results: Finish Start Driver Laps Led Points Bonus Qualify Reason Out 1 5 K_Carlin 80 44 185 10 186.908 mph Running 2 2 Scott Gilroy 80 9 175 5 186.939 mph Running 3 12 Jon Wilson 80 0 165 0 186.738 mph Running 4 16 C Vickers 80 3 165 5 186.660 mph Running 5 6 Chad Moore 80 1 160 5 186.901 mph Running 6 11 Mick Chrisman 80 5 155 5 186.765 mph Running 7 8 J Brown 80 5 151 5 186.873 mph Running 8 21 SMontgomery 80 5 147 5 185.464 mph Running 9 10 William Hills 79 0 138 0 186.784 mph Running 10 13 S CAREY 79 0 134 0 186.711 mph Running 11 22 Ernie Lukins 79 0 130 0 185.281 mph Running 12 17 Luis D Sarabia 79 0 127 0 186.540 mph Running 13 3 Bill_Jackson 79 3 129 5 186.936 mph Running 14 7 B_English 79 1 126 5 186.885 mph Running 15 18 Jim Eklund 78 0 118 0 186.506 mph Running 16 9 l_sink 78 0 115 0 186.827 mph Running 17 1 Larry Miner 78 3 117 5 186.955 mph Running 18 19 wayne vickers 78 0 109 0 186.490 mph Running 19 20 Rex Adams 78 0 106 0 186.444 mph Running 20 15 WilburJr 31 0 103 0 186.672 mph Retired 21 14 Ron Stith 20 0 100 0 186.711 mph Accident 22 4 Paul W Travis 14 1 102 5 186.936 mph Accident
Race time - 1:10:10.083
Average speed - 171.018mph
Margin of victory - 0.07 sec
Caution flags - 3
Lead changes - 20
Weather - Cloudy_ 70 °F_ East 0 mph
Article by: Paul Travis - 1st R Racing
Edited by: Jim Eklund - TeamUSA Racing