Congrats Axel and Doni! It's nice to see more drivers during this round.
Good ole Riverside! My favorite US track. I was sad to see it's demise. It was part of what I'd call the racing Mecca of the US in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, plus I'd call it Dan Gurney's home track. Riverside, Ontario Motor Speedway (a copy of Indianapolis), and Ascot Park (0.5 mile dirt oval) were all located near each other. If you were a fan or a driver there was a lot to see in the area in the 60s and 70s.
All time statistics tracks fatal casualties all over the world shows Riverside road course on the podium, just after Nürburgring and Brands Hatch.
I didn't know that Axel. I'm not surprised a great deal though, considering so much racing was done there.
I think I'm better on the 71 version. Even on sections that appear identical, I think there are subtle differences. I enter the esses differently. And T7 feels a little different. I like the final turn in 1971 better too. It gives me all the oval type action I need.
I didn't expect to win. I thought I might do well. I seem to be good at Riverside in a closed body car. My hopes were to stay close to Axel, hoping the tow on the long straight would make up any differences on the rest of the course.
The start had me worried. I thought I might destroy my engine trying to slip the clutch, and I thought I might lose a position or two too. It helped that Mark was handicapped with a 2 speed transmission too. Thanks for giving me some room Mark. The first several laps were very tricky.
Axel, Mark, and Doni all had me a little worried, Axel especially so. Doni had a good car. I needed to limit my mistakes or he'd have a chance to beat me. I thought Mark might improve as the race progressed meaning he'd be faster than me. Axel was close enough until the very end, meaning any significant mistake would let him by.
The first 10 laps were tense. I struggled with the car but I managed to keep the car pointed in the right direction. I clipped a polo once that gave me a much larger spike in FF than I expected. I thought that might have damaged the car. I also ran over 3 or 4 them once in the early laps. Axel was never far enough away for me to relax some.
After 10 laps, I started doing well. Laps 11,12,13, and 14 were the laps that won it. I didn't know it at the time but I knew they were good laps and they came just when I needed them most. That opened a 10 second lead that allowed me to relax a bit. I thought Axel could still catch me but it I finished consistently it would be difficult for him.
The last half to 1/3 of the race went well too. I made few mistakes and I had the gap I needed. I did have one more polo to hit though. Bastian spun coming out of T2. I wasn't sure where to go other than straight over a polo to ensure I wouldn't hit him.
I apologize Dave. It looks like I played a part in Dave losing 4th place. I should have slowed down near the end but I had lost track of where Axel was. I had a 8 second gap with 8 laps to go. Once I got close to lapping other cars, I never looked at anything but the track, tach, and other cars. I ran Dave wide entering the esses. I tried to leave him some room but I didn't. I was going too fast. I also didn't know we were so close to the finish.
The 427 requires 100% concentration and a very smooth touch. As difficult as the first ten laps were I'm surprised the car did so well over many of the remaining laps. The only thing I can say good about it is, you don't have to do much shifting, one upshift and one downshift on the back straight.
Thanks guys. That was fun. Axel and Mark tried to hand me a win last week at Spa67. I tried very hard this week when they appeared to be giving me the opportunity again.