Moderator's Report
SUMMARY
A well deserved win for pole position sitter Robert Fleurke after the man who actually passed the chequered flag first, Tristan Bot, was disqualified for not having enough tokens to pay for his chosen chassis. Tristan's unfortunate mistake also promoted Bob Whitwell and Tommie van Ostade up to second and third place respectively.
Server replay time: 0h01m21s
Lap 1 - Lesmos 1 - Jethro Walters, Axel Cookie, Gregory Taber, Ronnie Peterson, Dean Logan, Andrew Livingston, Doni Yourth and Andreas Gebhardt.
Jethro gets a slow start and is passed by Bob Whitwell and Axel Cookie before Curva Grande. However Jethro fights back and takes a wide line round Della Roggia to position himself to pass Axel on the inside at Lesmos 1. Jethro outbrakes Axel and steals the inside line but Axel doesn't know he is there and he takes the normal racing line. Contact is made and both cars spin. The unfortunate Gregory Taber is following close behind and cannot avoid the carnage. Complete mayhem ensues as the rest of the field try to negotiate a way round the heaps of expensive machinery littering the track.
Axel is leading Jethro into Della Roggia but he loses sight of him in his mirrors as Jethro takes a wide line through the corner. Axel has no idea where Jethro is and consequently he doesn't leave him any room.
Jethro is obviously keen to make up the places he has lost and seizes an opportunity to attempt a pass. He leaves his braking to the latest possible moment but he still managed to keep to the inside line and didn't drift wide.
This wasn't an easy pass to attempt but Jethro managed to slow the car sufficiently to maintain the inside line and secure more than 50% overlap at turn in. However he didn't manage to achieve the 100% overlap necessary to claim the corner outright. Axel wasn't expecting an attack at this corner but he should have been sure there was no car on his inside before taking the racing line. This has to go down as a racing incident (Contested Overtake - Scenario 1) but it could have been avoided if Jethro had been a little more patient and Axel a little more aware. It could be argued that a greater proportion of the blame resides with Jethro as he instigated the attempted pass but it wasn't a reckless attempt, he did achieve a significant overlap and he didn't run wide. Drivers have to be allowed to race and it is not in anyone's interest to penalise drivers in borderline situations such as this. All drivers, not just Jethro and Axel, should learn from this incident and recognise that the only way to race at close quarters is when both drivers are fully aware, don't take unnecessary risks and leave room where appropriate.
