The first (from Sean) is a picture of the initial green flag. Chatting with Andrew Ranger after the race, he didn't complain in the least about getting a 'drive through' penalty for jumping the start. Now I see why.
And then there was this multi-shot sequence of the lap 42 lead change involving Andrew Ranger's winning pass of then race leader J.R. Fitzpatrick up in turn 5. Robert Maguire has his own gallery here on FLICKR.
Thanks to Sean and Robert Maguire for sharing!
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8 comments:
is NCATS in Mississippi? I need to find a track.
Looks like Fitz turned in on Ranger, nice pass, they're both amazing road racers. I hope Fitz is not upset, he drove a hell of a race.
the still pictures look like JR turned into Ranger, but standing there, you would have seen the opposite. Some people just shook their heads, knowing that Ranger made a BooBoo
I wasn't up there and have only seen these photos.
Ranger is inside of Fitzpatrick at that part of the turn, but I believe it's the responsibility of the driver in that position to have control of his car if there is another turn pending.
Looks to me as though Ranger was too hot given that he needed to make a sharp right in the next few metres. Yes, he had the inside line, but it looks like he couldn't negotiate the rest of the corner and pushed into the side of the #84, who was on his normal line. In fact, it's possible that Ranger would have shot across the track and into the grass had Fitzpatrick not been there to stop him.
That said, I've seen worse and it was a great battle and it was nice to see some passion. A little rivalry doesn't hurt, either.
One more thing... looking at the first few shots of that sequence, Ranger is on a part of the track that has no rubber on it. He was well inside of the racing line and had no chance of turning right after heading into the turn that fast.
Ranger used the inside line from 5A to 5B a couple of times to make up positions. I think he thought that JR would just clear out of the way, like everyone else.
Of course you didn't make it down to turn 5, Greg. Too much to do in the Paddock. How was the shrimp and lobster buffet, in the tower?
-just kidding, -I luv chicken-
Shrimp & Lobster? What am I?.... a TV guy? Puhleeze. The only thing I was eating was dust outside of turns 1 and 10.... dreaming about a fatty smoked meat from The Main.
Andrew made up 2.1 second in 3 laps and J.R. kept blocking him. He couldnt hold him off for 8 more laps... Andrew had the fastest lap of the race at lap 40 so he had to make a move at one point. To me it seems like J.R. was frustrated that he led the whole race and was going to get beat by and other young gun at the end of the race. I just hope Barrie is going to be somewhat clean....
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