The A-Heat Race
Robie Robie started along side Hatsune Miku on the starting grid and he knew that his best shot at winning the title would be to knock her out of the ring by scoring more points than her. Likewise, Tse Sakamoto and Ellie McIllan who were also still in contention, also wanted to score as many points as they could to eliminate the others.
The start of this race placed them all within sight of each other but by about the end of lap 2, it became obvious that neither Miku nor Robie would be scoring any points. The two Holdens of Cornelius and McKane linked up very early on and with Bruno Gourdo and Patrick Mann lurking around and hoping to claim anything in consolation for the season, the race to the front would be difficult.
Sakamoto and McKane got out to an early lead and it was for Gourdo and Mann to try and keep up.
The two works Holden drivers had been given orders by team principal Philip Monroe to "go as hard and as fast for as long as they could" because he was hoping to sell the last two chassis which Holden needed to fill up its manufacturer allocation for 20X2. Those two drivers really had nothing to lose as far as championship hopes stood; which meant that Sakamoto in the Mazda spent the whole race trying to be like a greyhound chasing down a fake rabbit.
Patrick Mann spent most of the afternoon mirror driving as he tried and succeeded in keeping Cornelius behind him.
As for Ellie McIllan, the defending champion realised that she wasn't going to get much from the A-Heat Race and so dropped Gojira off behind her and drove a solid but uneventful drive for 6th.
Gojira would be disappointed to bring his car home in 7th place and this yet again highlights the lack of results that Datsun had had in 20X1. Quite frankly, apart from the occasional results of Gojira himself, the whole Datsun project is looking shaky.
One of the more intriguing battles of the afternoon was between Jack Raymond, Kerrod Edmundson, and Greg Rellings. They spent nine laps fighting over 15th, 16th and 17th places; which meant that they were going to score zero points but still be above the cut for the final main feature race.
Jack Raymond driving the #π Holden, set up his car with shorter gearing than the two Mazdas because he wanted to punch out of the two ends of the race track and had hoped to maintain speed by sitting in the draught of cars in front of him. Of course, as this is still his first season he wouldn't have realised that unlike other tracks, it is exceedingly easy to break the draught of cars following you; simply by moving off line.
What the two Mazda drivers of Edmundson and Rellings found out was that even after dropping Raymond out of the draught, he could out accelerate them coming out of the ends of the race track and would clear out by as much as 200 yards before they reeled him back in again.
The difference in strategies played out after the pit stops on lap 25; as it took until after the half way point before the order of the race settled in for the afternoon.
As Daytona Beach is very much a street circuit and not an oval, the drivers who tended to do well at street circuits again did well here. Unlike other street circuits where there is a lot of changes of direction, Daytona Beach is a run out and a run back with two massive straights which define the course. Kane McKane basically blasted off into the distance and remained there. As it is very easy to break a draft, Tse Sakamoto could never even hope to catch him and so just ran his own race to arrive home in second place.
By the end of the race, McKane had lapped everyone up to 5th place and the public relations people decided that having the two Holdens roll around in formation was good for publicity. Thus by the end of the race, what may have been as much as an entire minute lead, was chipped back down to just six seconds. McKane was never in any danger of being caught and if it came to it, Cornelius would act as a nuisance for Sakamoto.
The truth was that Holden had had a really productive afternoon and brought seven of its eight runners home and qualified for the main feature race on Sunday. The only one which didn't qualify was Jack Napier's #333 Axis Chemicals car. As for who exactly the two remaining slots which would be taken up as a result of Axis Chemicals leaving, that still remains to be seen.
One of the questions which was resolved in this race was whether or not Hatsune Miku would have a mathematical shot at the championship. As a regular feature race pays 20 points for a win, to be inside that she needed to score 25 more points in this heat race than championship leader, Ellie McIllan. Unfortunately, Miku could only manage to finish 9th; which although is easily enough to qualify for the feature race, it pays zero points. Thus, the chequered flag not only fell on this heat race but also on Miku's last chance for glory.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Kane McKane
6 - Tse Sakamoto
4 - Bruno Gourdo
3 - Patrick Mann
2 - Henri Cornelius
1 - Ellie McIllan
Robie Robie started along side Hatsune Miku on the starting grid and he knew that his best shot at winning the title would be to knock her out of the ring by scoring more points than her. Likewise, Tse Sakamoto and Ellie McIllan who were also still in contention, also wanted to score as many points as they could to eliminate the others.
The start of this race placed them all within sight of each other but by about the end of lap 2, it became obvious that neither Miku nor Robie would be scoring any points. The two Holdens of Cornelius and McKane linked up very early on and with Bruno Gourdo and Patrick Mann lurking around and hoping to claim anything in consolation for the season, the race to the front would be difficult.
Sakamoto and McKane got out to an early lead and it was for Gourdo and Mann to try and keep up.
The two works Holden drivers had been given orders by team principal Philip Monroe to "go as hard and as fast for as long as they could" because he was hoping to sell the last two chassis which Holden needed to fill up its manufacturer allocation for 20X2. Those two drivers really had nothing to lose as far as championship hopes stood; which meant that Sakamoto in the Mazda spent the whole race trying to be like a greyhound chasing down a fake rabbit.
Patrick Mann spent most of the afternoon mirror driving as he tried and succeeded in keeping Cornelius behind him.
As for Ellie McIllan, the defending champion realised that she wasn't going to get much from the A-Heat Race and so dropped Gojira off behind her and drove a solid but uneventful drive for 6th.
Gojira would be disappointed to bring his car home in 7th place and this yet again highlights the lack of results that Datsun had had in 20X1. Quite frankly, apart from the occasional results of Gojira himself, the whole Datsun project is looking shaky.
One of the more intriguing battles of the afternoon was between Jack Raymond, Kerrod Edmundson, and Greg Rellings. They spent nine laps fighting over 15th, 16th and 17th places; which meant that they were going to score zero points but still be above the cut for the final main feature race.
Jack Raymond driving the #π Holden, set up his car with shorter gearing than the two Mazdas because he wanted to punch out of the two ends of the race track and had hoped to maintain speed by sitting in the draught of cars in front of him. Of course, as this is still his first season he wouldn't have realised that unlike other tracks, it is exceedingly easy to break the draught of cars following you; simply by moving off line.
What the two Mazda drivers of Edmundson and Rellings found out was that even after dropping Raymond out of the draught, he could out accelerate them coming out of the ends of the race track and would clear out by as much as 200 yards before they reeled him back in again.
The difference in strategies played out after the pit stops on lap 25; as it took until after the half way point before the order of the race settled in for the afternoon.
As Daytona Beach is very much a street circuit and not an oval, the drivers who tended to do well at street circuits again did well here. Unlike other street circuits where there is a lot of changes of direction, Daytona Beach is a run out and a run back with two massive straights which define the course. Kane McKane basically blasted off into the distance and remained there. As it is very easy to break a draft, Tse Sakamoto could never even hope to catch him and so just ran his own race to arrive home in second place.
By the end of the race, McKane had lapped everyone up to 5th place and the public relations people decided that having the two Holdens roll around in formation was good for publicity. Thus by the end of the race, what may have been as much as an entire minute lead, was chipped back down to just six seconds. McKane was never in any danger of being caught and if it came to it, Cornelius would act as a nuisance for Sakamoto.
The truth was that Holden had had a really productive afternoon and brought seven of its eight runners home and qualified for the main feature race on Sunday. The only one which didn't qualify was Jack Napier's #333 Axis Chemicals car. As for who exactly the two remaining slots which would be taken up as a result of Axis Chemicals leaving, that still remains to be seen.
One of the questions which was resolved in this race was whether or not Hatsune Miku would have a mathematical shot at the championship. As a regular feature race pays 20 points for a win, to be inside that she needed to score 25 more points in this heat race than championship leader, Ellie McIllan. Unfortunately, Miku could only manage to finish 9th; which although is easily enough to qualify for the feature race, it pays zero points. Thus, the chequered flag not only fell on this heat race but also on Miku's last chance for glory.
Points Awarded A-Heat Race:
9 - Kane McKane
6 - Tse Sakamoto
4 - Bruno Gourdo
3 - Patrick Mann
2 - Henri Cornelius
1 - Ellie McIllan