Sam who? Tony who? Forget about the brawl. True that added a touch of unusual drama after three winners had already been declared at the greatest American road race circuit. But the really important names were Wade, Alex and Scott.
We’ll start with the Brit, because his win was sandwiched in between the two Kiwis. Alex Lloyd was at his best in the second of the Corning Twin 100s at Watkins Glen International for the Indy Pro Series, which was run on Sunday before the Indy car race.
In the first of two Pro races, Alex qualified second fastest and maintained his being able to say he qualified on the front row of every race [that had a real qualification] this season. He finished third in that race, the first time he had not finished either first or second this year.
Alex started in 4th place on the grid for the second race because of the inverted order based on first race finish, which was on Saturday. He took over the lead on the fourth lap and never relinquished that spot. He turned in the fasted lap also. The win gave him a very comfortable lead in the championship points. His 477 points puts him 138 points ahead of Hideki Mutoh, who is still in second.
Perhaps of more interest is that Alex is the first Pro driver to have won on all four of the road/street race venues – the Liberty Challenge at the IMS F1 circuit and at Infineon Raceway last year and this year he nailed St. Petersburg twice and now Watkins Glen.
Of course, now there is one more road race that has been added, Mid-Ohio. And it is only one race, not a double header. So, Alex will have another challenge. There are now three drivers who have beaten him on the road courses; Mutoh, Wilson and Cunningham. Should be exciting on July 22.
Lloyd has also racked up 7 wins this season to tie him with Mark Taylor’s Pro record, and there are still six races left. He has a good chance for two records.
When races at Watkins Glenn were added to the IRL schedule for 2005 it added a lot of excitement for both drivers and fans. After all this was the beloved circuit for 20 of the past Formula 1 USGP races. It is a beautiful setting with not only its wooded terrain of turns but also its up and down elevation variations.
And then there is the history of legendary drivers of the past who won F1 races at Watkins Glen. These are names like Jim Clark, Graham Hill and Emerson Fittipaldi, all of whom won the Indy 500, and Jackie Stewart an Indy 500 Rookie of the Year. Also held at The Glen were Cam-Am races won by Kiwis Bruce McLaren and Denny Hulme [also an Indy 500 Rookie of the Year].
As you can see Alex Lloyd comes from a great British heritage when winning at The Glen is the subject. Now for the current two Kiwis. They sort of own The Glen it seems.
.
Wade Cunningham started things off in 2005 when he turned in some awesome wet track speeds in practice for the Pro race. The Glen was special for him as he grabbed the first pole in his Pro career. That year the race at The Glen was on September 25 and was the next to last race of the season.
Wade was in the points lead for the championship. His two challengers that day were Jeff Simmons and Marco Andretti. Wade’s number one priority was to finish the race and pick up a reasonable number of points. He couldn’t afford to really fight it out with his two other top competitors. Jeff needed all the points he could get to have a mathematical chance at the championship. He had nothing to lose by going for the win. Marco was not in the running for the championship because of a limited number of races. He had nothing to lose by going for the win either.
Jeff and then Marco passed Wade on the first lap of the race and then Wade stayed on their tails. Marco, who had already won at St. Pete, the Liberty Challenge on the IMS F1 USGP road course and the road race at Infineon, was able to take the lead away from Simmons, but then lose it on the last lap of the race.
Simmons ended up with the win, Marco was second and Wade third.
Happy with his podium finish at The Glen, Wade added to his joy when fellow compatriot Scott Dixon snatched the Indy car win at The Glen away from Tony Kanaan near the end of that race. It was Scott’s first win since his Indy car championship year in 2003.
Wade went on to win the Pro race and the championship at the next and last race of the season at California Speedway in 2005, with Simmons finishing second in both.
Last year, although Wade did not win pole again at Watkins Glen, he did lead the race at The Glen for 15 of the 27 laps before pole sitter Bobby Wilson made a great pass on a rain soaked track to regain the lead and win the race. Wade finished second. Then in the Indy car race Scott took the lead for the last nine laps and won that race for the second time in a row.
This year Wade and Scott really got it all together. Wade turned in the fastest times in the first three practices and won the pole again. Alex Lloyd was second fastest as noted. Wade led every lap of the race, which he won with relative ease, even though Hideki Mutoh was a very close second and Alex was left with his lowest finish of the year - third. For Cunningham it was the third time in his Pro Series career that he had the pole and led every lap of that race.
The inverted grid order for the second Pro race put Alex in 4th position and Wade in 6th. As mentioned, Alex won the second race, and Wade finished second again.
Scott Dixon did his thing again for the third consecutive year. Qualifying second, he took over the lead when pole sitter Helio Castroneves crashed along the way. [Helio had the pole at The Glen for the third consecutive time.]
The two Kiwis and New Zealand had a lot to celebrate this weekend. In three years they have bagged two poles, three front row starts, four wins, two seconds and a third. How could they not love Watkins Glen?
As for Alex Lloyd, all of Great Britain was cheering for him.
|
IPS Archive 
