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Alex Lloyd Wins Race and 2007 Championship |
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There is nothing more exhilarating than winning a championship on the same day you win a race. Or is it the other way around? Either way, that was the thrill that Alex Lloyd and his Sam Schmidt Motorsports’ team experienced at the Infineon road course.
In our first story of the season we asked, “Can Anyone Stop Alex Lloyd?” Today that question was answered. No!
Officially the challengers went down in flames, so to speak, in today’s 30 lap Race 1 at the Carneros 100 in Sonoma, California. Alex again put his name in the IRL record book with his 8th win of the season, a new single season IPS record.
Going into the race Alex had a 98 point lead over Hideki Mutoh, but that was not enough to mathematically rule Mutoh out of the chase for the title. Lloyd’s 139 lead as he rolled into victory lane earned him much more than just a bottle of champagne and the race trophy. As Alex said after the race, he didn’t want to win the Indy Pro Series Championship at a race he did not win. He had his way.
Cheever Racing’s Richard Antinucci won the pole for the race, but Alex qualified 2nd and was there on the front row of the grid – as he has been in each and every race this season where there were qualifications. When the green flag dropped at the start, he made his move on Antinucci in the first turn and never looked back. Lloyd and his white number 7 car with the red “LUCAS” on the sides and nose led every lap of the race.
His challenger, Hideki Mutoh, qualified a somewhat poor 10th. From the start though Mutoh knew that he had his work cut out. He needed to get up to the front and he set out to get there. Before the mid-point of the race he was on 6th place Jaime Camara’s exhaust pipes. Camara was as determined to maintain his position as Mutoh was to take it away from him. That went on for 5 or 6 laps before Mutoh dove down on the inside going into a turn and he and Camara made contact on lap 18. Camara was able to keep going but Mutoh spun out and stalled his engine.
By the time he was back running Hideki was a lap down. Still, he did not give up the chase and turned in the fastest lap of the race on lap 29 in his pursuit. He finished 19th in the field of 22.
Antinucci drove an impressive race and stayed close to Alex but was never a serious threat. He finished second. Mike Potekhen [Apex Racing] claimed the other podium spot.
As for the other points challengers, Camara finished in 7th. Cunningham and Wilson were both involved in separate accidents and finished in positions 16 and 17 respectively.
In our first story of the season we suggested that the toughest challenges to Lloyd would come from, [besides Mutoh] 2005 series champion Wade Cunningham, Bobby Wilson, Jay Howard and Jaime Camara. Last years series champion, Jay Howard, withdrew from the Indy Pro Series after the first three races this season to look for an Indy car ride.
As for the other four, they find themselves in the top five of the points standings: Mutoh [2nd], Cunningham [3rd], Wilson [4th] and Jaime Camara [5th]. And what could speak better than the international diversity representing the top five: England, Japan, New Zealand, United States and Brazil.
As for their teams in order, we have: Sam Schmidt Motorsports [United States], Super Aguri Panther Racing [Japan / United States], AFS Racing [United States], Brian Stewart Racing [Canada] and Andretti Green Racing [United States].
Tony George and Roger Bailey deserve a lot of credit for attracting some of the best young talent in the world.
The second of the Infineon double header for the Pro Series is tomorrow and then the finale at Chicagoland Speedway on September 16th will wrap up this great 16-race season.
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