[TheRaceSite] The Preferred Line - World Challenge Wednesday
[This excerpt is from an article orginally appearing on TheRaceSite website.]
The Preferred Line - Road racing news and commentary
SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge Wednesday (May 21, 2008) By Jim Bourn
[World Challenge GT news from Utah]
Tommy Archer was the winner in GT and even though the best Viper finish of the season in the first three races was Jeff Courtney's soggy fifth at the annual Sebring regatta Tommy's win was as surprising as the big brown horse winning the Preakness Stakes on the same weekend.
Archer was just as strong last year in the Autohaus entry and Miller is Woodhouse's home track so it is doubtful that they were searching for the setup in Utah.
I suppose the mild shocker of the weekend was that the Vipers filled the qualifying podium as Ritch Marziale put in his career best qualifying effort to join Archer on the front row with Cindy Lux grabbing the show qualifying position
Naturally when I saw the qualifying results I immediately thought of Lou Gigliotti!
Speaking of that does anyone control a race better from the front than Tommy Archer? And sorry but controlling your pace while leading a race isn't sand-bagging it is just smart driving and Tommy does it best.
Sorry Brandon Davis but Tommy had your every move covered as any time Davis would mount a threat and reduce the air space between the front bumper of his ACS Express Mustang and the back end of Archer's Dodge Tommy would click off a lap or two around 1:58 flat or even the 1:57's and get his cushion back.
Actually in case you missed it the Woodhouse team also collected the fastest lap of the race as Jeff Courtney blasted off a 1:57.628 in the Kenda Tire/TJM/MPI Coin Woodhouse Viper on lap 18.
Courtney, Archer and Marziale were the only drivers to record 57's during the race as the best lap recorded in the non-Viper class was Andy Pilgrim with a 1:58.074 in his Remington Cadillac CTS-V.
Interestingly Rob Foster was 5th fastest with a best lap of 1:58.110 as Rob had his LTI Contracting Chevy Corvette inside of the top ten for several laps but Rob, who was 11th on lap 19, faded back to a 19th place when the race ended on lap 22.
Brandon Davis had another strong run in his Mustang and deserves to be leading the points race but I think Cindy Lux might have had his measure had she not over cooked it a couple of times while trying to make a couple of high speed passes in the early going.
I suppose one might say that Cindy blew a chance at a podium or even to challenge Archer for the win but personally I applaud her aggressiveness trying to move to the front. Based on her run at Miller she might well see other shots at podium finishes as the season goes along.
Speaking of horse races I certainly handicapped Eric Curran as the leading candidate to make an impact in GT for Chevrolet but a stalled start and a mechanical DNF at Miller has only extended Curran's simply awful year in the Whelen Corvette and none other than Tony Gaples and his BlackDog entry is the highest placing Corvette in the series right now having been the highest placing Chevy in two of the three races.
