Pre-Race Interview
1. Here we are. Final round. P1 has been locked up by Justin Tipton, but P2 is wide open. Who is your money on for the win and why?
Deep in my heart I'm still rooting for Paul.
But lets analyze it, shall we? Paul is behind Gunner by 1 point. So if they finish back to back Gunner can still tie it if he pulls off an incident free race. And that's assuming they both finish on the podium. So it really matters how many people show up this week. If they find themselves 5th or lower, then Gunner could still lose the race to Paul but still win the championship on a bonus point. On average Paul has 10 more incident points than Gunner per race. With Gunner gaining 4 bonus points so far this season to Pauls....absolutely none. On top of that, Paul hasn't finished ahead of G-Money since week 4. Some might say he's over due...others might say that Gunner's been driving at the top of his game.
After last week we now know that Cash for Crash are issuing clear team orders. So if Owen manages to find himself in front of Gunner (which he's managed to do much more often than Paul), he could possibly slow him down to be within striking distance of Paul. On a narrow street circuit like this it would be hard for either of them to pass, but I wouldn't put it past them to try that sort of strategy.
One thing is for certain though, Blown Tranny Racing team mate Tyler Gore will not be a factor. Because he'll be behind me and Chris. I've got 3 points to make up to catch Tyler for 5th place. Realistically, all I can hope for is for Tyler to wreck and end up way in the back. Although, I could tie it up if Chris manages to finish between me and Tyler AND I pull off a clean race to get the bonus point.
Whoever wins, I just hope they have a good back and forth battle to finish out the season. Paul's my guy, but Gunner has been driving really well over the past month. So he would have really deserved it if he can pull it off!
2. Belle Isle is a new track, but also one that some of us would like to forget from pre-season action. Do you like this track?
I don't think I made it for this pre season race. I really like the track, it's like our own little Monaco. When you get into the rhythm of Sector 1 it's a whole lot of fun! And driving through the fountain section with cars around you is super exciting! Driving cleanly through chaos has always been my strong point. But I'm currently running in the 47's, so I'm about 4 seconds off of Division 1 pace, but probably only about 2 seconds behind our front pack. I think Chris is capable of running 46's, but as we all know he's his own worst enemy when it comes to hitting the wall. I pulled off P9 in officials by starting from the pit and driving Miss Daisy around the streets of Detroit. But our league races tend to have less drama than officials, so that may not even play a part.
3. Have you signed up for Season 12 of the infamous PRL Thursday Series? No? Why not!?
Sure have! We haven't heard word yet from the higher ups, but we expect White Flag Racing driver contract offers to be coming through after this week's race!
But yeah, I'm looking forward to continue racing for PRL. We've got a real good group of guys here, and I'm hoping to recruit some more of us midfielders to fill out the back of the grid. I'd really like to find someone to bridge the gap to Barnett. He's been back there all season with no one to race him, and I worry that we might lose guys like him if it keeps on like that. Thanks for hangin' in there Daniel!
So we're working on up-ing the production on race replays. First things first is getting a leader board and a lap counter over lay. I've downloaded ATVO and I'm slowly trying to figure it out, but if anyone has any experience with broadcast overlays please let me know because the learning curve seems pretty steep! The resolution of the videos should also get much better for next season. Maybe if we can get the pre race interviews done for Saturday I can start writing a mid-week lead up article for the race....maybe post it around in the forums and try to lure some people over...