Ken
Gone but not forgotten
From The Race Site:
The Preferred Line - Cleveland WCGT race report
6/26/2005 - The Preferred Line - Road racing news and commentary
SPEED World Challenge Cleveland 2005 Special Edition - WCGT Race Report (June 26, 2005) By Jim Bourn
"He is absolutely over the moon right now!" - Robin Liddell describing how Jon Groom was feeling about their win at Cleveland
Robin Liddell wins SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT race at Cleveland
The 'Bake at the Lake', or the SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT race at Cleveland started with a bang and ended with the closest race in World Challenge history as Robin Liddell held off a last turn run from Max Angelelli to flash under the starter's stand to win his first WC win by a scant .038 seconds.
Liddell took his AXA Financial/PFAFF Porsche 911 into the lead on lap 4 and held form looking untouchable until Jim McCann's crash brought out the caution on lap 16.
Max Angelelli, balked by the turn 1 melee, charged his Cadillac CTS-V back to the front and when the field was restarted on lap 23 Max began hounding Liddell as their lap times plummeted into the 1:18's.
Even still as much pressure as Angelelli was applying in his XM Satellite Radio/Mobil 1/Motorola/ Bose Cadillac CTS-V Liddell's blue Porsche looked to have every answer and when Angelelli, with memories of Atlanta fresh in everyone's mind made a last ditch move into turn one that couldn't wrest the lead from Liddell it looked like Robin had the victory locked!
Well, this is World Challenge racing and as Yogi said 'It ain't over till it's over' as the cars finished their last lap Liddell moved to take a shallow line into the chicane which gave Angelelli a run on the Porsche going onto the finishing straight.
Liddell, making his Porsche as wide as possible without contact, barely held off the last ditch pass attempt by Angelelli as the duo bombed towards the starters stand winning his first World Challenge race for both himself and owner Jon Groom and setting a World Challenge record in the process.
Bad start at black rock
The problems started when Lou Gigliotti left the starting blocks early in his LG Pro Long Tube Header Corvette. But that was minor.
The bad start in the problem turn (turn 1) here at Cleveland waited until the last race of the weekend to rear it's ugly head as Tommy Archer got a great launch with his c3controls/3R Racing Dodge Viper and after moving his way past Leighton Reese came bombing up on the field in turn 1 which was stacked up as Max Papis, Max Angelelli and Wolf Henzler were moving cautiously through the turn.
Archer smacked Papis and Henzler turning both cars in mid turn sending the field scattering looking for safe real estate as the mess that everyone had feared was becoming a reality.
Leighton Reese was definitely the benefactor of this as he slid through unscathed on the inside and blasted into the lead. Robin Liddell also got though cleanly as well and he and Reese dashed off towards turn 3 free of the trouble behind followed by Archer, Angelelli, Tim Wiens (FirsTier bank/3R Racing Dodge Viper) and Ritch Marziale (Muzzy Racing/All-Cut Concrete Dodge Viper).
"I came around the turn and it was like blue sky opening up," Reese said later. "It was like winning the lottery!"
Papis was a definite loser in the deal as was Wolf Henzler. Papis' Cadillac mates Max Angelelli and Andy Pilgrim did get shuffled back a bit as they tried to tippy toe through the madness. Wolf Henzler was left parked on the grass just outside of turn 1 done for the day so at first at least Max Papis got off relatively easily.
Reese led the opening laps but he and his Banner Engineering Chevy Corvette weren't long for the lead as he slipped through the chicane and Liddell powered past to lead the rest of the way. Reese continued to lose steam through the first half of the race as the reoccurring misfire came back about on lap 3.
Movers and shakers
Because the field got so jumbled up and due to the first turn mishap the field was considerably jumbled up. Consequently several cars were moving up through the pack.
Of course Papis was one who was on the move as he had dropped to 16th after lap one. Another was Lou Gigliotti who pitted at the end of lap one to serve his stop and go penalty and wound up 25th.
While both drivers would make serious moves and gain many positions neither Papis nor Gigliotti would wind up all that well off as Gigliotti ran over some debris and cut both a tire and an oil line after picking up 10 positions.
Papis was moving smartly through the field and was up to 9th and was making a move on James Sofronas who was in a battle royal with Tim Wiens for 7th. What happened was close to bizarre as Sofronas and Wiens who were moving in opposite lateral directions clipped front bumper to rear bumper.
The contact was minimal but when Tim moved off of James he moved right into Papis who was passing both of them on the inside! The resulting contact flattened Papis' left front Toyo and Papis limped to the pits for a tire change losing a lap in the process. Papis would eventually finish 18th.
Wiens and Sofronas, albeit somewhat the worse for wear, continued but Sofronas was black flagged to do something about his rear bumper which was flapping behind him and also lost a lap in the process. Sofronas was classified finishing 17th while Wiens did a great job finishing his nose less Viper in 11th.
Other movers were Michael Galati who started last and finished 10th in the Volvo Dealers At Speed Volvo S60R winning the Sunoco Hard Charger Award in the process. It was a great finish for the At Speed team who struggled all weekend. In fact Galati missed qualifying due to electrical problems.
Tom Oates finished 14th after starting 23rd in his Tom Oates Chevrolet Chevy Corvette and Adam Malmquist finished 16th after starting 28th in his Pepsi/Doug Rippie Chevy Corvette.
Fast finishers
Stu Hayner finished a strong 5th for the best ever finish for the Pontiac GTO. Stu and his GMAC Commercial Finance/Trenton Forging GTO were fast all weekend as Hayner hardly backed into this finish
Mike McCann had a solid run keeping himself and his McCann Plastics Dodge Viper out of trouble all day finishing right behind Hayner in 6th. While Ritch Marziale did an amazing job in his Dodge Viper to finish 7th finishing just ahead of Phil McClure (FirsTier Bank/3R Racing Dodge Viper) who was making his final World Challenge race (for now). Tony Gaples finished 9th in the Kleinschmidt/BlackDog Racing Corvette.
The Cleveland conclusion
The race started out tough, for a lot of drivers and teams and looked to have the making of a bit of a snoozer at first but wound up being anything but. You can always count on the World Challenge GT series to provide a great product.
As Andy Pilgrim, now the leader in driver's points, said after the race, "It was nice to see that a lot of people stayed and I think that they will be anxious to see us again next year because we gave them a heck of a show!"
You'll get no argument from me Andy! If you want to send a note about any of this I can be reached at JimBourn@TheRaceSite.com; but be forewarned, we may use your letter in an upcoming article.
The Preferred Line - Cleveland WCGT race report
6/26/2005 - The Preferred Line - Road racing news and commentary
SPEED World Challenge Cleveland 2005 Special Edition - WCGT Race Report (June 26, 2005) By Jim Bourn
"He is absolutely over the moon right now!" - Robin Liddell describing how Jon Groom was feeling about their win at Cleveland
Robin Liddell wins SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT race at Cleveland
The 'Bake at the Lake', or the SCCA Pro Racing's SPEED World Challenge GT race at Cleveland started with a bang and ended with the closest race in World Challenge history as Robin Liddell held off a last turn run from Max Angelelli to flash under the starter's stand to win his first WC win by a scant .038 seconds.
Liddell took his AXA Financial/PFAFF Porsche 911 into the lead on lap 4 and held form looking untouchable until Jim McCann's crash brought out the caution on lap 16.
Max Angelelli, balked by the turn 1 melee, charged his Cadillac CTS-V back to the front and when the field was restarted on lap 23 Max began hounding Liddell as their lap times plummeted into the 1:18's.
Even still as much pressure as Angelelli was applying in his XM Satellite Radio/Mobil 1/Motorola/ Bose Cadillac CTS-V Liddell's blue Porsche looked to have every answer and when Angelelli, with memories of Atlanta fresh in everyone's mind made a last ditch move into turn one that couldn't wrest the lead from Liddell it looked like Robin had the victory locked!
Well, this is World Challenge racing and as Yogi said 'It ain't over till it's over' as the cars finished their last lap Liddell moved to take a shallow line into the chicane which gave Angelelli a run on the Porsche going onto the finishing straight.
Liddell, making his Porsche as wide as possible without contact, barely held off the last ditch pass attempt by Angelelli as the duo bombed towards the starters stand winning his first World Challenge race for both himself and owner Jon Groom and setting a World Challenge record in the process.
Bad start at black rock
The problems started when Lou Gigliotti left the starting blocks early in his LG Pro Long Tube Header Corvette. But that was minor.
The bad start in the problem turn (turn 1) here at Cleveland waited until the last race of the weekend to rear it's ugly head as Tommy Archer got a great launch with his c3controls/3R Racing Dodge Viper and after moving his way past Leighton Reese came bombing up on the field in turn 1 which was stacked up as Max Papis, Max Angelelli and Wolf Henzler were moving cautiously through the turn.
Archer smacked Papis and Henzler turning both cars in mid turn sending the field scattering looking for safe real estate as the mess that everyone had feared was becoming a reality.
Leighton Reese was definitely the benefactor of this as he slid through unscathed on the inside and blasted into the lead. Robin Liddell also got though cleanly as well and he and Reese dashed off towards turn 3 free of the trouble behind followed by Archer, Angelelli, Tim Wiens (FirsTier bank/3R Racing Dodge Viper) and Ritch Marziale (Muzzy Racing/All-Cut Concrete Dodge Viper).
"I came around the turn and it was like blue sky opening up," Reese said later. "It was like winning the lottery!"
Papis was a definite loser in the deal as was Wolf Henzler. Papis' Cadillac mates Max Angelelli and Andy Pilgrim did get shuffled back a bit as they tried to tippy toe through the madness. Wolf Henzler was left parked on the grass just outside of turn 1 done for the day so at first at least Max Papis got off relatively easily.
Reese led the opening laps but he and his Banner Engineering Chevy Corvette weren't long for the lead as he slipped through the chicane and Liddell powered past to lead the rest of the way. Reese continued to lose steam through the first half of the race as the reoccurring misfire came back about on lap 3.
Movers and shakers
Because the field got so jumbled up and due to the first turn mishap the field was considerably jumbled up. Consequently several cars were moving up through the pack.
Of course Papis was one who was on the move as he had dropped to 16th after lap one. Another was Lou Gigliotti who pitted at the end of lap one to serve his stop and go penalty and wound up 25th.
While both drivers would make serious moves and gain many positions neither Papis nor Gigliotti would wind up all that well off as Gigliotti ran over some debris and cut both a tire and an oil line after picking up 10 positions.
Papis was moving smartly through the field and was up to 9th and was making a move on James Sofronas who was in a battle royal with Tim Wiens for 7th. What happened was close to bizarre as Sofronas and Wiens who were moving in opposite lateral directions clipped front bumper to rear bumper.
The contact was minimal but when Tim moved off of James he moved right into Papis who was passing both of them on the inside! The resulting contact flattened Papis' left front Toyo and Papis limped to the pits for a tire change losing a lap in the process. Papis would eventually finish 18th.
Wiens and Sofronas, albeit somewhat the worse for wear, continued but Sofronas was black flagged to do something about his rear bumper which was flapping behind him and also lost a lap in the process. Sofronas was classified finishing 17th while Wiens did a great job finishing his nose less Viper in 11th.
Other movers were Michael Galati who started last and finished 10th in the Volvo Dealers At Speed Volvo S60R winning the Sunoco Hard Charger Award in the process. It was a great finish for the At Speed team who struggled all weekend. In fact Galati missed qualifying due to electrical problems.
Tom Oates finished 14th after starting 23rd in his Tom Oates Chevrolet Chevy Corvette and Adam Malmquist finished 16th after starting 28th in his Pepsi/Doug Rippie Chevy Corvette.
Fast finishers
Stu Hayner finished a strong 5th for the best ever finish for the Pontiac GTO. Stu and his GMAC Commercial Finance/Trenton Forging GTO were fast all weekend as Hayner hardly backed into this finish
Mike McCann had a solid run keeping himself and his McCann Plastics Dodge Viper out of trouble all day finishing right behind Hayner in 6th. While Ritch Marziale did an amazing job in his Dodge Viper to finish 7th finishing just ahead of Phil McClure (FirsTier Bank/3R Racing Dodge Viper) who was making his final World Challenge race (for now). Tony Gaples finished 9th in the Kleinschmidt/BlackDog Racing Corvette.
The Cleveland conclusion
The race started out tough, for a lot of drivers and teams and looked to have the making of a bit of a snoozer at first but wound up being anything but. You can always count on the World Challenge GT series to provide a great product.
As Andy Pilgrim, now the leader in driver's points, said after the race, "It was nice to see that a lot of people stayed and I think that they will be anxious to see us again next year because we gave them a heck of a show!"
You'll get no argument from me Andy! If you want to send a note about any of this I can be reached at JimBourn@TheRaceSite.com; but be forewarned, we may use your letter in an upcoming article.
