![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.rhinopeel.com\/sbmrl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/IMG_2714.jpg\")
<\/a>Segmentation in the first two corners<\/p><\/div>\n
The drag race up the hill to Turn 1 saw the Launch and Stevie Wondertyres battle it out while Captain Slow stuck with them.\u00a0 Sheila Dinkum and The Stig were the two to fall behind the middle pack, with Jaap making a strong push from last on the grid.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As the pack approached the back straight, Stevie had the inside line on Launch, with Captain Slow right on their tails.\u00a0 However, it was Launch who was able to carry the necessary speed needed into Turn 6.\u00a0 Behind the front runners, Whiplash was also on a charge, catching his teammate and Captain Slow down the stretch.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Out of the back straight<\/p><\/div>\n
Captain Slow then suffered minor body damage as Bubba McQueen charged recklessly from behind.\u00a0 Jaap and Sheila had also caught up to the group, leaving the Stig in a very lonely last place.<\/p>\n
Launch coolly handled all that the 3rd sector had to throw at him, and after a clean lap, the race leader skipped the pits to seemingly cement the win with a whole lap to go.\u00a0 The Sprite Racing duo pitted from 2nd and 3rd, but Sheila caught them up after following Launch’s tactic of not pitting.\u00a0 Bubba, Jaap, and the Captain all pitted, with Captain Slow falling all the way to 7th in the exchange.<\/p>\n
The first sector of the second lap saw Whiplash, Stevie, and Sheila push in an effort to catch up with Launch, but nothing they did could catch the Force Ravenswood driver in the absence of any mistakes.\u00a0 The winding, slow nature of Turn 3 gave the illusion of closeness to the proceedings, but there really wasn’t anything the rest of the pack could do.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Launch leaves a bit of his car on the track…<\/p><\/div>\n
Again down the back straight they charged, and again Launch found speed to burn.\u00a0 With less than half a lap to go, Launch gave it everything, causing some engine damage in the process of slowing down for Turn 7.<\/p>\n
Whiplash and Sheila got a leg up on Stevie at Turn 6.\u00a0 The trailing pack, now comprised of Bubba, Captain Slow, and Jaap, all took the aggressive approach to the back straight.\u00a0 Jaap carried too much speed through Turn 6, but it was Bubba who hit some debris on the track that was the first casualty of the race.\u00a0 A short while later, Jaap’s tires gave out he joined Bubba as a spectator for the remainder of the the final lap.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/a>… which teammate Bubba broke his suspension on<\/p><\/div>\n
At the back of the field, the Stig was certainly enjoying the fate of his rivals.\u00a0 Despite being far behind the rest of the field, the various shenanigans in the third sector meant that he would be able to move up a few spots simply by finishing.\u00a0 When Stevie spun out in Turn 8, he even had a glimmer of hope to finish ahead of another finisher, but that hope was short lived.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Back at the front, Launch easily secured the victory in what was simply the cleanest race run.\u00a0 Sheila and Whiplash battled it out for 2nd place, with Sheila able to carry extra speed around the final corner to get the edge in that pairing.\u00a0 By the time the checkered flag waved, they were really the only two cars with any question left to be answered.\u00a0 Captain Slow, who had the most up-and-down race of anyone, came in 4th.<\/p>\n
Final Results<\/h3>\n
| Driver<\/th>\n | Start<\/th>\n | Lap<\/th>\n | Finish<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n |
|---|---|---|---|
| Launch Bornado (FR)<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n | 1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Sheila Dinkum (RM)<\/td>\n | 7<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Whiplash (SR)<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Captain Slow (SB)<\/td>\n | 3<\/td>\n | 7<\/td>\n | 4<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Stevie Wondertyres (SR)<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | 2<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| The Stig (SB)<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Jaap Snellrijder (RM)<\/td>\n | 8<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n | 7, dnf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n |
| Bubba McQueen (FR)<\/td>\n | 6<\/td>\n | 5<\/td>\n | 8, dnf<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n Launch becomes the 6th driver to win from pole, recording his 3rd victory in his last 4 races, dating back to last season.\u00a0 Sheila has a second consecutive race of charging from 7th to 2nd, and is the only driver in SBMRL history to score a podium in all their races.\u00a0 Granted, it’s just two races, but that now has her leading the driver standings.\u00a0 Whiplash scores his first podium in his second race.<\/p>\n At the other end off the spectrum, Bubba’s DNF means that Force Ravenswood is 2 for 2 in terms of having a car crash out of a race.\u00a0 They have 2 podiums and 2 DNF’s in 2 races.\u00a0 Jaap’s DNF means that he now has 3 DNF’s in his last 4 races.\u00a0 He and Launch are mirror images, either winning or crashing out in each of those contests.<\/p>\n At the team level, no team got much of a leg up on anyone in Austin, with all four teams finishing in the top 4 cars.\u00a0 Force Ravenswood picked up a few more points than Regency Motors, but not enough to take over the team lead.\u00a0 Sprite Racing has now eked out a narrow, 1 point lead over Scandinavian Blitz.<\/p>\n Race Gallery<\/h3>\n(Note that Captain Slow and the Stig are swapped in the first 3 photos.\u00a0 We fixed that as soon as we caught it!)<\/p>\n\n\t\t |