Though Saturday morning’s cloud cover lowered track temperatures significantly for the previous round, the sun was shining at the surface of the asphalt was as hot as the racing action in round six. Starting position played a key role for some of the race’s favorites, immensely helping some and severely hampering the luck of others.
Juho Levanen, Thomas Pumpler, and Christopher Krapp ran in starting order for the first 1:30, before Pumpler hit the curb heading onto the short chute on the back side of the track, which dropped him to fourth with Krapp to second and Akio Sobue to third. On the following lap, Levanen got out of shape in the chicane and dropped to third behind Krapp and Sobue. Sobue reeled in Krapp but couldn’t get by, and they finished just two-tenths of a second apart with another eight seconds back to Levanen.
“I had a good start, and then Pumpy made the mistake and I got by. When Juho rolled over, I moved into first easily,” said Krapp, who was notably ecstatic at his good fortune. The German driver crashed hard in the earlier round this morning, so he and his mechanic had to replace the chassis and bulkheads. “I had to get used to the car again,” said Krapp, “but after three minutes or so, it was pretty easy after that.”
The start to the second heat of the round was total mess. Mike Haynes started from the pole position but bobbled on the opening lap and was shuffled back to fourth, while Matsukura, Völker, and Moore moved into the top three from second, eighth, and ninth on the grid respectively. At 1:15, Matsukura crashed in the kink and dropped to fourth behind Völker, Moore, and Rheinard. Just before the 3:00 mark, Rheinard hit Moore in the sweeper and the two dropped back behind Matsukura and JJ Wang.
“That was my best race all week,” said Völker, “and my car was the best. I had a great first lap and put pressure on Naoto, and once I got past from then on I was able to pull away.” It was the first time the defending champion had started on either of the first two rows since the first round, which was also the last time he won a round. “I’m looking forward to the second half of the event with better starting positions,” said the German.
Ralph Burch jumped out to the lead from outside of row one, but launched the kink after contact with pole sitter Steven Weiss in the keyhole. The mistake gave Weiss and Alexander Hagberg a chance to get away, while Keven Hébert moved into third. At 1:30, Hébert rolled over in the carousel and Viktor Wilck, who started tenth, moved into the top three. Weiss had a spectacular crash on the straightaway at the 2:10 mark, which dropped him to fourth behind Wilck and Charlee Phutyotin. At 3:45, Phutyotin had an even more catastrophic straightaway crash when he got out of shape on the straightaway and left Canadian Yokomo driver Andrew Hardman nowhere to go - the crash knocked both drivers out of the race and which promoted Weiss back to the third spot. With about 40 seconds left, Hagberg hit the kink and let Wilck by for the lead, but on the following lap Wilck rolled over turning onto the short chute and Hagberg snuck by for the win and an extra lap.
“It was pretty good,” said Hagberg, “Victor was a little bit faster. I had to defend myself, but he got past, and then he rolled over and I got back by.” The Swedish driver was pleased with the result, saying, “I’m pretty happy with the win. My car was better than yesterday, and it’s getting there step my step. I’m still working on the setup, changing smaller things now.”
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