The penultimate round of Invitational racing at the Reedy Touring Car Race of Champions may have tipped the trophy toward one of the two title contenders left standing after over two days and eleven sets of heats, but the title - and the 27 positions behind - have not yet been decided. Still, the field inched closer to deciding the eighteenth running of the race with yet another fantastic display of car control and competition.
In the first heat of round eleven, Andy Moore and Keven Hébert got off of the front row cleanly while Christopher Krapp and Charlee Phutyotin crashed together, allowing Marc Rheinard to pass from sixth on the grid. On lap three, Hébert spun out at the end of the straightaway and Rheinard passed for second. At 2:45, Moore left the door open coming onto the straightaway and Rheinard dove to the inside. At 3:50, Krapp passed Hébert for third entering the keyhole. Rheinard won by 1.65 seconds over Moore, with Krapp another 2.4 seconds behind in third.
“When I got to the inside of Andy on the straightaway, he didn’t fight back - just went behind,” said Rheinard, who understood that the win put him in a great position to win a record fifth championship. “It was not easy,” said the German, “but I was able to stay in front of Andy and just drive.”
Last year’s Open Modified winner Gonzalo Cortes led just one lap from the pole position, crashing on the exit of the sweeper and sliding down the back straight on his roof. That allowed Viktor Wilck, who started on the outside of row one, into the lead with Andrew Hardman, who started outside row two, into second and Freddy Sudhoff, who started inside row three, into third. At 3:00, Hardman crashed in the chicane, promoting Sudhoff and Sobue into the top three. As time expired, Cortes (who was a lap down at this point) got out of control turning onto the short chute and Sudhoff hit him, tucking the German’s body and allowing Sobue to the inside for second. Wilck got by for a victory lap, winning by 5.2 seconds, with Sudhoff just 75-thousandths of a second behind Sobue after a last-lap drag race to the finish line.
“It was a bit easier from the front row,” said Viktor Wilck, who felt that the shuffled starting order wasn’t perhaps as fair as possible - it was his first front row start of the week. Once clearly out front, the Serpent driver took it easy. “I just cruised, pretty much,” he said.
In the closing heat of round eleven, Ryan Cavalieri dove inside JJ Wang in the first 180 off the start and then squeezed by Team Associated teammate Rick Hohwart through the chicane. On lap three, Ronald Völker was involved in a shuffle in the infield that knocked him down to eighth. At 1:35, Cavalieri bobbled through the carousel and Wang got by for the lead. At 2:15, Hohwart crashed out of third through the carousel and let Vejrak to third. At 4:40, Cavalieri spun out in the 180, which let Vejrak and Völker into second and third. Wang won by 1.3 seconds over Vejrak, with another nine-tenths back to Völker.
“I’m happy no one hit me!” said Wang, “That seems like the drill for me - every round I get hit my someone.” Despite starting on the outside of the row, Wang was happy to get off to a clean start. “The beginning of the race was all right,” he said, “I had to keep up with Cavalieri. After he tapped out I just drove my race and tried not to make any mistakes. My car was really good. It’s a nice feeling when no one hits you.”
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