Due to a satellite linkup problem, news from Indianapolis Motor Speedway, scene of tonights historic TNS race is very hard to come by. However, Jolt News can exclusively reveal that the race was won by non other than Michael Osterling, who finally captures his first TNS win of the season!
There were, reports tell us, several large accidents at the beginning, the main one instigated by championship leader Steve Pearce, which in total affected the races of 6 drivers.
Pearce was understanably upset after the incident, saying 'I made a big mistake trying to get past Mike [Osterling] and then saw the pit wall coming. That would have been the end of me, so i tried to avoid and in doing so managed to wreck 4 or 5 good cars. Shame really, but these cars moved around so much at Indy, they are usually rock solid'.
The race didnt go without its drama's for last years champion Mike Jackson, as technical problems forced him to an early shower once agai.....
AJ Reynolds proved he truly is a tactical guru with a well fought win at Daytona tonight. Beginning the last lap he was 3rd, after starting in an unfirmiliar 5th place, but after a spectacular 3 wide move with championship contenders Steve Pearce and Michael Osterling the win never looked like not being his.
During the race the field had become very strung out, despite there being no wrecks between cars. Neil Brimble retired early after picking up some damage and losing the draft, and gradually Reynolds, Pearce and Osterling dropped more and more cars as the pit stops cycled through.
Coming out of the final stop, Osterling inherited the lead but it soon became clear it is not where he wanted to be and he started to try and drop back. Pearce in second and Reynolds in third were wise to it though and played a came of cat and mouse, keeping Osterling ahead until the last minute.
Joining them in the lead draft were Leen de Koning, Michael Zuleh.....
Peter van Waardenberg topped a fascinating 2 weeks in the Thunder Night Series, by taking the second win in a row for the returning ZRT team.
Teammate Leen de Koning came home second, after qualifying on pole ahead of Steve Pearce.
Pearce grabbed the lead at the beginning of lap 2, and duely set about making a gap. It all went wrong though on lap 9 as, entering turn 1, the car stepped sideways, starting a downward spiral that ultimatly ended in a mighty quick backwards collision with the tires at turn 5, and shortly after, a head on trip into the wall out of the chicane, damaging the engine significantly and forcing him into retirement!
Neil Brimble had been on the pace early, following Pearce for a number of laps, before a collision with Michael Osterling, on a charge through the field, damaged his car enough to put him a second off the pace. It was Osterling who took over the lead, before a deadly mistake in the last turn saw him pitch th.....
Leen De Koning showed what he was made of with a classy victory at Eight Bowl Speedway!
Jarmo Nordstrom claimed his maiden pole by an astonishingly close margin of just 0.002 seconds over returning ZRT member Peter Van Waardenberg. Championship leaders Steve Pearce and Mike Jackson both started at the back following less than impressive qualifying laps.
It didnt take long for the controversy to start though. As the cars entered turn 3 on lap 1, Michael Zulehner drifted up high but as Pearce went for the gap, the gap suddenly closed, scaring Simon Topham onto the apron, and he soon collected Pearce and Neil Brimble was also caught out in the collision. The resulting melee would relegate Brimble to 8th and Topham to 7th, with Pearce calling it quits 6 laps later in 6th place!
Back at the front, the battle began, with the lead 4 cars breaking away. Nordstrom paced the early laps until Koning slipped past on the first stop and that was the way .....
Despite a late race charge from Steve Pearce, Mike Jackson was able to hold off all comers for his 4th win of the TNS season.
The race saw some spectacular dices right from the get go, but with the standard staying high throughout.
Jackson had the perfect weekend, taking pole and leading the most laps en route to victory lane. Story of the weekend though was the return of the ZRT outfit to the pit lane in the shape of popular TNS veteran Leen De Koning, making his first start of the season.
Neil Brimble again put a solid qualifying effort together, but dropped off the pace mid race and eventually wound up in 5th place.
A titanic battle between Pearce and Simon Savage took place after Pearce's second stop, with both drivers wanting to gain the position and spending almost 3 whole laps side by side. Pearce prevailed and headed off after Jackson, but with only 30 laps remaining it was too late to make up the 1 lap margin, and he.....
The TNS turned up at Papyrus Motorsport Park tonight for its first race on the high speed, oval like road course. Its daunting set of 2 flat out left handers, an ever lasting right hander and a tight 3rd gear left generated some spectacular racing, with the cars capable of running flat out for around 50 seconds at a time.
Early practice showed some incredible times, many of which were done in the massive draft created by the cars, but it was debutant Jarmo Nordstrom who showed everyone the way by storming to pole position ahead of Dean Marsden, Steve Pearce, Mike Osterling and Simon Savage.
The nerves seem to get to Nordstrom on the start though as he quickly went backwards into turn 1, but everyone held there nerve and everyone made it through turns 1 and 2 without any major incidents, but it was not too last as Simon Topham made a mistake and drifted up into the seemingly forever unlucky Neil Brimble, badly damaging Brimbles 44 car, who retired shortly .....
Mike Jackson was the talk of the TNS paddock after an action packed race Monday night. The Ridge Racing driver overcame a strong challenge from last years runner up and current points leader Steve Pearce to win a race that will surely go down in the attending fans memory!
Neil Brimble first claimed his 2nd pole of the season in fine fashion with a remarkable lap, smashing his own PB and leaving the drivers gobsmacked. Unfortunatly, his race didnt go to plan, as a spin exitting turn 4 on lap 1 hampered his progress!
Whilst everyone settled down, Jackson built up a 1.5 second lead on the first lap ahead of Pearce, who soon caught up, and extended the gap to, by now, Dean Marsden in 3rd to over 10 seconds come the first pit stops!
The battle for 3rd at this point was remarkable, with Marsden losing time on the first laps, before climbing his way back into 3rd and battling with teammate Michael Zulehner, with Simon Topham and Pete Mann battling.....
He wasnt the fastest car on track, by no stretch of the imagination, but given the errors made by fellow championship contenders Steve Pearce and Paul Charman, all Dean Marsden needed was to keep 4 wheels on the island and cruise home for what turned out to be an easy victory!
Early on, Pearce and Charman had had a steller qualifying performance, with Pearce taking his 3rd pole of the season, ahead of Michael Osterling and Charman. As the race got underway, Pearce and Charman established a large gap at the front, with Pearce taking the reigns. This went well, until Pearce made a mistake in turn 5 which allowed Charman to slip through.
Behind them a battle raged for 3rd place, but come the pit stops it was Marsden's time to shine. Charman had the embarrasment of running out of fuel, having not heard his spotter tell him the fuel was low, and lost 6 minutes, around 3 laps whilst being towed back to his pit stall, effectively ending his race. Whilst Pearce w.....
