RIR Sprint Cup Race @ Dover Speedway

(race of 7/29/12)

Pro Series has come back to town! To RIR even. The previous season has finished, the new one has blasted off today!!!
Beautiful Dover Speedway greets all the racers -  with its beautiful green meadows all around, a comfortable lounge for spectators - and, of course, the track that you simply can't resist to drive.
But what's the point of driving the track without the competition? And racers are always ready to bring some!
I got there when the practice was on the go. Sharon was leading by the best lap time - 9.377, the closest one to her was Eagle Clawtooth - 9.468. She seems to put all her free time into racing, and it proves itself more and more - she got the pole position today again (wasn't such an impressive time, but still). Grosmanteau DeCuir, the racer with a long history, was 0.013 seconds behind her!
That allowed her to have a great headstart leaving DeCuir behind, with 1 second gap though - DeCuir is not the one who lets you cool down even for a minute. Behind them, as always, racers have piled up in a fight for the 3rd place that has revealed the one who handles herself surrounded by the traffic best - that was ZZ. Badguy Boozehound, FFred Koolhoven and Eagle Clawtooth remained the battle for the 4th place, that was eventually won by Clawtooth, and he began decreasing the gap between him and ZZ.
Then there came the time for the first pitstops. Racers, who were at the last positions, made them first, and the leaders of the race all made them almost together.
Clawtooth was the first one of the leaders of the race who made it, then Densmith followed by DeCuir (they they were going 1st and 2nd as follows and pitted at the same time), then Boozehound - a lap after. Clawtooth, due to making the quickest pitstop, got the lead. Sharon had a long pitstop, what costed her the whole lap - and she dropped onto the 4th. DeCuir was luckier and he got back at the track 2nd. Boozehound has managed to get back at the track before Densmith, and he got 3rd position. Behind them, with 2 laps gap between him and Densmith, Koolhoven and Cyberstar were trading the 5th and the 6th positions.
The following order remained till the halfway, though DeCuir was very close to Clawtooth. Bit by bit all the racers expanded the gaps between each other.
After the halfway, DeCuir began getting closer to Clawtooth - and soon gained the lead.
Densmith had her 2nd pitstop at the 62nd lap and Koolhoven, who drawed away from Cyberstar (almost lapping her), became 4th. Then Boozehound - who got a got pitstop and dropped onto 5th, letting Cyberstar  gain 4th position and Koolhoven - 3rd. And Clawtooth, who's pitstop was not as short as the 1st one, managed to come back 2nd with 3 laps gap - due to Koolhoven was 4 laps behind the leader, DeCuir! Koolhoven had pitted at the next lap - and it costed him 2 positions (got back to the race 5th). Meanwhile, Boozehound got the 3rd position back, dropping Cyberstar onto 4th.
DeCuir had a perfect pitstop and didn't lose his position - the gap between him and Clawtooth has sharply decreased though. The truth is, they have traded places at the next lap - and DeCuir, despite his efforts, had a hard time regaining it due to the traffic between them. All he could do is decrease the gap to 2 seconds.
The rest remained their places - gaps between them were big enough to let them maintain their positions. Boozehound on 3rd, Koolhoven on 4th, Cyberstar on 5th.
Everything was pointing on Clawtooth to have the 1st place... But there's always that one, the last, 110th lap. This time, it was a tough luck for Clawtooth who wrecked into the pit wall! Grosmanteau DeCuir decided not to wait for him and get the 1st place.
During the race, some racers had to retire due to the black flags at the pitstop - that were Sharon Densmith with 1 flag and SweetTooth Firehawk with 2 flags.

Special thanks to JP Paneer, who helped me to be tuned with what's going on at the track - highly appreciated, JP!
It was just an amazing start of the new season - thank you very much for this, racers, I wish you nothing but compete hard and fair. And don't underestimate the practice, of course! Everyone has done well, congratulations winners, and see you all around!

The grid:
Pole Position. Sharon Densmith  9.655
P 2. Grosmanteau DeCuir,  9.668, -0.013
P 3. Eagle Clawtooth,  9.756, -0.101
P 4. FFred Koolhoven,  9.780, -0.125
P 5. Saphyre Cyberstar,  10.000, -0.345
P 6. badguy Boozehound,  10.022, -0.367
P 7. MidnightRambler Frostbite,  10.156, -0.501
P 8. Clifford Market,  10.323, -0.668
P 9. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu),  10.335, -0.680
P 10. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ  (SweetTooth Firehawk),  10.445, -0.790
P 11. Garth Moonites,  10.557, -0.902


Final Results
1st. Grosmanteau DeCuir, 110 laps. Total Time : 1237.909
2nd. Eagle Clawtooth, -13.027 seconds.
3rd. badguy Boozehound, -2 laps.
4th. FFred Koolhoven, -6 laps.
5th. Saphyre Cyberstar, -9 laps.
6th. 'ZZ Bottom' (foneco Zuzu), -11 laps.
7th. Clifford Market, -16 laps.
8th. Garth Moonites, -18 laps.
9th. MidnightRambler Frostbite, -21 laps.
10th. ⓢ ⓦ ⓔ ⓔ ⓣ  (SweetTooth Firehawk), -24 laps (retired)
11th. Sharon Densmith, -38 laps (retired)

Fastest race lap: Grosmanteau DeCuir, 8.555