Edmonton Race Review

It has been along time since the enthusiasm displayed by the fans reflected so much on the desire of not wanting to leave a race track after the event was ran.

Friday was the biggest and most pleasant surprise the race teams had when more than 50,000 spectators crowded the facility. Later the number amounted to 200,000 over the three day event. The atmosphere was such that Mr. Ecclestone, if present, would probably regret not having a race in this city.

Along with all the excitement at the track, Condor Motorsrports is proud to announce an exciting partnership with Landtran Systems and Boychuk Transport for this weekend's Grand Prix.

The first practice was uneventful. The Landtran Systems/Boychuck Transport car, according to Zwolsman was close enough to his liking that it required only slight changes. The team and Charles felt very positive about their chances to do well in the first qualifying session.

Midway through the qualifying session, Charles came in the pits for some planned changes. At the time, he was topping the charts and the feeling within the crew was that of having a good chance at the pole. As usual, the track got better as the session progressed. Charles worked his way though traffic in the first couple of laps after the stop. On his fist flying lap as he was exiting turn eight the left rear push rod gave in and collapsed. The track had a few rough areas in places and the loads on the left rear plus the bumps proven to be too much and the push rod bent without having any contact with walls or cars.

The worse part was that it happened during the last six minutes of the session while the track developed more grip and the lap times improved for everyone. The final result left Zwolsman fifth fastest.

The second practice was on a wet track since it had rained the night before and puddles had formed. The first part of the session went well while the track was damp. Charles again was on top but as the track dried off the car developed an unbalance and made the car behave very unpredictably. The changes made for wet weather were good but not ideal for a quickly drying track.

The team’s fear of having rain during the second qualifying vanished as the weather started to show signs of improvement. Still, even without rain the knowledge of having a green track with no rubber on it did not allow the team to be confident about beating Kasemets’ pole time on Friday.

Immediately out of the pits, Zwolsman posted the fastest laps, improving his own times in almost every lap. Halfway though the session he came in for fresh tires and kept closing the gap to Kasemets’ pole time from Friday. With two minutes remaining in the session, to everyone’s amazement, he pulled it off. He beat Kasemets’ time to earn the pole position for Sunday’s race. The Landtran Systems/Boychuk Transport car in Zwolsman’s hands was the only car to improve the lap times on the green track conditions. The time he turned was a track record that will hold at least for another year. It was by far the most exciting qualifying for the team since it was almost impossible to obtain the pole due to the track conditions.

Race

The drag race to turn one went to Charles Zwolsman, however a very aggressive Katherine Legge rear-ended the Landtran Systems/Boychuk Transport machine. The impact almost cost Zwolsman to lose control as well as Katherine nearly taking Kasemets out after bouncing off the Landtran Systems/Boychuk Transport car. Fortunately, everyone involved was able to continue. The opening laps saw Zwolsman controlling the race with a close Legge in pursuit. Several attempts to overtake were made by Katherine, most of them at turn one where she seemed to power her way almost next to Charles. Each time, the Landtran Systems/Boychuk Transport driver was able to shut the door and conserve the lead of the race.

With two thirds of the race distance completed, Zwolsman encountered traffic in a part of the track where he had no choice to back off the throttle slightly. This opened an opportunity for Legge to dive inside and complete a pass for the lead. At one point, Charles needed to concede relinquishing the position since there would have been contact between the two cars if he didn’t back off the throttle. It was a clean pass and it was now time to seize an opportunity to reclaim the position. That chance came at the restart of the race after a yellow flag situation. However, a momentary gear selection problem eliminated the possibility of regaining the lead. A post race inspection revealed interference on the gearbox shifting mechanism caused by the impact suffered at turn one at the start of the race. A last bid to overtake Katherine on the last lap came up short and both cars finished the race nose to tail on a very close finish that had the spectators on their feet. It was a disappointment to lose the race but on the upside, the team left Edmonton with a greater advantage on the championship points.