Jay Howard wins IndyPro race
Sparta, Ky. – Results Sunday of the WAMZ 100 IRL Indy Pro Series event Aug. 13 at the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis, laps completed, reason out (if any) and money earned:
1. (3) Jay Howard, Dallara, 67, Running $32,500
2. (1) Jonathan Klein, Dallara, 67, Running $26,000
3. (2) Wade Cunningham, Dallara, 67, Running $20,000
4. (4) Travis Gregg, Dallara, 67, Running $17,000
5. (13) Sean Guthrie, Dallara, 67, Running $16,500
6. (8) Nick Bussell, Dallara, 67, Running $16,000
7. (9) Bobby Wilson, Dallara, 67, Running $15,500
8. (10) Chris Festa, Dallara, 67, Running $15,000
9. (6) Ben Petter, Dallara, 67, Running $14,500
10. (11) Mike Potekhen, Dallara, 66, Running $14,000
11. (14) CR Crews, Dallara, 66, Running $13,000
12. (7) Tom Wood, Dallara, 66, Running $12,000
13. (16) Racer Kashima, Dallara, 66, Running $11,500
14. (5) Jaime Camara, Dallara, 62, Accident $11,000
15. (12) Brett Van Blankers, Dallara, 38, Mechanical $10,750
16. (15) Alex Lloyd, Dallara, 0, Accident $10,500
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 156.752 mph
Time of race: 37:57.3271
Margin of victory: 0.0190 of a second
Cautions: 2 caution flags for 9 laps
Lead changes: 6 among 2 drivers
Lap leaders: Howard 1-7, Cunningham 8-9, Howard 10-19, Cunningham
20-60, Howard 61-65, Cunningham 66, Howard 67.
Point standings: Howard 319, Klein 279, Wilson 265, Bussell 243, Camara 242, Cunningham 242, Van Blankers 179, Festa 175, Lloyd 170, Matos 154.
Quotes
JAY HOWARD (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, WAMZ 100 winner): "That was mega. The car was really good. I was patient. I had the opportunity to lead early on. I wasn't going to play games all the way through – cat and mouse. Wade (Cunningham) had the lead. I knew I could get by him." (About running in the middle): "I was just where I wanted to be. When I was down low, it was just killing the car, and up high just wasn't enough grip up there. So I wanted to be in the middle. When Jono (Jonathan Klein) came down on the inside, it didn't really matter because I planned on running that middle line anyway. That was the closest race I've ever won. That was good. Win number two and three more to get." (About championship race): "I'm not planning on having a bad race. I'm sure we've got a bit of a cushion. Obviously Infineon is going to be a big decider. If we go there and finish in the top two or three in both races, then I think that sort of secures the championship. We can go to Chicago, enjoy the race, no pressure at all and try to get it up to five wins total."
JONATHAN KLEIN (No. 27 Klein Tools/Turn-Key Forging, finished second): "It was a wild day. You can never predict what's going to happen in the race because the car was a handful. We had a good race car for qualifying, but during the race we had more than a few close calls. But we stayed patient and stayed calm, and in the end we were there. I thought we were going to get it done, but Jay was able to get by me at the finish. I'd rather lose to my teammate than anyone else."
WADE CUNNINGHAM (No. 1 Brian Stewart Racing, finished third): "Everything was going well, and I knew there was going to be a challenge at the end. It was pretty obvious. At the restart, I expected the same courtesy that I gave the other competitors, but it wasn't there. I had a tire cut because I was driven into deliberately. Trying to run the last lap with a flat tire is pretty difficult. I kept my foot into it, hoping it wouldn't smash into the wall. I feel we had the best car and would have won today if we'd been given the opportunity, but that's the way it is."
TRAVIS GREGG (No. 77 Lucas Oil/Argosy Casino/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finished fourth): "It went OK. Early in the race, I was trying to fix a tight condition, so I had to use the controls in the car. The car came to us, and we started to pass cars. We were working with the cars in front of us. Fourth place was where we started, so it's not bad. It's a top five, so I'm happy."
SEAN GUTHRIE (No. 41 Trace Die Cast Guthrie Racing Car, finished fifth): The car was perfect. These guys worked really hard. We haven't figured out qualifying yet, so that's why we started in the back. I knew the car was going to be good. We just kept running towards the front. We were third there for a while. Jaime (Camara) and I had a little contact and clipped the front wing. That last restart, I was a little too cautious, and I let those guys by me. If we didn't have that caution, we would have finished third. If we didn't have that contact and that caution, I probably would have won the race. Yeah, that caution hurt us, but at same time that's racing."