INDY LIGHTS: Dorricott Racing preps for Milwaukee behind driver momentum
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
May 31, 2001
SUNNYVALE, Calif.- If early season momentum offers hints of what is to come, then Dorricott Racing might be again charting a championship course as its talented three-driver team prepares for the famed Milwaukee Mile and round four of the 12-race Dayton Indy Lights Championship, Sunday, June 3.
The 100 lap/103.2 mile Indy Lights sprint is scheduled to begin at 12:15 p.m. (CT) and is the primary weekend support race to the Miller Lite 225 CART FedEx Championship Series race later that day.
Townsend Bell, of San Luis Obispo, Calif., will make his second career Indy Lights appearance at Milwaukee holding second place in the Indy Lights driver standings. Bell, who won at Long Beach in round two and earned second place in the season opener at Monterrey, finished sixth place in last year's race at The Mile. He trails series leader Derek Higgins, of Ireland, by 11 points, 52 to 41.
Damien Faulkner, of Moville, Ireland, extended Dorricott Racing's podium finishes in 2001 to three-straight by winning the pole and the race at Texas Motor Speedway in round three. Faulkner led 65 of 67 laps before crossing the finish line 0.349-seconds ahead of fellow Irishman Higgins. What distinguished his victory was he had never previously raced on an oval let alone a superspeedway.
Faulkner's win at Texas made him the first driver to win both the pole position and the race in his oval track debut since Mario Dominguez's win at Homestead (Fla.) in 1999. Faulkner has a remarkable finishing record that has seen him fail to finish only twice in 56 races over the last three years of race competitions. The victory was Dorricott Racing's second consecutive win and 10th team victory in 206 starts. Faulkner moved to sixth place in the championship with 28 points.
Faulkner's win also propelled Ireland into the Nation's Cup lead with 58 points. The United States is in second place with 41 points.
If any Indy Lights driver is due for an uninterrupted high finish, it has to be Dorricott Racing's third driver, Jon Fogarty, of Portola Valley, Calif. Fogarty made an auspicious Indy Lights debut at Monterrey when he piloted his Fogarty Winery & Vineyards Lola to third place.
The 2000 Barber Dodge Pro Series runner-up was stung at Long Beach, however, through no fault of his when he was rear-ended and sidelined by Danish driver Kristian Kolby in the first corner on the race start. Kolby's error also cost Faulkner a chance for a good debut at Long Beach as Kolby took Faulkner out too.
Fogarty was again victimized by another's negligence at Texas Motor Speedway. Dan Wheldon, of England, attempted an outside pass of Bell on lap 52. Faulkner and Bell were running in first and second place, and nose-to-tail at the time with less than a car length separating them. Wheldon attempted to force his way between them anyway. The result was disastrous. He plowed his left front wheel into Bell's right front wing and then slid sideways and perpendicular into Bell's DirecPC Lola. Wheldon ripped Bell's front wings apart before spinning away. Bell maintained control and continued to pit lane for repairs.
Wheldon then spun into Fogarty and slammed him against the outside wall. Both drivers were uninjured but Fogarty was saddled with another unearned "DNF." Fogarty finished ninth place but proved he was more than capable of fast times on a superspeedway. He turned the fastest lap of the race at Texas with a time of 0:28.306 = 188.483 mph. Fogarty comes to Milwaukee in seventh place with 19 points.
Milwaukee is round two of the Bosch Platinum +4 Speedway Challenge Award that pays $10,000 to the driver accumulating the most points in 2001's six oval track events. Faulkner leads with 22 points.
ESPN2 will provide same-day coverage of the Milwaukee Indy Lights race, Sunday, June 3, from 10:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. ET (7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. PT). An encore telecast is scheduled for Monday, June 4, from 4:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m. ET (1:00 a.m. to 2:00 a.m. PT).
Text provided by James Hyneman
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