Casey Mears Takes Lead in Indy Lights
7 June 1999
CASEY MEARS AND DORRICOTT RACING TAKE THE LEAD
IN THE INDY LIGHTS CHAMPIONSHIP AT MILWAUKEE
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (June 6, 1999) - Casey Mears has been a model of
championship consistency from the start of the Indy Lights season, but he
took yet another step in that direction when he assumed the series points
lead with an Indy Lights career-best second place finish in round four of
the 12-race PPG-Dayton Indy Lights Championship, Sunday, June 6, at the
Milwaukee Mile.
Mears success magnified the presence of Dorricott Racing in the
Indy Lights series this year as teammates Oriol Servia and Philipp Peter
finished fifth and 11th place, respectively. The accumulated points among
the three drivers places Dorricott Racing first, fourth, and sixth in the
overall driver standings after four races.
The potential for disaster lurked in a variety of corners
throughout the weekend, but none greater than when Mears crew discovered a
blown cylinder in the motor during the pre-race warm-up. That started a
mad dash crew scramble to fully replace the broken motor with a new one -
and very little precious time to do so.
"We lost a cylinder during the final laps of the warm-up session,"
said Mears. "We didn't even know how bad it was at the time because I was
already slowing. We didn't know we were facing a last minute motor
replacement situation until a little later when the crew began running
their engine check. It was remarkable how the entire team became involved
in changing the motor. It just wasn't my crew. All the crew members from
all three Dorricott cars came together and did an amazing job."
Mears, who qualified sixth with a time of 0:25.262 = 147.067 mph
around Milwaukee's 1.033-mile oval, was literally rolled onto the track as
the rest of the 19-car field had been given the command to "start" their
engines. He was allowed to assume his starting position by blending into
the field as it began its parade laps.
On the opening lap, Mears flew past Servia, who started third, and
Derek Higgins to move into fourth place. Mears remained in complete control
of his positioning from that point forward, and took advantage of
opportunities to improve his spot when they arose.
"We had a distinct push we were trying to iron out in warm-up, so
we were a bit apprehensive at the start of the race besides the motor
change," said Mears. "We made a couple of changes in warm-up prior to the
motor going bad and they seemed to pay off. I still fought some push but
not nearly as bad as it was during the start of warm-up."
Three caution periods for 32 laps aided Mears as two torrid
re-starts caught nearly all by surprise. His first big break came on a lap
38 re-start where he slipped past Felipe Giaffone for third place. His next
major break occurred on lap 80 of the 97-lap race when he forged past Tony
Renna for second place on a re-start.
Mears held Renna off during the remaining laps to clinch his second
consecutive podium visit and fourth consecutive top-five finish in the
Sooner Trailer/American Custom Racing Wheels Lola. Mears finished fifth
place at Homestead and Long Beach, and third place at Nazareth.
Servia, meanwhile, maintained a strong presence following a
disappointing start, and didn't yield any more ground below sixth place. A
single-car accident involving Cory Witherill on lap 30 and the subsequent
re-start eight laps later moved Servia's Catalonia/RACC/Elf Lola back into
fifth place.
"The car was too loose yesterday but we had that solved by race
time," said Servia. "However, I battled too much push at the start of the
race. A couple of cars passed me in the first two turns including Casey
(Mears) because I couldn't maintain speed through the corners. I made a few
adjustments with the weight jacking device and the car stabilized for the
rest of the race. It wasn't good enough to get past Felipe Giaffone down
the stretch though."
Peter struggled the entire weekend but ran a tactical race after
starting 18th and finished 11th eighth place in the Red
Bull/Remus/ESTEBE/Chicco d' Oro Lola.
"I didn't expect to earn any points after the way I qualified so
I'm pleasantly surprised," said Peter. "Three of the drivers I finished
ahead of are key drivers I'm battling for points. That made this a better
race than it might have been.
"I wish we could have started the weekend with today's race set-up.
We fixed all the problems but we found them too late to make a major
difference. The balance was better so I could at least keep up with the
cars in front of me. We hopefully learned something from this poor showing
so we can be more competitive on the next oval."
Mears runner-up showing at Milwaukee propels him into first place
in the Indy Lights driver standings with 50 points. It is the first time
for Dorricott Racing to lead the Indy Lights championship.
Servia's fifth place finish earned 10 points and leaves him alone in fourth
place with 36 points. Peter, who won at Long Beach in round two, is far
from being out of the championship hunt and stands in sixth place with 27
points.
Peter was also awarded four Dayton Daytona racing tires for being
the "Move to the Front" award recipient by virtue of improving seven
positions during the race.
Mears trails Airton Dare by three points, 43-40, in the
winner-take-all Bosch Platinum+4 Speedway Challenge. Servia is third with
35 points.
The next stop for Dorricott Racing will be round five at Portland
International Raceway in Portland, Ore., on Sunday, June 20.