Round number nine of the Trans-World Radical Racing 2010 Spring series took place in Canada at the Mosport International Raceway.  Given the track's natural profile, it has a few unique features that need mastering by drivers in order to have the edge.  Read on to find out what this race brought and who the dominator was.

Rik Walker captured his first pole position clocking a 1:13:315.  Only 3 tenths of a second separated Rik from the top 5.  Michael Hohenauer trying for his 4th pole of the season did not have enough to edge out Rik's flying lap.  A total number of 13 drivers took part in the qualifying session.

Finally Rik had a great start and did not lose a single inch of ground.  Mike held up to his reputation and catapulted his way past Michael to slide behind Rik.  Petteri was also able to get past Michael.  Paul Langford starting in 6th had a slow start and forced Dave Kadlcak to back off in order to avoid a midfield pile up.  Kat took advantage and slid into 7th place coming out of turn 1.  The field got through the first 4 turns without problems.  The huge scare came from Bogdan when his SR8 snapped after trying to correct a slide and slid at high speed across the infield of turns 5 and 6.  Fortunately the gap between 2nd place Mike and 3rd place Petteri was large enough for Bogdan's 60mph uncontrolled manned vehicle to fit right in between.  Petteri was looking for his heart after that for a few :).  That was the only incident that would occur on lap 1.  Overall a very clean start.

Given the nature of the track, a high attrition rate was expected.  Bogdan of course was the ice breaker on the 1st lap.  On lap 4, Kat tries to save her slide out of turn 10 by slamming hard on the brakes on the exit.  Jon of course does not expect this at all (who would) and launches Kat in the air while hard on the brakes.  Bob following Jon is also not expecting a full stop entering the front stretch and digs his nose underneath Jon's car.  A lap later, Petteri - holding on the 3rd place - loses the back end out of turn 8 and spins into the tire wall.  Same lap further back in the field, Baz goes into a slide entering the hairpin complex, and gets rammed by the slow-reacting Dave.  Very unfortunate for Baz (again) his car is flipped and he's forced to call the towing services.

Mike would remain the only driver to stick with Rik while Michael was falling back.  At least until the leaders encountered Baz at his worst spot (Turn 5 and 6) on lap 7.  Rik managed to avoid the stopped Baz, but Mike was not able to avoid and drove his left front through Baz's nose.  Very soon the car got away from Mike in turn 8 suspecting suspension damage.  But then it also snapped in T1 and the suspicion was confirmed.  Mike did not hesitate and called in Mosport Towing.  As Rik was hoping his tail would fall off, Michael was next in line after Petteri's wipe out and Mike's misfortune.  Just before the half-way point of the race, going down the hill out of Four, Michael's Radical does a counter-clockwise spin and into the tires.  Mosport Towing gets another phone call.  Michael throws the towel after this, discarding all points towards a championship that is slipping away from him.  Now Paul was comfortably in 2nd and Rik had lots of breathing room as well (over 14 seconds).  Dave Kadlcak makes it past Fulvio and gains 2 spots into 3rd pace thanks to Michael's retirement.  Jon Guest was the next to retire from the race on lap 15 due to catastrophic mechanical failures.

For the most part the positions were unchanged during the second half of the race except for some position swapping due to offs and other isolated mishaps.  On lap 27, the struggling Baz gets on the curb in 10 and follower Mike, trying to hustle forward after his tows, gets in the back of Baz and spins him.  Mike does not acknowledge the pass and returns P8 very quickly to Baz.  Fulvio once again coming from the back of the pack, gets another present when Dave goes off on the last lap and pickups the last position on the podium.

Mosport presented the best results for many.  Not just due to the low turn out, but mostly due to patience and keeping it together.  Rik Walker finally gets a pole position and even better his first win!  Leading all of the 31 laps.  Paul Langford also scores his season high 2nd, and Fulvio 3rd place.  Great job Rik and congratulations!  Rik becomes the 6th different winner in 9 races.

Rik leads the field into turn 1.

Bogdan over-corrects out of T4 and ...

"Reeled" view from Petteri's cockpit (right-click and view image for higher res).

"Reeled" view from Bogdan's cockpit (right-click and view image for higher res).

Kat slides wide out of 5 and gives P7 to Dave on lap 2.

Lap 4 disaster strikes for few as Kat slams on the brakes and catches Jon and Bob off guard.

Petteri falls victim to Mosport turn 8 on lap 5.

Baz goes wide between 5 and 6 and is flipped by Dave on lap 5.

Rik leading Mike into the hairpin as Michael wipes behind them on lap 6.

Lap 27 - Mike punts Baz for 8th, but doesn't take it... yet.

Had it long coming.  Rik dominates Mosport and wins from pole position!  Congratulations Rik!  Well deserved.

Qualifying Results

Race Results

Fastest Lap:  Michael Hohenauer, 1:14.029
Highest Climber:  Fulvio Policardi, 9 positions gained

Driver of the day award:  Rik Walker

Once again not just one single driver was a candindate for the award selected by the race director.  First of all, once again Baz has struggled with unfortunate early contact resulting in a mandatory reset.  He hung in there and finish the race despite being 4 laps down.  Top three drivers finished the race without a single incident.  Paul Langford drove a smart race shadowing the top 4 early on, resulting in 2nd place in the end.  Fulvio Policardi once again gaining more than half the field from start to finish.  But today, Rik Walker showed great composure under pressure from the fastest drivers of the series while negotiating traffic safely.

Link to official iRacing results is here.

Next Sunday brings us the 2nd round of the TWRR championship at the Infineon Raceway.  It's still not too late to register if you haven't already done so.  Only the best 9 of the 12 races run by each driver will be counted towards the championship - so there still is plenty of time to join the action!