SEBRING, FL – The roar of the mighty Can-Am Challenge Cup cars once again broke through the quiet of morning, as the series took to the airfield of Sebring for round #2 of the 1969 season.

The drop of the green flag saw a frantic start, with cars scurrying for position heading into the first two turns. In the maelstrom, 2 ^nd place driver Bloodtypr0wdy found himself challenging MBI teammate Nightmare for the lead into turn 1. Contact between the two cars led to a bottleneck in the next straight, resulting in multiple cars finding the grass and going off-line. Bloodtypr0wdy would draw the short end of the stick, with a collision between him and BCKracer forcing him into the tire barrier and causing damage to the #18 Champion/MBI McLaren. He would eventually drop out after losing control in turn 16.

“That start was pretty wild.” said BCKracer, driver of the #71 Sunoco Raptor Racing Lola. “I saw Hippie slow after colliding with GRD, so I figured that might be my only chance to get ahead of the McLaren’s. It almost worked, but unfortunately, I misjudged the brake point just enough to clip Blood. I’ve got to apologize to him for that.”

 

The #17 of TopSoCalledGear proved to be the biggest mover of the first lap, going from 8 ^th to 3 ^rd in just two turns. However, this run would prove to be short-lived, with the Lola falling prey to the charging #67 Nissan of GRD and suffering multiple off track excursions on the way to a 7 ^th place finish.

More action would follow in the next few laps, with drivers such as Manuel, fresh off a 24-hour event, and BCKracer fighting their way back through the field.

The closing stages of the event would prove to be largely stagnant at the top of the grid. Nightmare, driver of the #24 Castrol/MBI McLaren took a commanding lead and never looked back, finishing more than 80 seconds ahead of 2 ^nd place Colton for his second straight Can-Am victory.

“I was very pleased with our results today.” said a nonchalant Nightmare. “The team brought a solid car for this weekend which made my job relatively easy. I really enjoy racing at this track because of its character. It definitely keeps you honest trying to keep it under control over the bumps. Hopefully we can carry this momentum unto Road Atlanta.”

 

Runner-up Colton had this to say: “The McLaren performed as expected, (we’re) hoping to take this momentum onto the next race.”

The race was not without controversy, however, as a mandatory pit stop rule was put in place after the Lola’s superior fuel economy was made apparent at Daytona. Though the McLaren dominated the top end of the results this week, it is still not clear if this is due to a performance advantage or driver/team skill and will likely to be a topic of heated discussion for the rest of the series.

The Canadian-American Challenge Cup will return in two weeks (February 5 ^th) at 12:00 PM EST for Round #3 at Road Atlanta.

Results:

1. #24 Nightmare - McLaren
2. #2 Colton – McLaren
3. #88 Hippie – McLaren
4. #67 GRD – Nissan
5. #40  Manuel - Lola
6. #71 BCKracer – Lola
7. #17 TopSoCalledGear - Lola
8. #91 dakinca – Lola
9. #5 Blonde – Lola
10. #42 Deadarm – McLaren
11. #18 Blood – McLaren

Standings:

1. #24 Nightmare – 64
2. #71 BCKracer – 36
3. #88 Hippie – 35
4. #18 Blood – 340
5. #40 Manuel – 34
6. #67 GRD – 31
7. #42 Deadarm – 24
8. #5 Blonde – 24
9.  #2 Colton -24
10. #97 Murphy – 16
11. #17 TopSoCalledGear – 14
12. #91 dakinca - 13