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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sun Oct 28, 2012 11:26 pm

EPISODE 1: INDIANAPOLIS

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.

The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your show for everything TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding, and this is the debut edition of The Fuel.

Before we get to Indianapolis, here's a quick recap of what has gone down so far in the 2012 Cup season. We've had the Hodges-Walter cars of Devereux and Soveral winning the first three races and sweeping two of them, and then the CM Altairs are called into question as to whether or not they're legal, and they pass inspection. Then the European tour comes along and both Soveral and Devereux both lay eggs in that tour, except at the end at Wales when Devereux led every lap. We had the Manticore controversy at Karjala where they were basically using the Altair test data, and yet both cars were declared legal. We saw the return of Alexis Rainsford, and what a return, getting the pole for Karjala, and was on her way to winning before mechanical troubles took her out of the running, which led to Leonid Roderick winning the race for the third time in his career. The Round of France had the two Katzevs of Martinez and Nosova fighting for the win. Who thought anyone would've said that after last year?

Then there was the inner turmoil at Volpi. There were rumors that Packer had to pick up his performances, especially after failing to make Karjala for the fourth year in a row, and really, what a tumultuous season he's had. He failed to qualify for Karjala, then he had top 5 runs going at Wales and Michigan before engine failure put him out both times, then his crew chief gets replaced, then his mother passes away. What rough couple of months that must've been, but he turned it around nicely with a win at Quebec, and followed it up with four straight top 12 finishes, which puts him 7th in the points and he leads the Rookie of the Year battle by 160 points over Kevin Dwyer, which I will get into later.

Then we had the MCMA controversy at Michigan and the infamous Power Steering, Inc. saga between Anthony Griffith and Kurt Plissken, which came to a head at Road America when Griffith intentionally wrecked himself and Plissken going into turn 1 when Plissken was coming out of the pits. Needless to say, Griffith lost a lot of respect from that douchebag move.

And now, here we are at Indy, where we saw a fairly interesting battle for the win between the Hodges-Walter cars, with Devereux edging Soveral for his fourth win of the year. Ugh. Rolling Eyes

Well, despite my obvious disdain for Devereux, he did a fairly good job at Indy and got the job done. It initially looked like he made his move too early in turn 1, but Soveral didn't have a very good entry into turn 3, and that allowed Devereux to sneak up coming off of turn 4, and edged his teammate for the win. Also gotta give a shoutout to Marcos Leonard. The Xenos cars haven't been particularly fast this year, but he manages to sneak onto the podium. Chris Johaanes also gets a shoutout for finishing in 4th. After a disastrous start to his season, he's now up to 6th in the points and could have an outside shot at challenging for the championship.

Now, let's talk about the 2012 rookie class for a minute. There were a lot of people talking about how this rookie class was one of the finest classes in recent memory.

....Um, no it's not. With a few exceptions, this year's rookie class has been atrocious this year. From what I've seen this year, there have been only two rookie drivers that have the potential to be big stars in the Cup series. One of which is Ryan Matthews. Now, he's not doing that well in his rookie year, but he's knocked down some good results here and there in a car that really isn't up to snuff. The Gasniers have really been lacking ever since Majestic Motorsports bought the team from Garth McCallister, and now Majestic has been bought by Lynxe, so that they can bring their Women's Team up to Cup. There are rumors circulating that Divina Henton has been signed to one of the cars, although this has not been confirmed, and we still don't know who the second driver could be. This means that Matthews' and Mika Paasonen's spot on the team is very much in doubt, but I will be very surprised if Matthews doesn't find a ride somewhere else, because he's done a great job with the equipment he has. In fact, had he not gotten douched by Soveral at Detour, he could've snuck onto the podium. Matthews has potential. He just needs a good car.

The other exception has obviously been Packer Carroll. It took him a while to get going; he had just one top 10 in the first half of the season, and he trailed Kevin Dwyer for the entire first half, although the margin was a mere 18 points at the most, which shows you how bad Dwyer had been running as well. But Packer had been running well in pretty much every race with two exceptions: Karjala and Russia in back-to-back weeks. Other than that, he's been stellar. He just hasn't had the finishes to back it up. Take Wales and Michigan, for example. He had top 5 and even podium contending runs in both of those races, and he could've easily taken the rookie lead in either of those races, with Dwyer falling out at Wales and not being at Michigan due to the MCMA deal. But engine failures put him out of both races, and it wasn't until Quebec that we finally saw Packer break through and score that first career win, which came just 5 days after the death of his mother. Since then, he's scored one other podium, three more top 10's, and he has five straight points finishes. He's currently seventh in points, and leads the rookie battle by a whopping 160 points over Dwyer. In fact, Packer is the only rookie in the top 20. That just shows you how superior Packer has been in comparison to the rest of the rookie class.

Which leads me to Kevin Dwyer. WOW. I have never seen a driver as overhyped as this guy. I've been hearing the race announcers on TV calling Dwyer the best American hopeful. (facepalm) Are you f**king crazy? This guy isn't even in the top freaking 20 in the points standings and you have the media calling him the best American hopeful? Okay, let's take a look and see how well Dwyer has done this season. He has three top 10s and a pole, okay. But he has five DNFs in 15 starts, which is one in three, compared to Packer, who has just three DNFs this year, which is one in five. Packer has led 45 laps this season. Dwyer has led... 5 laps. The last time Dwyer finished in the top 10 was at Russia. He has finished out of the points in 6 of the last 7 races, the one anomaly being Road America. Now let's be honest with ourselves. Dwyer, for the most part, has been relatively stinky poo his rookie year, and he's in pretty good equipment, being with Team Saar USA. But to be honest, he only got that ride because of two reasons: money and his last name. He's the son of the late, great Benny Dwyer, so naturally, everyone has him as the heir apparent to carry on the family legacy. (sigh) If anything, the only thing Dwyer has been doing is destroying the family legacy by talking trash and not backing it up. Sure, he has three top tens, but he's never finished in the top 5 in his career. The highest point of his career so far is a win in the TM Lights series. One lousy win... and that came in 2010. Yet everyone had him pegged as the next big thing in Cup, even now as he is sucking big time. Now, he has been improving, with his 11th place run at Road America and running up front at Indy before engine failure put him out, but he's still got a long way to go before I'll even consider him to be on Packer's talent level, because you know that 11th place finish he got at Road America? Dwyer started 14th. Packer started 34th. Packer still finished ahead of Dwyer. And Packer is two full races ahead of Dwyer with 5 races to go in the season and is close to locking up Rookie of the Year. So the notion that Dwyer is America's best hope in the Cup series is ridiculous, and the people who don't agree with me can kiss my ass. I picked Packer Carroll as the clear cut favorite for Rookie of the Year, and he's proving me correct right now. The numbers don't lie. Bottom line, Packer Carroll is TMMC's newest rising star. Kevin Dwyer is an overrated wannabe who will never be like his father. Heir apparent? What... a... joke. Rolling Eyes

Opening rant in The Fuel brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Coming up next, we will review the Round of Indianapolis, and I will give you our first ever Fast Five picks as we try to predict who will finish in the top ten for the next race in Australia.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.


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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Mon Oct 29, 2012 10:27 pm

The Fuel with James Spalding, on TMMC Radio.

Well, during the commercial break, my mind was blown wide open. So this is the perfect subject for a segment of the show we like to call the "Heat of the Moment".

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Heat of the Moment begins playing...

Apparently, the system for determining Rookie of the Year is the best four positions for that driver in the season to give the Independent's Trophy competitors a shot at it. ABSOLUTELY... RIDICULOUS. A part-time driver shouldn't be running for Rookie of the Year anyway. So the notion that Tom Moore is the Rookie leader right now is an absolute joke. I could name all the flaws this system has, but I'd be here all night doing it. The bottom line is, the system needs to be changed.

But what really has me boiling is the tweets made by TMMC commentator Lance Andrews regarding the Volpi Racing Team's decision to retain Packer Carroll and not Divina Henton. Here's what he said...

"Volpi needs two drivers that can get it done on a regular basis. Makes you wonder why they fired Henton."

"Other then one race Quebec I'm amazed Volpi kept him [Packer] instead of keeping Henton."

"Henton's failures to score points are due to the car breaking, not a problem with the driver. Packer's been wasting time with cars he shouldn't be racing."

...........................

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSQXSzl9aVqvaqb2AXJ0cQxHXEkLbG8MAM_AwfJ-dYJ-0KZAh6IHw

Lance, I respect you as a commentator and for everything you've done in Master Cup, but are you out of your freaking mind? When you're done drinking the Lynxe cool-aid, open your damn eyes and realize that Packer has been just as good if not better than Divina Henton as a whole this season. Let's take a comparison of Packer and Divina's stats. Okay, I see three stats where Divina has the edge. She has three top 5's compared to Packer with two, she has a pole, and she's led 74 laps compared to Packer's 45. But here's where things get interesting. Packer has completed more laps than Divina, 1,080 to 906. Packer only has three DNFs compared to Divina's seven. Packer has 5 top tens compared to Divina's four, Packer has two podiums to Divina's one, Packer is 7th in points, Divina is 15th. But the biggest stat of all: Packer has a win, Divina does not.

And Lance, you say that Divina's not scored points due to mechanical failures. Then how do you explain what happened in Russia, hm? Did something break on the car forcing Divina to block Nosova to protect the win? What about Indy? She wasn't anywhere near the top 20 for the entire race. Did her car have a problem then? Or are you just another corporate nut who gets paid to pick the drivers with money over the drivers with talent? I remember when you and Dan Mullen were going wild when Ethan Everett arrived on the scene, claming he was the next big thing in Cup. Where is he now? The ASCC. Didn't last very long, did he? And now, the two of you are fapping over Kevin Dwyer, claming he's the next great American hopeful when he's not even in the top 20 in points. The only reason he drives for Team Saar USA is money and his last name, and believe you me, he is not his father. Not by a long shot. And now, you've said that Divina should've been the one to stay at Volpi, when the statistics clearly favor Packer. (sigh)

You see, this is just some the crap that makes me hate the media that covers this sport, and I was hesitant to start this show up for this reason, because while the TM Master Cup Series is a great series to watch and cover, the downside is that media and the officials can be really, really ignorant and stupid at times. If you took their combined IQ and multiplied it by 100, they might have enough intelligence to tie their shoes, if they didn't drool all over themselves first. (sigh)

Lance, seriously, get your facts straight before you make yourself look like an idiot again. Of course, it's not the first time that's happened, either.

Heat of the Moment on The Fuel is brought to you by Subway, eat fresh.

Alright, now that I've gotten that off my chest, it's time for what I call the Fast Five.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF VICTORIA

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

This is where I pick the five drivers I think will finish in the top 10 at the next race of the season. The Cup series heads to Calder Park Thunderdome, a 1.2 mile quad-oval, for the first of two races in Australia, but here's the catch: they run the track clockwise, unlike here in the States, where we run ovals counter-clockwise, so it will present a unique challenge for the drivers. Let's get started...

#1.

My #1 is also my pick to win the race as well. After seeing his points rival take his fourth victory of the season and the point lead from him at Indy, I think Arto Kekkonen will be looking to make a statement at Calder Park to get himself back up to Devereux in the championship fight. He's currently 3rd behind the Hodges-Walter cars of Devereux and Soveral, but he's only 15 points out of the lead. So I think Kekkonen will match Devereux's win total at Victoria and retake the championship lead in fine fashion. Another interesting little fact: last year, Devereux won the title with 463 points. There's still five races left to go, and Devereux, Soveral, and Kekkonen have already surpassed that total. Just goes to show you how dominate those three have been this year. Out of 15 races this season, those three have won 9 of them. So I think it's safe to say that the championship could come down to Devereux, Soveral, and Kekkonen.

#2.

As much as I hate to admit it, Adrien Devereux has as good a shot as any to take win number five this season. Yes, Devereux is typically known as a stellar road racer, but here's the thing: three of his four victories this season have come on ovals. Las Vegas, Carbondale, and Indy. The only road course win this year was at Wales. He's riding a wave of momentum following his Indy win, which gave him his third crown jewel, meaning he's just one away from completing the Grand Slam, which is Karjala. He'll get it eventually, but that doesn't mean we have to like it.

#3.

Then there's Devereux's teammate, Soveral. He's been just as good as Devereux this season and only trails him by a few points. He has a road course and an oval win to his credit this year: Road Atlanta and Grand Detour, although the one at Detour was not without controversy. It's taken a while, but Soveral is showing the talent he put on display in the TM Junior Series in 2010, when he won four races despite running only about half the schedule. He's gotta be disappointed after having the Indy trophy snatched from him by his teammate, and redemption has gotta be on his mind. Look out for car #3 this weekend.

#4.

The number 4 and 5 slots will typically have drivers I think are dark horses, but I don't think that will be the case with Chris Johaanes this weekend. He had a pretty slow start to the 2012 season, and that may have been due to the letdown of just missing the Master Cup title by a single point last year, and it took Johaanes a while to get over it, but he seems to have returned to the form that made him a championship contender last year. Much like Packer Carroll, Johaanes has come alive in the second half of the season, and while he might not be a contender for the title this year, a win or two may be just around the corner.

#5.

Now, you all know how much I despise this guy, but based on how well he ran at Indy, Kevin Dwyer might surprise me at Calder Park. I don't think he's a threat for the win, but a top ten is not entirely out of the question. I still don't think he will live up to the heavy expectations placed on him due to him being Benny Dwyer' son, but he might improve enough in the late stages of the season to change my mind about him a little bit. Maybe.

Those are my Fast Five for Victoria: Arto Kekkonen, Adrien Devereux, Luciano Soveral, Chris Johaanes, and Kevin Dwyer. Am I a genius or an idiot? Guess we'll find out this Sunday.

Coming up next, we review the Round of Indianapolis.




For real, this time.




I promise. Smile

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.


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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Tue Oct 30, 2012 10:23 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding on TMMC Radio.

(sigh) You know, it seems like we're going in circles with this topic about Volpi, and quite frankly, I'm a little sick of talking about it, but this just can't be ignored. Here's a tweet sent to me by ARLA driver Ben Atkins.

"Henton's failures to achieve points have come due to car failures, and she should have a win this season; look at Russia. Packer's have come more due to... well there's no nice way to put it, making more mistakes. @LanceCh44 is entitled to his opinion, and honestly, just because Packer has a win and another podium doesn't make him more impressive. Tom Moore's had podiums too, does that make him better than Henton?"

I guess it's true. Ignorance is bliss.

And yes, Lance Andrews is entitled to his opinion, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna agree with it, and I'm sure as hell not gonna agree with yours, Atkins, and here's why. Yes, Packer made some mistakes during the first half of the season that have cost him points, the Round of France being a prime example. But that doesn't mean he hasn't had good runs. I can think of at least three different races where Packer started at the back and made his way up to the front of the field, all on road courses: France, Sweden, and Road America, and if you try to tell me that doesn't take skill, then you're a freaking moron. He had posium runs at Wales and Michigan before he had engine failure in both races. Five straight finishes of 12th or better, with two podiums and a win, has led in five of the last six races, three front row starts, seventh in points, highest among all rookies. Do I need to continue? I think I've made my point about Packer's talent very clear, and no matter what you or anybody else says, I'm not gonna budge on the matter, so you might as well give up.

And what has Divina done in the last five races? She's finished 28th, 34th, 27th, 5th, and outside the top 20 at Indy. Road America was really her only really good run out of those five, and she was running well at Gatineau before engine failure put her out, but in the other races, she wasn't running well at all. She started on the outside of the front row at Detour, but it didn't take long for her to disappear from the picture. And yes, she should've had a win at Russia, but she made the mistake of trying to block Nosova, and not only did it cost her the win, she didn't even score points. So to say that Packer isn't more impressive than Divina is a joke. Granted it took him a while, but Packer is finally showing the consistency he had in ARLA, and it's led to him being where he is in the points standings. He made some silly errors during the first half of the season, but he learned from those mistakes, and it's paying off in the second half.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still think that Henton has the talent to be a star in Master Cup, but sometimes, the chemistry just doesn't work out, which may be one of the reasons why she's being released, and here's another thing that might've played a role in Volpi's decision: Packer's team, Gravity Racing, Inc., has a technical alliance with Volpi. Volpi owns the Kivett brand, from which GRI uses chassis. GRI will be using their own engines next year, but will keep using the Kivett chassis. This, in essence, means that GRI is a sort of developmental team for Volpi. Case in point: Rachel Rainsford, who was resigned by GRI to drive the team's flagship car next year, is one of Volpi's reserve drivers in Cup, which will probably continue into 2013, with a slight possibility of moving up to Volpi full-time in 2014. I don't know if that will be the case, but with Volpi, you never really know.

Bottom line is this: Packer is a more accomplished driver than Divina is, he's worked his ass off to get to where he is, he's done a better job this year, and he brings more to the team in terms of business. Period. End of discussion. Packer deserves the seat more than Divina in my opinion, and anybody that doesn't agree with me can kiss my ass.

(sigh) Certainly didn't expect to have this much tension for our first broadcast, but passion is a part of racing, and there is certainly plenty to go around right now. Laughing

Let's get to reviewing Indy, shall we?

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF INDIANAPOLIS

Well, the second crown jewel race of the season certainly didn't disappoint, and it all started in pole qualifying. Arto Kekkonen got 10 much needed bonus points with an impressive lap time of 46.606 to put him on the pole for Indy, with Packer Carroll on his outside. Leonid Roderick, Melanie Clevenot, and Mathias Taube were the top 5 in pole qualifying. In last chance qualifying, Elina Varjo came out of nowhere and snatched 6th place in the underpowered and underfunded Kallela Motorsports team. Varjo was driving the same car Joonas Hannula drove at Karjala. Tony Durbin, Carlos Donzelo, Carla Rosinski and Kevin Dwyer round out the top 10. Kevin Dwyer's time was .007 faster than Tom Delgado, and .011 faster than Greg Woodard. Woodard made it into the race via the qualifying races, but Tom Delgado did not, and announced his retirement from the sport effective immediately.

The race began with a flying start, which was very clean. Kekkonen led through the first couple of corners, but Roderick would come up to challenge. Elina Varjo basically dropped like a rock at the start. This race also saw the return of 2007 champion Tony Durbin, who started in the 7th spot for Team Saar USA. Durbin has been running in the ASCC this season, but decided to come back for Indy and found himself in the top 10 in the early going. He got up to as high as third at one point. This race also saw the debut of the Terminator, with Reese Biehn behind the wheel of the 984 car.

And it certainly didn't take long for Adrien Devereux to make his presence known at the front of the field. Only ten laps in, and he was in the top 5 after starting 18th.

The first caution came out on Lap 14, when Alli Culotta, driving the third Volpi, got tight coming off of turn 4 and pushed up into Zelda Ashby, causing Ashby to spin and hit the wall driver's side first. She was okay, but her race was over. Looked like a racing deal to me. But further up the track, there was a pretty big log jam, and for some reason, the 41 of Greg Woodard pulled to the right and stuffed the 22 of Dale Roswell into the outside wall, taking Bill Calhoun in the 38 car with him. I don't know what the heck that was about, but the officials didn't seem too happy about it, because they called for an investigation into the incident after the race. Ben Atkins was collected as well.

Some of the leaders came down pit road under that caution. The 2 of Packer Carroll led on the restart, with the 04 of Juho Kivella in 2nd. Tony Durbin, Luciano Soveral, and Yuliya Nosova rounded out the top 5.

Kekkonen would eventually find his way back to the lead, passing Juho Kivella. The lead changed hands several times during this run, due to the superspeedway shuffle. But the action was slowed by the 2nd caution on Lap 23. Greg Woodard, yes, him again, pushes up into the 60 of Patrick Eichholtz off of turn 3, sending the 60 spinning to the inside and back up the track, collecting Woodard and the 12 of Mika Paasonen. Then, Bill Calhoun tries to blow through the wreck, but gets into the back of the 12, causing further damage to his car. Woodard and Calhoun were called to the hauler, as well as Alli Culotta, who tried to get through the wreck as well without slowing down. She succeeded, but the officials weren't to pleased about it. Can't say I blame them.

On the restart, Arto Kekkonen led on the restart, with Yuliya Nosova behind him, but now, here come Kevin Dwyer, who restarted third and was challenging for the lead off of turn two and would eventually take it. Hmmm... maybe he's got some talent after all. Alan Hodges would also become a player at the front of this train as well. And the superspeedway shuffle begins once again. Mathias Taube led for a while, but would go out of the race due to engine failure. Green flag pitstops began on Lap 45. A debris caution came out on Lap 50 after pitstops cycled out. Kevin Dwyer led on the restart, certainly gaining some respect from me. Yamino Tenchi loses the engine on her Nemoto not long after the restart. Micheal Sykes suffers a flat tire not long after.

Then, it was the Saar boys of Tony Durbin and Kevin Dwyer fighting for the lead, until suddenly, the engine lets go on the 72 car, ending what was Dwyer's best run to date. Hey, I might not like the guy, but he may actually have some talent after all.

As the race closed in on another set of green flag stops, Durbin headed for the pit lane, feeling like he had a tire going flat. Fortunately, he was close enough to green flag pitstops to where this would not really affect him too much, and he was leading at the time, so that kind of helped, too.

Juho Kivella continues to impress, as he battled for the lead with fellow Finn Arto Kekkonen at one point. But the Hodges-Walter cars once again proved to be a force as they would take the top 2 spots for a time.

After green flag pitstops, Alli Culotta and Brian Sendack both go out of the race with seperate engine failures, as well as Divina Henton. Alan Hodges would suffer the same fate as does Scott Bates during the final round of pitstops, so attrition is once again the story here at Indy like it was last year. This is a very long race, 104 laps, which is just over 250 miles, and these engines don't ever get a break. Hmmm... why did they put four extra laps on? Why didn't they just go with 100 laps? Weird.

Anywho, the final round of stops spread the field out some, and the battle for the victory would come down to the two Hodges-Walter cars, ugh, and a surprise third contender in Marcos Leonard, because, let's be honest, the Xenos cars haven't been fast all year, but occasionally, they'll put a good run together, and they're doing it with Leonard in this race. I still think Leonard is a nutcase, but he knows how to drive, that's for damn sure. Unfortunately, lapped traffic would hold Leonard up, and the race would come down to Soveral and Devereux. On the white flag lap, Soveral led with Devereux behind. Devereux tried to make his move in one and two, but Soveral held him off. But he made a mistake in three, pushing up the track, and that allowed Devereux to make his move in turns three and four and got alongside his teammate. It was a drag race between the two, with Devereux edging Soveral by two one-hundredths of a second to take his fourth win of the year, a feat that hasn't been done since 2006.

Ugh. Rolling Eyes

Well, as much as I hate Devereux, gotta give him credit where credit is due. The guy can drive, and he's in position to take his second straight title. God help us all. Laughing

Coming up next, Words of the Week makes its return, this time on the Fuel, and I'll give my closing thoughts on Indianapolis as we look ahead to the Australian tour.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:34 pm

Closing thoughts from the Round of Indianapolis, in The Fuel.

I was on Twitter once again during the break, and I noticed that Ryan Griffin gave his take on the whole Rookie of the Year topic. Here were his tweets.

"I don't see why everyone is so against Carroll. He's top 20 in points in his first season in the best racing series. That alone is impressive. Still disagree with the idea of ROTY champion not having to run the full season."

"I think it's a bad system. A ROTY should be determined by a season performance and not by four races. Packer is in the top 20 in points with 1 win in his first full season with the team. And when you compare Henton's season to his, I think it's a no brainer they kept him."

I'll be honest. I'm kind of iffy on Ryan Griffin, because I think he can be obnoxious at times, but here, he basically backs up what I've been saying all along, except that Packer is not in the top 20. He's in the top 10. Big difference in terms of the payday a driver receives at the end of the year. It's not very often I'll agree with Griffin, but in this case, absolutely.

Time for the Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

If anyone's listened to my old show Words of the Week, then you know where I'm going with this. For those of you who are seeing this for the first time, I pick out a word or a collection of words describing an event that happened during the TM Master Cup Series weekend, and I explain everything pertaining to that subject. It makes its return as a segment on our new show The Fuel, so here is the Word of the Week for Indianapolis.

KERBLAMO.

Now you're probably asking yourself, is kerblamo a word? In the urban dictionary, no. In the racing dictionary, kerblamo is the term used when an engine expires in the middle of a session, whether it be practice, qualifying, or the race itself. Indianapolis was really hard on engines last year, and this year was no exception. Mathias Taube, Yamino Tenchi, Kevin Dwyer, Alli Culotta, Brian Sendack, Divina Henton, Scott Bates, and Alan Hodges all suffered engine failures in the 104-lap race, and there were several others I missed as well. About ten engines went up in smoke during the race, which makes you ask yourself, are these teams falling behind on making stronger parts for these engines? Or are the RPM's just held for so long that it wouldn't matter anyway? All I know is that the race engineers are gonna have a lot of work ahead of them to keep these failures from happening in the future.

Well, that will wrap things up from Indianapolis. Next time, we review the first of two races in Australia, the Round of Victoria at the Calder Park Thunderdome. And I stand corrected. The Cup series is running counter-clockwise, not clockwise like I originally reported, so I apologize for that.

Thank you all for tuning in this week. I'm James Spalding, and we're signing off. This is The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(OOC: Well, that's it for the debut episode. Thoughts and comments are welcome. Smile)


Last edited by PackerMan71 on Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:40 pm; edited 1 time in total
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by day500champ1 Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:39 pm

(OCC: I like this Packer. Not to many radio theme topics in the fan punditry. In fact I believe this is the only one. Razz I know I post a lot of pointless twits kind of a character quality I added. Razz )
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5QGkOGZubQ

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Post by PackerMan71 Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:44 pm

day500champ1 wrote:(OCC: I like this Packer. Not to many radio theme topics in the fan punditry. In fact I believe this is the only one. Razz )

(OOC: Well, depending on how well this is received, I am really wanting to put an honest effort into this show. It'll be like the TM Canon version of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, if you guys know what I'm talking about. I already know Griffin does. Laughing)
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by Milan655 Wed Oct 31, 2012 7:46 pm

PackerMan71 wrote:
day500champ1 wrote:(OCC: I like this Packer. Not to many radio theme topics in the fan punditry. In fact I believe this is the only one. Razz )

(OOC: Well, depending on how well this is received, I am really wanting to put an honest effort into this show. It'll be like the TM Canon version of The Herd with Colin Cowherd, if you guys know what I'm talking about. I already know Griffin does. Laughing)

(OOC: I like it too, there is clearly a lot of effort put into it and it is a good read (listen?) Smile )
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Wed Oct 31, 2012 9:17 pm

EPISODE 2: VICTORIA

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.

The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your source for everything TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding, and we're coming to you from the land down under, Australia, for the first of two races, the Round of Victoria at Calder Park Thunderdome. The Fuel is brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola, and by Subway, eat fresh.

Boy, the tempers were flaring big time at this race, and there were some bonehead moves made by some drivers as well. There were also some scary-looking accidents, including the destruction of a pace car midway through the race, which I've personally never seen before, and a few drivers also made their best runs of the season, some of which were badly needed. We will be getting to all of that momentarily, but first, this show needs some Christopher Walken.



Ah, much better. Very Happy

Great run by Leonid Roderick, winning from the pole and putting himself right in the thick of the championship fight with Soveral, Devereux, and Kekkonen. In fact, it's pretty much a four-horse race for the championship. Scott Bates is 5th in points, but is a whopping 161 points behind Roderick for fourth place, which is over two full races behind with four races to go. That just goes to show you how dominating the top four drivers have been this season. There have been 16 races this season, and the top four have won 11 of them: Devereux with 4, Kekkonen with 3, and Soveral and Roderick with 2 apiece. We normally don't see this kind of domination from a group of drivers in Master Cup. In the 2009 season, Roderick was the only multi-winner of that season. There were a record 18 different winners in 19 races that season. The level of competition was just unreal. Fast-forward to 2012, and we've got four guys winning the lion's share of the races. We've only had nine different winners this season, half of what we saw in 2009. It seems a lot of teams haven't quite gotten the handle on the new car, while FLASH Racing, Gessler Richter, and Hodges-Walter seemed to have figured it out right off the bat. We know the Hodges-Walter team had it down out of the gate, winning the first three races and sweeping the top two spots in two of those races. Will some of the other teams like Volpi, Nemoto, and PSI eventually catch up? Sure. They were caught off guard a little bit by the new car, and then there are teams like Team Saar USA, who just haven't been able to figure it out. Of course, they won't be returning to Cup next year, focusing instead on the revamped ASCC, so that kind of makes that point moot. But the bottom line is, the competition will level out as time goes on and the other teams begin to figure out the new car. That's just the way it goes in motorsports. When there's new cars or new rules, some teams get it right away, some will get it eventually, and some will not even be in the ballpark, and this year was certainly no exception, but I gotta tell you, I am very surprised that Saar has taken this long to get their act together, because Dwyer is finally starting to show some speed, and Blake Camphausen has been, for the lack of a better term, a complete disaster. I still think that Dwyer is overrated, but he has had impressive showings in the last two races, and he came home with a 9th place finish at Victoria. Still, it's gonna take more than that to live up to the standard his father set when he won six Master Cups. It's currently unknown whether or not Dwyer will be back in Cup next year or drop down to the ASCC like the other Team Saar regulars have done. I'm fairly certain a Cup team will hire him, but I don't think it will be a top ten team, based on the performances we've seen from Dwyer so far this season. Granted, he's improved, but he's still outside the top 20 in points, and from an owner's perspective, that's not very impressive. If I were a team owner, I'd definitely be looking at either Yamino Tenchi or Divina Henton. Now, we've heard that Henton is "looking for a ride", but let's be honest, I think that Lynxe Racing is gonna hire her to their team and keep her under their banner, and based on the fact that they prefer female drivers, they might be looking at Tenchi as well, and according to several reports, Tenchi is the key to silly season right now, because there are many teams that are looking for her services. And I'll admit, she's been pretty consistent in her Cup career, and she's done enough to keep herself in the conversation. She was having a great run at Victoria before it was ruined by Adrien Devereux's stupidity, which I will get to in our Heat of the Moment segment on the other side of the commercial break. I also said last week that Divina Henton has the potential to be a star in this sport, and she proved it with her best career finish to date, 2nd, behind Leonid Roderick, and she even led for a while, which is impressive. She just fell short of the gold, but I think she will be a threat in three of the last four races, which are road courses, including the next race in Queensland, the 2nd race of the Australian tour. I think she needs to win one of the last four races to solidify herself as a top flight contender for next year.

Opening rant in the Fuel brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Pretty good start for our Fast Five picks. Three of my five selections finished in the top 10, and one of them won the race, although it was not the one I selected to win. Arto Kekkonen finished fourth, and Roderick won, but it still counts. so I'm happy, and Kevin Dwyer finished in ninth. The two that didn't make it were Adrien Devereux, who was pretty much a moron, which I will get to later, and Chris Johaanes, who was an innocent victim of Devereux's bonehead move. And may I point out, both of the Hodges-Walter drivers made bonehead moves, then proceeded to act like children and blame the person they wrecked for the incident. Oh, am I gonna let loose and s**t down both of their necks. Today's Heat of the Moment segment is gonna be fun, I can promise you that.

Coming up next, our Heat of the Moment segment regarding the Hodges-Walter drivers acting like complete tool-bags, both on and off the track, and we will make our Fast Five picks for the upcoming Round of Queensland.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Thu Nov 01, 2012 8:26 pm

You're in The Fuel, with James Spalding, on TMMC Radio.

Our Fast Five picks for Queensland are coming up, and you're gonna see an almost entirely different cast of characters from last week at Calder Park. We were 3-2 last week, which is a pretty good start, so we're hoping for more of the same this week. But first, it's time for my personal favorite segment of the show, because it's where I can really let my frustrations out, and not get fined for it. Laughing

It's time for Heat of the Moment.

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Heat of the Moment begins playing...

Today, I'm focusing my anger on Hodges-Walter Racing, and I'm not just talking about the drivers, but one of the owners as well, which is Carl Walter. As you all know, Luciano Soveral and Adrien Devereux were "involved" in accidents during the Round of Victoria. The thing is, they were the ones that caused the accidents in the first place.

First, on Lap 51, there was some contact between the 11 of Ryan Matthews and the 3 of Soveral coming off of turn 2. Soveral didn't seem to like that, so going into turn 3, he hooks the right rear of Matthews' car, sending onto the apron, which also pushed the 88 of Scott Bates, an innocent victim in all this, down on the apron as well. Both drivers fought to keep control of their cars, but Bates' car hooked back to the right and took Matthews and Soveral into the wall with him. Naturally, Matthews wasn't too happy with Soveral, and this was his response afterwards.

""That's twice!"

Those were the first words spoken by Ryan Matthews as he exited his crippled Gasnier, wrecked again in the Lap 51 incident with Luciano Soveral. It's the second time Matthews and Soveral have gotten together on the track this season, and both times ended with Matthews fuming.

"I wonder if Soveral realizes I'm racing for my career here," he added, referring to the reports that Lynxe had purchased the team he races for, Majestic Motorsports, which means that he will likely be gone at the end of the season. "I can't afford to have crap like this happen. I don't know what I did to piss Soveral off, but I think I'm going to go get a few boxing lessons from Delgado before we go to Queensland. Make of that what you will."

And after the race he made this tweet.

"That's twice, Soveral. What the hell? #rememberQuincy"

A little bit later, Matthews apologized for his reaction.

"I don't think it was racing, but whatever. Hodges-Walter's offering the telemetry; I'll be happy to take a look at it. If it says what they say it does then I'll accept it and move on."

"And to @lucianosov3ral, I don't harbor any ill will toward you, and I apologize for my comments. I don't want to fight anybody...just something said in the heat of the moment. #coolerheads"

I think Matthews was definitely the bigger man here, but the fact is, he had every right to be upset. I don't know what Soveral was thinking, but his nutcase move took himself, Matthews, and Scott Bates out of the race. But here's what's got me all fired up about Soveral. Here was his take on the incident.

"I never hit him and he spins ... hits me and says its my fault! It's no surprise he is racing for a job because he drives like an idiot and then he crash... almost every race so far! He gave me no room on the track and he forgets that you have to give the leader room!"

And then, to add icing on the cake, here was Carl Walter's take on the incident.

"Luciano got taken out, and the other guy wants to fight. Well, from what I can tell he's fighting himself. Drivers get mad, but I really think Ryan [Matthews] needs to get over Quincy already."

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR0lgu4jehjxF7vvYa54TERkB8hU4SA4BS_Sinel0J8zMdzIdjE4w

Okay, first of all, Carl Walter, Soveral got taken out because he started the whole mess to begin with, and karma came back and bit him right in the ass, and of course, Matthews has every right to be mad. I mean seriously, is your head up your ass for the warmth? Because from what I can tell, you didn't see or don't wanna see what really happened. You can offer Matthews the "telemetry data" if you want, but I think everyone saw what happened on the replay from the helicopter, and you get a pretty good view from above. And commentator Scott Bush called it as well. Soveral got into the right rear corner of the 11 car, and spun Matthews out, causing the wreck, and Soveral has the nerve to say that Matthews was the one that caused that? Son, it seems like Devereux's whiny-ass personality is rubbing off on you, because you're acting like a spoiled assclown who blames everyone but himself for his mistakes. Do you guys honestly wonder why the fans don't like you? It's because you think you're all high and mighty, and if something goes wrong, you don't take any accountability. I swear, if I was in Matthews spot and you said what you said in that interview to me, I would've balled up my fist and punched you in the sack, and in all seriousness, someone needs to knock your teeth down your throat. Maybe that will knock some sense into you, boy, because you need it.

Oh, and speaking of assclowns, I haven't forgotten about Soveral's PMSing teammate, Adrien Devereux. He pulled an even bigger douchebag move on Lap 90. The lapped car of Ben Atkins was in the outside lane, holding up several cars, but the track really isn't the widest, so you can't really fault him for that. Right behind Atkins was, you guessed it, Adrien Devereux. Not, I know that Devereux has been hostile toward lapped cars in his career, but this was taking it way too far. He hooks the 56, and sets off a crash that causes Kekkonen to get a piece, and he takes himself, the 2 of Packer Carroll, who was running right behind Devereux and had nowhere to go, and Yamino Tenchi into the wall. Packer goes for a soft roll after Tenchi's car hits his. Packer and Tenchi go out of the race, ending what had been good runs by all three drivers. And what does Devereux do? After finishing 21st, he parks his car and walks down to the Atlantic Motorsports garage where he confronts Atkins. No punches were thrown, but of course, Devereux was throwing another one of his whiny-ass temper tantrums. And when he's interviewed afterward, here's what he said.

"There were about four cars that had no business out there... they were so slow and reckless that they were dangerous... I don't know if it's the drivers or the cars, but I've seen those cars go faster before." Devereux said, implying that the slower cars were hazardous because of the drivers.
"Luciano got taken out by the 11 car being too slow, and we got taken out by the 56 car being in the way... if this championship is decided by backmarkers then it will be a joke."

If this championship is decided by backmarkers, then it will be a joke. Hmmmm....



What IS a joke is your attitude, Devereux. You intentionally wreck a lapped car, which took several other cars out of the race, and naturally, you blame the lapped car for the incident. Here's the problem, Devereux. If you hadn't wrecked Atkins in the first place, THEN YOU WOULDN'T HAVE BEEN WRECKED YOURSELF! See, there's a reason you're the driver the fans hate the most in Master Cup, and it's gotta do with your attitude. Now, I don't hate you because you're French. I hate you because you're a whiny-ass momma's boy, who has his thumb stuck up his ass all the time, and whines like a ten year old in time out when things don't go his way, and then blames everyone else for his problems. With such in insolent attitude, it really makes me wonder how you're successful in life. You should consider yourself lucky you're as talented with a race car as you are, and I'll admit, as much as I hate your guts, I have respect for what you've accomplished in motorsports. But I have a gigantic problem when you run your mouth about other drivers when you're the one clearly at fault. Personally, if I had a team, I wouldn't hire you, no matter how talented or accomplished you are, because I wouldn't want the hassle of babysitting you and carrying your baggage.

You need to learn some lessons in etiquite from Packer Carroll. Here was Packer's tweet regarding being taken out in that wreck, and he also congratulates his teammate on her podium.

"Congrats on the podium, Divina. Kind of sad you're not staying with the team next year. Wish I could've been up there on the podium, too. We had a good run going, but we got caught up in a mess. Oh, well. On to Queensland."

Oh, well. That's all he said. No temper tantrum, no whiny comments. He realizes that somethings, things are out of your control, so he kind of just shrugs and moves on. Granted, Packer had a major blow up after France, but that's been the only one this year, whereas Deveruex seems to have one every week. You can see the different perceptions the fans have on both drivers. Packer is regarded as a hero, and Devereux is regarded as a jackass. Packer is super popular, Devereux is super hated. Not just my opinion. Ask many of the TM Master Cup fans out there, and I'm fairly certain they'll give you the same response.

I hope you're taking notes, Adrien. You're gonna need them.



Laughing Jeez, I crack myself up.

Heat of the Moment is brought to you by Subway, eat fresh.

All right, time for our Fast Five picks.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF QUEENSLAND

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

#1.

I said last week that Divina Henton needs to win one of the last four races to set herself up as a legitimate contender next year, and after a stellar 2nd place run at Victoria, I think she will build off that momentum and snag that first career win at Queensland. Being a road course specialist, I have a hunch that this will be her week to be on the top step of the podium. Divina Henton, my pick to win the Round of Queensland.

#2.

And I think her teammate, Packer Carroll will be right there with her as well. Just like Henton, road courses are Packer's bread and butter, and his record certainly proves it. Of the seven qualifying race victories that Packer has in both ARLA and Master Cup, five were on road courses. He has a road course win in ARLA, and his maiden Cup victory came at Road Gatineau in Quebec. After a solid run at Victoria was ruined by Devereux's fail driving, I have a hunch that Packer will be in the running in this race, and he needs to be if he wants to supplant Tom Moore as the "Rookie Cup Leader"... which I still think is a joke, but I digress.

#3.

Adrien Devereux. He's good on road courses, and this will probably be no different. Nuff said. Next.

#4.

It's been a while since we've really seen this guy be a contender, but I really like Mathias Taube this week. He's been in a slump since he got career win number three at his home race at Goteborgs, and if he wants to solidify his spot at Gessler next to fellow Scandinavian driver Kekkonen, I think he needs at least a top three finish to get his season back on track. Being that this is a road course, and all of Taube's wins have been on road courses, a win at Queensland is not entirely out of the question.

#5.

And here's your curve ball. All season long, we've seen how lackluster Team Saar USA has been with the new car, especially the 15 team, but they've gotta have a good run in them, and they haven't even finished in the top 10 all season, and I know some fans are gonna call me crazy with this pick, but I think Blake Camphausen will FINALLY, at the very least, break into the top 10. In what has been a disaster of a season for the young rookie, I don't think a top ten finish is too much to ask, and with a little bit of luck, he might get it this weekend.

Those are my Fast Five for the Round of Queensland: Divina Henton, Packer Carroll, Adrien Deverdoh, I mean, Devereux, Mathias Taube, and Blake Camphausen. Got three out of five last week, so we'll see how we do this week.

Coming up after the break, we will review the Round of Victoria and give our thoughts on what was a wild and crazy race with plenty of controversy to go around... as well as some youmadebor. Wink

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.




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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sat Nov 03, 2012 7:15 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding.

You know, I've been paying attention to the ARLA Elite Series this season, scouting for any possible potential Cup drivers for next season, and I would say that Ebenzer Quiggles, Jr. and Yevgeny Kuznetsov are impressing the hell out of me in their rookie ARLA seasons. Not only are they competing for the ROTY title, but the championship as well. Their respective teams, Fluffy Penguin Onionburger, which I personally think is a dumb name but whatever, and RUS Autosport, have given these young studs a chance at the big time with the kind of performances they've put on this season. Quiggles has four wins as a rookie, which is unheard of, and Kuzzie has a pair of victories himself. Now, Quiggles has experience in the TM Junior Series, but the ARLA cars are vastly different than anything Quiggles has ever driven before, and for him to come to ARLA and show the kind of dominance that he has in his rookie season, that's impressed FPO team owner Marcos Leonard enough to where FPO will move Quiggles up to their Master Cup program, which will make its debut next season. I'll admit, Marcos Leonard is one weird dude, and the way he talks makes you want to scratch your head in absolute confusion, but there's no question, he knows how to run a team. And I think it's a safe assumption that Kuzzie's gonna be on his way to Cup as well with his performances this season, and I think he has a spot at Katzev waiting for him next season, alongside fellow Russian Yuliya Nosova. I think with Divina Henton, Packer Carroll, Ebenezer Quiggles, and Yevgeny Kuznetsov, I think those will be the next four rising stars of the TM Master Cup Series in 2013.

It's time to review the Round of Victoria.

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF VICTORIA

Based on what I saw in practice and qualifying, I think it was pretty obvious that the FLASH Racing cars of Leonid Roderick and Michael Sykes were gonna be tough to beat at Calder Park. They swept the front row for Victoria, and they were fast right from the get-go, with Roderick leading a good chunk of the race early, and Sykes leading the most laps. The other championship contenders, Devereux, Kekkonen, and Soveral, had also qualified in the first three rows. It was pretty obvious that the championship was gonna come down to those four as we head into the final quarter of the season.

For the most part, we saw a fairly clean race for the first half of the 140-lap event, which is surprising considering who was driving the 42 this week. Yes, I'm talking about Cody Keaton. He is slow as all hell in Formula Overdrive, and he wasn't much better in his Cup debut. How this guy got his Master License, I'll never know, but Tutino desperately needs some funding, and Keaton brings that with sponsorship from Quantum Technologies, but sometimes, people need to realize that the risk is just not worth the reward. Case in point, A.J. Young in ARLA. Sure, he has lots of money, but he quickly becomes the track's fifth turn out there, and he's caused more problems than I can even care to count. To make matters worse, he was signed to drive for... M&J Racing?! That was easily one of the biggest shockers to come out of the ARLA garage this season. 2012 has been very costly for both M&J and Riggs Motorsports, which is why the two teams are merging in 2013. I know that Young brings cash to the team, but I have to say, this is not one of M&J's better choices. But that's the way racing goes sometimes. For some teams, money takes priority over talent, and that is essentially the case with Tutino this week. I also think that Keaton will be in the car for the next race at Queensland, which is a scary thought. I hope the other teams are ready to absorb a high repair bill.

Anyway, Azuma Kazeyama took over Tom Delgado's ride at Star Team Nemoto after Delgado retired from racing after failing to qualify for Indy, and Anthony Griffith is now driving the James Dalton 29 car for the rest of the season. How this guy wasn't penalized following the crap he pulled at Road America is beyond me, but at least Griffith can now finish his rookie season, albeit at the back of the pack. Really is a shame, because this guy was a successful ARLA driver, good kid, then he gets to move up to Cup driving for Power Steering, Inc., and he turns into a total asshat. I'll be very surprised if he finds a spot in a top-tier team next year, considering all the baggage he now carries.

The battle for the lead between the FLASH teammates heats up as Sykes takes the point from Roderick, and Mitchell & Sons driver Melanie Clevenot takes 2nd from Roderick, following Sykes through. Clevenot has been very impressive in Cup so far this season, and she has been dominating the TM Europe series as well, winning several races and having a massive point lead with just a few races to go. I suspect Clevenot could find herself with a capable team next year, and if that happens, we could see a whole lot more of her next year, which considering how well she's performed this year, could be a scary thought for her opponents.

Luciano Soveral, while running in the top 5, has a tire go flat on him, and he has to make an unscheduled stop to get it changed. So after just missing out on victory at Indy, bad luck bites him at Victoria. What he needs now is for the race to go green, let the leaders pit, and then get a caution to put him back in the hunt. The way the race was going at the moment, being clean and green, that was a real possibility.

Not long after, Arto Kekkonen challenges Sykes for the top spot, and by using Cody Keaton as a pick, Kekkonen makes the pass in turn 3. Keaton continues to be a moving chicane as he drops back into the field. Roderick would challenge Kekkonen for the lead later on, and not long after, Keaton goes two laps down to the leaders... and it was only the 28th lap of the race. To say that Keaton was horrendously slow is a big underestimation. Keaton would hold up both Kekkonen and Roderick, allowing Sykes and Adrien Devereux to move through to the first and second spots, as well as Melanie Clevenot. Kekkonen drops back to fourth, and Roderick to sixth. Through all of that, Sykes pulls out a commanding lead over Devereux as things calm down for a bit. Keaton would eventually smack the wall in turns 1 & 2, causing the officials to give him a warning for erratic driving.

Green flag pitstops kicked off not long after, with Melanie Clevenot, Yuliya Nosova, and Divina Henton being the first ones down pit road. Zelda Ashby, Marcos Leonard, and Scott Bates follow suit. On Lap 42, Michael Sykes pits from the lead, as well as Kekkonen, Devereux, Chris Johaanes, Leonid Roderick, and Yamino Tenchi. After he suffered that cut tire, Soveral is now the leader of the race, but the problem is, he's on older tires than the rest of his competitors, and because he had to pit early, he was gonna have to make his 2nd stop in just 10-12 more laps. He really needed that caution to fly to keep him on the lead lap. Unfortunately for Soveral, he would be the cause of the caution, the first caution on Lap 51. Ryan Matthews in the 11 and Scott Bates in the 88, on fresher tires that the 3, blow by Soveral in turns 1 & 2. Matthews pushes up the track in 2, making a bit of contact with the 3. Soveral apparently got butthurt over this, because going into turn 3, he touches the right rear corner of Matthews' car, which sends him into Bates and that sends both cars onto the apron. Both drivers try to save their cars, but Bates' car crosses up and shots back up the track, taking himself, Matthews and Soveral into the outside wall. All three cars would go out of the race from this incident, and Soveral would have a hissy-fit afterward in the garage area, which I've already covered in Heat of the Moment. Makes you wonder if he swiped Devereux's bottle of Youmadebor this morning before the race. Ben Atkins tries to avoid the wreck, but hits the back of Soveral and damages his car. Then, Troy Adams gets into Scott Bates and sends him through the infield grass. Well, so much for a clean race.

Several cars made pitstops under this caution, and Michael Sykes would lead on the restart. Chris Allen nearly turns the 50 of Scott Steudler off of turn 2. Meanwhile, the 72 of Kevin Dwyer is having a decent run, up in 7th place. Of course, I rolled my eyes when Scott Bush said that Dwyer was an emerging American hopeful, much like Dan Mullen and Lance Andrews have. Jeez, Scott, you, too? I had high hopes for you, man. Razz But, anyway, despite the fact that I think that calling Dwyer an American hopeful is a joke, he was running fairly well in this race. Roderick, after pitting for four tires, was back in 16th on the restart, but as fast as that car was, it wasn't gonna take long for Roderick to find his way back to the front. Yamino Tenchi, driving for DeGarmo Enterprises, is running in third at this point with a shot at the podium. Tenchi has one career Cup win, which came at the Lonestar Supercell in 2011 when she was driving for Nemoto. No victories so far this year, but she's done enough to be a threat for a top 10 points position, which has a couple of teams looking to hire her for 2013. A podium in this race would certainly bolster her resume.

While coming out of the pits, Cody Keaton nearly merges into traffic and almost causes a huge pile-up. The officials would slap Keaton with another warning, and I had a feeling that a penalty would come on strike three. Keaton doesn't have the best reputation in FO, and we're seeing why in his Cup debut. When the leaders come up to lap him again, Sykes nearly turns the 42 down the backstretch. I think it's safe to say that the frontrunners are fed up with Keaton at this point.

We had a very scary crash on Lap 75, which brought out the 2nd caution of the day. Louis Kingston hooks the 12 of Mika Paasonen coming of off turn 4, sending the 12 through the infield grass toward pit road. He slams into the pitwall and almost hits the pace car. He shoots back up the track and into the outside wall at the entrance of turn 1. Troy Adams gets hit in the door a little bit, but considering the circumstances, I'm surprised more cars weren't involved in that crash. Paasonen was okay, but his race was over.

Once again, several drivers came down pitroad under this caution. Divina Henton now finds herself in the lead on the restart, with Leonid Roderick right behind her and... Kevin Dwyer in third? Hmmm... Divina's teammate, Packer Carroll, is also having a good run, currently in 8th on the restart behind Michael Sykes. Greg Woodard and Zach Duff round out the top 5. So these cautions have really jumbled the field up. Speaking of cautions, the 3rd of the day came out on Lap 83, when coming off of turn 2, Charlie Waters in the 30 hooks the 56 of Ben Atkins, which hits the right rear of Chris Johaanes in the 64, sending Johaanes into the outside wall. So Charlie Waters continues to be a failmonkey. Lovely. Johaanes would go out of the race. Ian Cooper would go out as well when he came in under the caution. A suspension failure means another DNF for the Chicago native.

Divina Henton continues to lead on the restart, and Roderick is still lerking back in 2nd. Then comes the 4th caution of the day, and this time, it's our favorite PMSing driver, Adrien Devereux, who turns the 56 of Ben Atkins, but this one is an even bigger failure than Waters, because not only does he take himself out of contention, but the crash also collects Barton Sandy, Yamino Tenchi, Packer Carroll, and Mathias Taube, all of which were having solid runs. And of course, after the race was over, Devereux goes and has a little "discussion" with Ben Atkins, although he was really just having another one of his bitchy fits. That guy really needs to grow up. It's no wonder nobody ever takes him seriously. Rolling Eyes

The field pits again under this caution, and this time, it's Yuliya Nosova out in front on the restart with Azuma Kazeyama in 2nd. Kurt Plissken has also made his way up to the top 10. Michael Sykes would take the lead back from Nosova. But then we had another scary incident on the frontstetch, similar to the one we had before. But this time, Anthony Griffith hooks the 71 of Chris Allen coming out of turn 4. Allen smashes into the pitwall and into the pace car, before shooting back up the track and into the 5 of Zach Duff. Fortunately, nobody was in the pace car at the time, and both Allen and Duff were okay. I've personally never seen that before, but thankfully, nobody was injured. Duff and Allen would go out of the race.

Coming to the restart, Jose Luis Martinez in the 8 would go out of the race due to gearbox failure. Tough break for the young Mexican, who I don't think has a ride secured for next season. To date, Martinez is the only Independent's Trophy competitor to win a TM Master Cup Series race, which came at Daytona last year.

And... hold the phone. Stop all the presses. Call your mommas. Kevin Dwyer is leading on the restart?! This far into the race?! Well, let's see if this guy can hold on and put himself back into the ROTY battle. Kind of a surprising top three on this restart, with Dale Roswell in 2nd and Zelda Ashby in 3rd. But don't forget about Leonid Roderick and Divina Henton in 4th and 5th. Those two have been fast all day. Roderick was able to get by Roswell for 2nd, and now, he sets his sights on the 72 Saar of Kevin Dwyer. And it would not be long before Roderick would sweep by Dwyer in turns 1 and 2, and he would reclaim the lead of the race. Well, so much for Dwyer getting that first career win, although it looked like the handle really started to go away on the 72 in the closing laps of the race, because Dale Roswell and Michael Sykes would get by Dwyer as well.

The 6th and final caution came out on Lap 122, when Scott Steudler hooks the 999 of Marcos Leonard coming out of the tri-oval, taking himself, Leonard, and Blake Camphausen into the wall.

Roderick would lead on the restart, with Divina Henton right behind him. Henton was trying desperately to get to Roderick and challenge him for her first career win, but Roderick would hold off the 6 car for the rest of the race to take his 2nd victory of the season. Divina Henton gets her 2nd career podium with a 2nd place finish, and Michael Sykes rounds out the podium, although I'm sure he's disappointed about not winning after leading the most laps. Arto Kekkonen and Melanie Clevenot round out the top 5. The other two championship contenders, Luciano Soveral and Adrien Devereux, would not score points after causing a couple of boneheaded moves during the race.

So now, with four races remaining, the spread between the top four is just 39 points. Kekkonen retakes the lead. Devereux is 2nd, 25 points behind, Soveral 3rd, 30 points out, and Roderick 4th, 39 markers behind Kekkonen.

Coming up next, we give our final thoughts on the Round of Victoria as we look forward to the road course in Queensland.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sat Nov 03, 2012 11:01 pm

Closing thoughts on the Round of Victoria, in The Fuel.

I took a look at the track layout for the upcoming race in Queensland, and the layout is pretty much a figure-8. I dare say, it almost looks like a fusion between Suzuka and Road America. One of the things I noticed were the first two turns. Turn 1 is a very fast left-hander, which could make things exciting, but I believe turn 2, which is a sharp right-handed hairpin turn, I think that could be calamity corner in this race. I think we could see a large dose of "Gooby, wat r braks" from that turn. This track is new to the Cup Series, so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

Crank it up. It's time for the Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

YOUMADEBOR

This word is actually a messed up version of the phrase, "You mad, bro?" Basically, this word describes the tempers we saw at Calder Park, particularly from the Hodges-Walter Camp. Now, we all know that Devereux is ginormous whiner, but to be honest, I never expected Luciano Soveral to follow Devereux's lead and be a whiny-ass baby, especially when the wreck was his fault. Matthews wanted to take boxing lessons from Tom Delgado, Barton Sandy wanted to fight someone... it was just ridiculous, although Matthews had every right to be mad, in my opinion. Hopefully, things will be a little calmer when we get to Queensland.....





...but who am I kidding? Razz Laughing

Well, that will do it for us from Calder Park Thunderdome. Join us next time when we review the Round of Queensland and the ever-tightening championship chase.

I'm James Spalding, and we're signing off. This is The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(OOC: End of Episode 2. Thoughts and comments are welcome.)
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Tue Nov 13, 2012 8:47 pm

EPISODE 3: QUEENSLAND

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.

The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your source for everything TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding, coming to you from the Fraser Coast in Queensland, Australia. We've got a lot in store for today's edition of The Fuel, which is brought to you by Pepsi and Subway.

Adrien Devereux wins his fifth race of the year, and I guess that begs the question: Can anyone stop him from taking his second straight Master Cup? Of course, the other three title contenders, Leonid Roderick, Arto Kekkonen, and Luciano Soveral all finished in the top 5 as well, so the championship is still pretty close between all four, separated by just 39 points. But that's not the big news coming out of Queensland. In a blockbuster announcement, Leonid Roderick has stated that he will join the Volpi Racing Team alongside Packer Carroll for the 2013 season.

.......................

Well, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't shocked. I mean, let's be honest, Roderick could pick any team he wanted with the kind of resume he has. Something about VRT must've appealed to the Hot Rod, but in any case, I think Volpi will be a force to be reckoned with in 2013, and for Packer, I think having Roderick as a teammate is gonna be very beneficial for him next season, because it seems like no matter who his teammate is, Roderick has a way of elevating the performance of his team. Look at Arto Kekkonen when he was at FLASH. Look at Michael Sykes. They've become top notch drivers in Master Cup, and I think Packer's performance will be elevated in the same way next year. I think VRT as a whole needed this, because I'll be honest, VRT has been a little under the radar this season. Granted both Packer and Divina Henton are in the top 10 in points after posting solid top ten finishes at Queensland, but Cyril Volpi feels like the team should be competing for wins, and with Roderick coming on board, 2013 could be Volpi's year.

Taking a quick look at the preliminary team chart for next year. Volpi I've already covered, Hodges-Walter will be keeping their line-up intact, obviously. Then there's the new American Launch Energy Racing Team, who will be using the Inglesby Sonicboom in 2013, and both cars will be piloted by Welshman Michael Sykes and Chris Davenport, who will finally be making his full-time debut in 2013, but before that, he and Alexis Rainsford will be tying the knot after the 2012 season is complete, as is Alexis's sister, Rachel. It'll certainly be interesting to see how Davenport handles being a full-time Cup driver, because he does have a tendency to be a little erratic, as was the case at this year's Karjala Grand Prix. Over at Katzev, Yuliya Nosova will remain with the team next year. No word yet on who he teammate will be, but I have a hunch it will be popular ARLA driver Yevgeny Kuznetsov, who's in the running to win the ARLA championship in his rookie year, and he already has two wins in that series, so I'd say a trip to Cup is coming next year, and I think it will be with Katzev. Gessler sticks with Kekkonen and Taube. And then there's Lynxe Racing, who recently bought out Majestic Motorsports. There is no confirmation on who the two drivers will be, but based on Lynxe's history of promoting female drivers, I'd say that one of the seats will be filled by Divina Henton. The second one is still up in the air, although Yamino Tenchi is certainly a possibility as well.

Team EFR retains its line-up of Scott Bates and Ian Cooper for next year. Star Team Nemoto looks like has re-signed Louis Kingston, but no word on who will drive the 2nd car. Manticore Engineering will be making the jump to full time Cup racing next year. Of course, we saw a preview of what they were capable of at Karjala when Alexis Rainsford sat on the pole and was pretty much cruising until a mechanical problem dropped her to 18th at the finish. No word yet on who will get the two seats. Scuderia Tutino, believe it or not, will return in 2013 despite rumors that their funding is drying up. Mitchell and Sons, thanks to them getting a Cup date at New York, will retain their place on the grid for 2013, but like Manticore and Tutino, their driver line-up is up in the air.

Then there's Fluffy Penguin Onionburger, owned by the always weird Marcos Leonard. Ebenezer Quiggles will be driving the 99 next year, not really a surprise considering that he might be the ARLA champion this year, but a little bit of a surprise signing for FPO: Zelda Ashby will be Quiggles' teammate in 2013. A little bit of a surprise, in my opinion. And there are rumors about a possible 14th team on the full-time grid, but details are sketchy at this time.

Opening rant in The Fuel brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Had an excellent week in our Fast Five picks, going 4 out of 5, the only whiff being Blake Camphausen. I honestly thought that he would break out of the slump, but he's just been terrible this year, and so has Team Saar USA, for the most part. Kevin Dwyer and Camphausen haven't been signed anywhere yet, so it's unknown if they will stay in Cup with another team, or drop down into one of the lower leagues. Personally, my money's on the second option.

Coming up next, it's our Heat of the Moment segment, along with our Fast Five picks for the Round of Brazil in a couple of weeks, and I engage rage mode regarding Cody Keaton's absolutely atrocious display at Queensland, and I'll be showing you my little spat on Twitter with Kevin Dwyer... and it gets a little nasty.

Good times.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sat Nov 17, 2012 1:33 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding, on TMMC Radio.

During the break, someone told me that I had forgotten to mention what's happening with Power Steering, Inc. next year, and I apologize for that. Obviously, Kurt Plissken will remain with PSI, but we've learned that Greg Woodard will be Plissken's teammate next year, and with Woodard on board, that also means that PSI will be using the Lycoia as well. PSI could be a force in 2013, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Also, we're gonna try to bring Leonid Roderick on the show in the near future and give his take about his move to Volpi and what he expects from the 2013 season. It's not a done deal yet, but we're in the process of hopefully having it arranged, so stayed tuned.

It's time for Heat of the Moment.

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Heat of the Moment begins playing...

Well, what more can we say about Cody Keaton? He clearly sucks as a driver. It showed in Formula Overdrive, where he has negative points right now, so it was pretty obvious that when he joined Tutino, he was gonna have the same result. The thing is, I never expected him to be such a weapon at Queensland. He was hitting walls all over the place, then he hits Michael Sykes while Sykes is battling for a top ten spot, then he hits his own teammate in the same corner he hit Sykes. I think we can safely say that this will be the last we see of Cody Keaton in Master Cup. He doesn't even have the skills to compete in Formula Overdrive, much less Master Cup. Personally, I think he should stick to engineering, because I think that's the only thing he's good at.

And then there's Kevin Dwyer. I've always thought Adrien Devereux to be the biggest whiner on the circuit, but after what I saw at Queensland this week, I think Devereux has a challenger for that honor in Dwyer. Here was the little twitter war I had with Dwyer after the Queensland race...

--------------------

KDwyer72: Front end got screwed up by some idiot in qualifying. Never felt right afterwards, and the guy that screwed us got off with no penalty. I see how it is.

JamesSpalding: @KDwyer72 QQ

KDwyer72: I'd hate to be @JamesSpalding and have to make excuses for every single time Packer Carroll sucks. He's got a busy job and a lot of excuses to make.

JamesSpalding: @KDwyer72 I'd hate to be Peter Keyes when he has to wipe your ass every time you whine and complain about something. You need to grow up, son. You'll never be like your daddy with that kind of attitude.

KDwyer72: @JamesSpalding Seems like you know a lot about wiping other people's asses for them. I wouldn't know anything about that, but if I need to know how to do that I'll ask you.

JamesSpalding: @KDwyer72 You're hilarious, you know that? You try to talk smack just like your father did. Here's the difference: Benny was able to back it up. His six Master Cup are proof of that. And what have you accomplished in your career? 1 win... in the TM Lights. And you wonder why I don't have any respect for you? You see, I hate Adrien Devereux even more than you, Dwyer, but despite that, I have respect for Devereux, because the guy is one hell of a race car driver, and nothing I say will change that. Before you start getting all cocky, how about you actually accomplish something in Cup. I'll tell you what, if you actually manage to win a race before the year's out, I might actually give you some respect as a driver, and no, New York doesn't count. Win a race when all of the world's best are on the track, and you'll earn some of my respect.

KDwyer72: @JamesSpalding Looks like I hit a nerve. How many major races have you won?

JamesSpalding: @KDwyer72 As many as you have, son: zero, and with that kind of attitude, I'll be very surprised if you actually manage to win a race. Hell, I'll be surprised if you don't drop down to the ASCC just like all the other Saar underachievers in the past have.

KDwyer72: @JamesSpalding Sorry, I can't see you behind these LMP2 trophies. #ALMS

JamesSpalding: @KDwyer72 Trophies from a sportscar series no one really gives a shit about. Come back when you succeed in Cup, then we'll talk. #TMMCiswheretherealhardwareis

--------------------

Laughing Laughing Laughing Jeez, that was hilarious.

Kevin, I love it when you make yourself look like a total douchebag in front of the entire world with the way you whine and complain about stuff when things don't go your way. In fact, you sound a lot like another washed up Saar driver (I'm looking at you, Mr. Durbin), but at least he's done something in Cup. And you bragging about your sportscar trophies is the biggest example of arrogance I've ever seen in Master Cup. Let me tell you something, sportscars and stock cars are two totally different animals in the motorsports world, and right now, stock car racing is the highest up on the hierarcy. So you say you've won a lot of sportscar races in the past before you joined Master Cup. That's all fine and dandy, but in the minds of the stock car fans, who gives a shit what you did in sportscars? Just because you've had a successful sportscar career doesn't translate to success in Master Cup, and yet the media plays you off like you're the next big thing and you talk smack about your so-called talent when you're not even in the top 20 in points. I mean, sheesh. I've never seen a guy more full of himself than Kevin Dwyer, or should I say Kevin "Cryer", because that's all you ever do anymore. Devereux, he's right up there too, but the difference is, he's won nine races in three seasons, plus a championship in just his second season. Until you can match what Devereux has done, keep your damn mouth shut, because one of these days, you're gonna say something really stupid, and it will come back and bite you in the ass. Then you'll be joining your pals Durbin and Everett in the ASCC, where all the washed-up Saar drivers go when they can't cut it in Master Cup anymore. Not like you've been cutting it in Cup, anyway, but whatever.

Heat of the Moment brought to you by Subway, eat fresh.

(sigh) I swear, people like Dwyer make me want to vom all over my desk with the amount of arrogance they radiate. It's just mind-boggling, in my opinion. But, enough about that. It's time to make our Fast Five picks for the Round of Brazil. Went 4-1 at Queensland, so we're now 7-3 overall so far this season, but I have a feeling that this race might be our first losing week, because the races at Autodromo Daniel Esteveem are such a crapshoot, because they resemble restrictor plate races with all the shuffling around that happens. But we're gonna give it our best to come up with the Fast Five that make the top ten, so here we go.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF BRAZIL

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

#1.

Boy, this is gonna be tough to pick a winner this week, but just because it's his home race, and he's a championship contender with something to prove, I gonna select Luciano Soveral as my pick to win the Round of Brazil. I can't really say much more than that, because Brazil is a crapshoot, as I've alluded to earlier.

#2.

Leonid Roderick my #2 pick this week. He's coming off a top 5 result at Queensland and of course the blockbuster announcement of him going to Volpi in 2013. He's 39 markers behind Adrien Devereux for the point lead, and he's gonna need to make a statement this week if he really wants to put himself in the thick of the championship fight.

#3.

Because this race resembles a superspeedway race a lot, I'm gonna go with Scott Bates this week. He's a master of superspeedway racing, and I think those talents could serve him well at ADE this week. He's a distant 5th in the championship, but he's a top 5 driver for a reason. Don't count Scott Bates out this week.

#4.

In that same respect, Ian Cooper may very well be up at the front as well. His last win came at Indy last year, which is a superspeedway, so Cooper knows how to get the job done in a superspeedway shuffle as much as his teammate does. Look for Cooper to be somewhere near the top ten, if not the top five in this race.

#5.

I'm gonna go with Arto Kekkonen, just because he's been so darn consistent everywhere this year. He has three wins this year, two on road courses and one on a short track. Since ADE is technically a short track, since it measures at just under 1 mile in length (0.999 miles, to be exact), this could be the race where Kekkonen might get win number 4 this year and retake the championship lead from Adrien Devereux.

Those are my Fast Five for the Round of Brazil: Luciano Soveral, Leonid Roderick, Scott Bates, Ian Cooper, and Arto Kekkonen. This could be really good or really bad for us this week, but we'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Coming up next, we will give our take on what happened in the Round of Queensland, which, other than a couple of dumb moments, was a relatively clean race, which for a road course, is a little surprising.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Mon Nov 19, 2012 8:32 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding.

During the break, I was on Twitter, and I got this tweet from Daniel Miller, who races in the Dash Cup series.

DMiller9x: @JamesSpalding You know, as a professional you're not really meant to be as biased as you are.

Implying that other journalists and broadcasters like Dan Mullen and Lance Andrews aren't biased. What a joke. Am I biased sometimes? Yes, I can be. But I'm not the only one. Look at Dan Mullen. He seems to be biased toward Kevin Dwyer. Why else would we see Dwyer on the screen even if he's running 29th? Lance Andrews seems to be biased towards Divina Henton, Scott Bush and Earl McDermott biased toward Leslie Riggs. Look, no matter where you look in sports, there will always be people who are biased. Let me put it to you this way. Trying to find a non-biased broadcaster or journalist is like sticking your dick in a shoebox and giving it to a camel to lick. It's completely pointless. End of story.

It's time to review the Round of Queensland.

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF QUEENSLAND

Mathias Taube took his second pole of the season, while his teammate Arto Kekkonen qualified on the front row with him, but sitting in third was Adrien Devereux, with teammate Luciano Soveral with him. It was Gessler vs. Hodges-Walter at the start of this race, although the Gessler teammates almost came together fighting for the lead. Kekkonen backed off and lost several spots to both the Altairs. Leonid Roderick wasn't far behind this bunch, either, so you basically had the four title contenders running right together at the front of the field. Meanwhile, at the back of the field was... Cody Keaton, and it didn't take him long before he lost the pack. How did this guy even get a Master License?

In the middle of the pack was Volpi driver Packer Carroll, who started 20th after spinning twice in qualifying, but was slowly making his way through the field, despite the fact that Fraser Park was known as a track that was very difficult to pass on. Of course, he needs to be on top of his game now that he knows that Leonid Roderick will be his teammate next year, so getting up toward the front was certainly priority number 1. Then there was the other Volpi that will soon be occupied by Roderick that is currently being driven by Divina Henton, who was running up inside the top 10. Both the Volpi drivers have been pretty equal in performance this year, and to be honest, it could've gone either way as to who was staying and who was going, but Packer held the trump card with that win at Quebec, so Henton will be looking for a new ride in 2013, although rumors are that she will land at Lynxe Racing, which I think is a pretty safe bet.

The race was fairly clean for the most part, if not a little boring. With passing so difficult at this track, it was pretty much single file action through much of the field. Then, to no one's surprise, Keaton smacks the wall in one of the right handers. Looks like this is gonna be another long day for Mr. Keaton, because on the same lap, he smacks the wall at one of the left hand turns this time, so now both sides of the car are crumpled. This guy's already under a microscope from TMMC officials, so this is not looking too good for Keaton early on.

Meanwhile, the battle for the lead began to heat up as Devereux began to put some pressure on Taube. Devereux would get side-byside with Taube, and it would remain that way for several laps, until Devereux finally cleared the 10 car for the lead. Marcos Leonard, after a great qualifying run, began to drop back through the field. Meanwhile, my old pal Kevin Dwyer is currently up inside the top 10, which is pretty good. Question is, can he stay there at such a difficult road course? Yuliya Nosova and Leonid Roderick were right behind Dwyer for position. Louis Kingston would have to pit for a flat tire.

Meanwhile, Taube has settled back in and challenges Devereux for the lead. He gets alongside the 1 car and stays there for the entire lap, and would retake the lead on the backstretch. But Devereux was not gonna give up without a fight, and a few laps later, would challenge Taube coming into turn 4 and would take the lead back pretty easily. Taube fell back into the clutches of Soveral, and that was the last anyone saw of that 1 car for the remainder of the race. Taube would hold off Soveral for 2nd, and Soveral would lose 3rd to Kekkonen and 4th to Michael Sykes. Taube ran wide down the backstretch, and that allowed Kekkonen and Sykes to close in, but he would hold on to the runner-up spot.

Keaton would run it off the track once again, but he keeps it off the wall this time as the lead lap cars start to shuffle by him. Roderick would come under attack from Melanie Clevenot for the 8th position, and Kekkonen was wide coming out of the turn 2-3 S, and it allowed both Sykes and Soveral to get by for 3rd and 4th. Kingston would go a lap down to Devereux not long after. Then, coming out of the S, he suddenly slows as his car loses power, and holds up both Taube and Sykes. Taube manages to get by, but Sykes loses 3rd and 4th to Soveral and Kekkonen. Soveral would challenge Taube for 2nd and took out down the backstretch. Kekkonen would try to follow suit but was unsuccessful. Yuliya Nosova's engine expired after having a great top ten run. Tough break for the Katzev bunch.

Marcos Leonard and Kevin Dwyer kicked off green flag pitstops, but it was a little bit earlier than they would've liked, because some teams were planning a one-stop pit strategy. Treven Terrell had just made a pitstop and was trying to stay out of the leader's way, but Soveral, coming out of turn 3, doorcheck's Terrell into the sandtrap. Devereux would eventually come in on Lap 19, right at the halfway point, meaning that anybody that stops now could go the rest of the way on fuel. Soveral stays out to get a fast lap on low fuel, but the problem is that Devereux had such a huge lead, that when Soveral came in for his stop, Devereux, despite stopping earlier, still had a massive lead. At this point, the fight was for 2nd place.

Then came the fail of the race. Cody Keaton would lose it for the third time in the same corner, and although he kept it off the wall, as he tried to merge back on, he hits the side of his own teammate, Treven Terrell. Keaton would spin out and Terrell would have significant damage to the 50 car. Keaton was slapped with a 30-second ATP and he was ordered to meet with the officials after the race. Hmmm... I think it's safe to say that this is the last time we will see Cody Keaton in a Master Cup car.

Good news and bad news for Kevin Dwyer. Good news? He's set the third fastest lap of the race. Bad news? His pit crew let him down (again) and he was back in 16th, and to make matters worse, he was gonna have to make an extra stop for fuel. Too bad...

Zach Duff blows up near the end of the race, while his teammate Leonard has to make a second stop for fuel. Then, Keaton would lose the car once again and would slam into the 44 of Michael Sykes, who was in the middle of a battle for a top five spot, and gets screwed over by a total goofball I wouldn't trust with a squirt gun. Good grief. Keaton would get a 45-second ATP, but honestly, he should've been parked for his idiocy.

Eventually, Dwyer's car had lost the handle so badly, he was eventually put a lap down by Devereux. Personally, I think it's the driver, not the car, but I digress.

Then came the controversial moment of the race. Divina Henton, running in 7th place, would try to pass Blake Camphausen, who was running in the points despite being a lap down, when the 6 got into the 15 and Camphausen spun into the sandtrap, although it looked like the 15 came over into Henton. But the officials would slap Henton with a 30-second ATP for avoidable contact, but the Volpi Racing Team protested the penalty, and the officials took a closer look at the incident. Eventually, they came to the conclusion that Henton was not at fault for the collision with the 15 car, and took down the ATP, putting Henton back into the 7th position, which I personally thought was a good call, because it looked from my vantage point that the 15 lost control and swerved into the 6 who had nowhere to go, so a good call by the officials. Don't get to say that very often. Henton would come under attack from Michael Sykes, who would take the 7th spot from Henton in the closing laps. But no one would challenge Adrien Devereux on this day, as he cruised to a 15-second victory, his fifth of the season. Mathias Taube would finish 2nd, and Soveral would take the final spot on the podium. Roderick finished 4th and Kekkonen 5th, meaning that all four title contenders finished in the top 5. Chris Johaanes, Michael Sykes, Divina Henton, Packer Carroll,and Melanie Clevenot round out the top 10.

So with three races remaining, Adrien Devereux retakes the championship lead, but his lead is just 5 markers ahead of Arto Kekkonen in 2nd. Soveral is 25 points back in 3rd, and Roderick is 4th, 39 points out of the lead. Everyone from 5th on down has now been officially been eliminated from championship contention.

Coming up next, we'll give our final thoughts on the Round of Queensland as we look to Brazil, and returning to the track where last year, we lost Scott Hamilton.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by PackerMan71 Thu Nov 22, 2012 3:18 pm

Closing thoughts on the Round of Queensland, in The Fuel.

Well, we're gonna be heading to Brazil next, at the Autodromo Daniel Esteveem, where last year, we saw the tragic accident that claimed the life of Xenos driver Scott Hamilton and injured several other drivers including Jacques Bouvier, which has caused Bouvier to miss the entire 2012 season. Many people were wondering whether or not the TM Master Cup Series should go back to ADE, but after some consideration, TMMC management decided to keep the track on the schedule. Only time will tell as to whether or not this was a smart move.

Crank it up. It's time for the Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

ASSMONKEY

According to the urban dictionary, the definition of an assmonkey is a close relative of an asshat, best defined as any disagreeable idiot who has successfully combined being an asshole with the brainpower of a monkey fed LSD, someone that asks stupid questions, or a complete idiot. Cody Keaton is the perfect example of this word, especially with his "sublime" driving performance at Queensland. He basically hit everything but the pace car, and I'm surprised he didn't hit that. He hits his teammate Treven Terrell and Michael Sykes, and he doesn't accept the responsibility for the incidents, instead placing the blame on the Tutinos, and then he complains about everyone being on his ass. Well, maybe you should stop and think about that for a second. Why are people on your ass? Hmmmm..... oh, I know. BECAUSE YOU SUCK AS A RACE CAR DRIVER. Seriously, stick to engineering, leave the racing to the professionals, and refrain from coaching little league baseball, because you're not even mature enough to do that. Good grief.

Well, that's all from the Fraser Coast for the Round of Queensland. Next time, we will review the Round of Brazil, and hopefully, we'll be able to get Leonid Roderick on the show. Thank you for tuning in. I'm James Spalding, and we're signing off.

This is The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(OOC: End of Episode 3. Comments and opinions are welcome.)
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Post by Michael Sykes Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:28 am

This is Michael Sykes of Flash Racing, and when I'm not drinking Launch energy drinks, or avoiding cabbages, I'm drinking "The Fuel"
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Post by PackerMan71 Sat Dec 08, 2012 11:03 am

EPISODE 4: BRAZIL

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.

The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your show for all things TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding.

Well, well, well. After the crappy performances we've seen this season, Benny Dwyer's baby boy finally steps up to the plate and nabs his first career win at Brazil, holding off Ethan Everett in the late laps. Now, I know some people are gonna be asking me this question, "What's your excuse gonna be about Kevin Dwyer this time?" Answer: I have no excuses. I'm gonna be perfectly honest here. I still don't like his attitude, I don't like him personally, and I still don't think he's that good of a driver, certainly not on the level his father was at. But, I'm gonna give credit where credit is due. Dwyer stepped up and got the job done, with all the drivers competing. Now, if this win would've come at New York, I definitely would've questioned it, but he got it at Brazil, and that deserves some credit. What's gotten under my skin is how the American media is just going nuts over this win, which I will go into more depth in Heat of the Moment a little later on.

As far as silly season goes, it looks like Yamino Tenchi has landed at Clockwork Racing, which is a team owned by Team EFR driver Ian Cooper. Not much is known about what this team is doing in 2013, whether or not it's a full-time team or an Independent's Trophy team, but it will carry #25 and will be using what was described as "experimental technologies". Hmmm....

Another announcement will be coming at the Round of New York by Lynxe Racing as far as one of their drivers is concerned. Now, reports are certainly indicating that Divina Henton is heading over to that team, but according to Lynxe Racing officials, they indicated the driver they are announcing at New York is someone who "fans should know pretty well", but did not confirm any additional details. Lynxe has also not yet decided on a chassis to use for 2013, with some reports stating that the team might build off of a 2012 concept car that was never raced. Hmmm... a driver the fans should know pretty well... Could it be....? No, it couldn't.... but stranger things have happened. We're gonna have to wait until New York to find out who this driver is, so until then, I'm gonna keep my suspicions under wraps.

Also, Scuderia Tutino is reportedly interested in buying the Rossini-designed chassis for their 2013 car. The team would apparently be willing to take Italian Alessandro "Milano" Rossini as a driver as part of the deal. Rossini recently made comments suggesting that the TM Master Cup series needed an Italian driver. Marino Tutino, owner of Scuderia Tutino, agreed with Rossini's statements.

"It's a shame there are no Italians in the series, but that is how it goes... we know that [Rossini] is good enough but he doesn't have a drive." Tutino said.
"We would love the chance to have another Italian driver in our team next season."

The last time we saw Milano Rossini was when he was driving for the ill-fated Corsa team, and he kind of disappeared from the scene for a while. He's reappeared in Formula Overdrive, where he's currently in the top 10 in points and is contending for the Oval Championship. It has caught the attention of Tutino, who are desperate for some good results, so maybe signing the Italian to the team will be the tonic that team needs to get off the ground.

Also, reports are indicating the the 14th full-time team on the grid, which still hasn't been confirmed, could be either BlackDiamond Racing or Rick Milligan Racing. BKR Australia came up in the woodwork as well, but that team is listed as running for the Independent's Trophy. Hopefully, we'll get some answers after the Round of New York.

Opening rant in The Fuel brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Well, I said that Brazil would be our first losing week in our Fast Five, and boy, was I right. 1-4 at Brazil, which puts our overall record at 8-7. Hopefully, the Round of New York will be kinder to us.

Coming up next, in Heat of the Moment, my rant is not gonna be focused on Kevin Dwyer (for a change), but rather on the media and how they've just hyped up this win to ridiculous levels, and we will make our Fast Five picks for the Round of New York.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by Vincent Giacalone Sat Dec 08, 2012 12:02 pm

Dat theme song.
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Post by PackerMan71 Sun Dec 09, 2012 3:43 pm

You're in The Fuel, with James Spalding.

Well, the Round of New York is coming up, and with Leonid Roderick just 19 points out of the lead, he could very well leave New York with the championship lead heading into the final two races of the season, since his team is the only one of the championship contenders that will be running at New York, due to the fact that FLASH Racing is an MCMA team. Now, some people might call this unfair, but that's the way it is. Of course, Roderick has to capitalize on the opportunity while he has the chance, because this will still not be a cakewalk by any stretch of the imagination. The final three races, New York, British Columbia, and Decatur are all road course events, and as we've seen in the past, anything can happen on a road course.

Crank it up. It's time for Heat of the Moment.

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Heat of the Moment begins playing...

Okay, I wanna make one thing perfectly clear here. Despite my obvious disdain for Kevin Dwyer, this rant is not focused on Dwyer himself, but rather the hype around his win and the fact that the media are blowing this WAY out of proportion. Another person blowing this up more than it should be is Channel 44 announcer Dan Mullen. Now, I realize that he seems to have a man-crush on Kevin Dwyer, but good grief, he takes it to a whole new level when Dwyer won the Round of Brazil. It also didn't help that another one of Mullen's favorite drivers, Ethan Everett, finished in 2nd. Here's the audio clip of Dan Mullen when Dwyer took the checkered flag and Everett took second.

"Kevin Dwyer is gonna win his first ever TM Master Cup Series race in Brazil! Kevin Dwyer, car #72, has done it! He's pulled it off, and he has taken home his maiden victory in Brazil! He has gotta be thrilled about that, and Team Saar USA has continued their winning streak, because Team Saar USA, in all of its various incarnations, has never gone a season without a win. And Kevin Dwyer has just made sure of that, and Team Saar USA, of course, most likely out of the series at the end of the year. What a great way to go out with Kevin Dwyer bringing them to a victory! Ethan Everett, one of their hot prospects and one of their ASCC drivers, come home second!"

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRKuOwstLvH9UJGSX-V0Ae9HSHxkIWdOQb2qAXopHVdQiP-2F66

Are my ears bleeding? Someone get me some tissues just in case. F**king hell, I swear, it sounded like Mullen was having an orgasm when Dwyer and Everett finished 1-2 at Brazil. I honestly think he jizzed all over his TV monitor when that happened, and I don't envy Lance Andrews having to stand next to him when that happens. I'd rather listen to a baby zebra being fisted in its ass than listen to that audio clip again, because that just made the rest of the broadcast unwatchable in my opinion, and from what I heard, he was still going on about Dwyer's win while the victory lane interview was being conducted. Good grief. Now, I've admitted that I am a fan of drivers such Packer Carroll, Leonid Roderick, and Arto Kekkonen, and if and when they win, I certainly give them their praises, but I would never take it to the level that Dan Mullen took it at Brazil, because it's almost an obsession when it comes to that point. Are you familiar with the term fanboy? When it comes to Kevin Dwyer, Dan Mullen is the textbook definition of that word. Now, I'm not saying that he shouldn't be a fan of Kevin Dwyer. I'm just saying, give it a rest. Your commentary at the end of that race made me want to take a chainsaw and lop my ears off. Sheesh.

And then there's Daniel Miller, who tweeted this after Dwyer's victory.

DMiller9x: @JamesSpalding can't try the "he doesn't have a win" excuse anymore! Great win @KDwyer72

Here's the thing, son. The next time I need an obnoxious comment, I'll turn to you for advice. Until then, I'm not gonna waste my time with someone as insignificant as you. Bottom line, it wasn't an excuse. It was a fact. But despite that, I still don't consider Dwyer to be a good driver, because he is just wildly inconsistent. Was it a good win? Yes, it was, and I'll give him respect for that, but that's about it.

Of course, Daniel Miller and Dan Mullen are both blown out of the water by the American media. If you thought Miller and Mullen were bad, the American media trumps the both of them by a long shot. We all know how much the media loves Kevin Dwyer and Team Saar USA, but after Dwyer's win, the media has just over-hyped it almost to the point of diluting it. It is just so ridiculous. In fact, one member of the media even went so far as to call Kevin Dwyer the best driver in the world.

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR3gQJXgWs08w53dY7DGYZZz7mdCZnfQjlz9Et538UOezRoAtjL

Here's the thing the media needs to realize: despite the win, he's still NOT EVEN IN THE TOP 20 IN POINTS. Yes, it was a good win, as I've said, but when you don't even crack the top 20 after a win, that just shows you how bad Kevin Dwyer has been this season. Granted, he's improved, and he's got a victory to show for it, but that still doesn't excuse the fact that he's pretty much sucked this year, and yet the media still talk about how he's the greatest thing ever uncomparable to p***y. OMG KEVEN DWYR IS THE GREATEST DRIVR EVAR DURRRR!!!1!1 No, he's not. He's got a long way to go before I even begin to talk about him being in the same league as his dad. If he really wants to be in that conversation (legitimately), then he's gonna have to win a Master Cup or two. Until then... Best driver in the world? Not by a long shot.

Here's the bottom line I have for the media. If you want to talk about Dwyer and give him his praises for a good win, that's fine. But this shit you've been peddling, this shit just gets annoying. I just don't like it when the media comes up to you and says "Kevin Dwyer, best driver in the world", and any opinion you give to them is just shut down, you know, like it's just arrogance. And if there are any fans of Kevin Dwyer out there, feel free to comment on TheFuel.com and say specifically why you like Kevin Dwyer, but don't be stupid and say, "Oh, when I'm drunk I like to watch him" or, "Oh, this guy's a f**king hater. You're just jealous that he makes more money than you" and all that bullshit, because honestly, that crap's for Facebook.

Today's Heat of the Moment segment brought to you by Subway, eat fresh.

(exhales) Well, glad I got all of that off my chest. You know, despite what some people might think, the fact that Dwyer won isn't what bothers me. It's the media's perception of the win. He wins one race, and all of a sudden, the media thinks he's the greatest thing since pie. It just gets really annoying hearing it all the time, and anything that's overexposed gets old. That's just my opinion.

The Round of New York is coming up, and that means it's time to make my Fast Five picks.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF NEW YORK

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

#1.

Boy, we got hammered at the Round of Brazil, going just 1-4. The only driver I picked that finished in the top ten is my number one pick for the Round of New York, and that's Leonid Roderick. He's the only one of the four championship contenders that will be in this race, and I think he realizes that if he can win this race, he will take a nice lead into the final two races at British Columbia and Decatur, so I think he will bring his best at New York, and that's why I'm picking him to win.

#2.

Melanie Clevenot is my number two pick this week. She's coming off winning the TM Europe championship, which an all road course series, and I think those skills will be on full display at New York, and who knows, she may even win this race. It just depends on if the Mitchell and Sons car doesn't suffer any mechanical problems like it has a few times this season.

#3.

Another guy who's been good on road courses this season has been Roderick's teammate, Michael Sykes. He won at Russia earlier this season, and was on his way to a Perfect 70 at Road America before throwing it away in the closing stages of that race. Sykes is still hungry for victory #3, and if he has the form he's shown on the road courses this season, he could be a threat at New York.

#4.

He's back in the TM Master Cup Series once again for this special event, and he proved at Indy that he still had what it took. Tony Durbin returns to the 33 car, and even though his road course prowess still needs refinement, I think he will at least be in the top 10, because to be honest, looking at the other MCMA drivers other than the ones I've already mentioned, I don't see anyone else with the talent and experience that Durbin has, so Durbin is my #4 pick this week.

#5.

And you all know I hate this guy, but I'm not picking Kevin Dwyer based on how much I like him (or dislike him, as the case may be). He's coming off his first career win at Brazil, and that's gonna carry a lot of momentum into the Round of New York. Like Durbin, I don't consider him to be much of a road racer, but he has momentum, and sometimes, that's all you need.

Those are my five picks for the Round of New York: Leonid Roderick, Melanie Clevenot, Michael Sykes, Tony Durbin, and Kevin Dwyer. I think we'll do a little better this week than the craptastic picks we made at Brazil, and hopefully we'll improve on our 8-7 record that we have so far in 2012.

Coming up next, our review of the Round of Brazil, and the many problems that befell the championship contenders.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by PackerMan71 Tue Dec 11, 2012 8:48 pm

You're in The Fuel, with James Spalding.

Yeesh. Apparently, my little rant in the last segment rubbed some people the wrong way, because there were some butthurt people talking about it on Twitter. I'm not gonna show what went on, because, quite frankly, it was a train wreck. Some people have to realize that this is not just a radio show where I just talk about racing for a half-hour. I'm gonna make it as entertaining as I possibly can, while being informative at the same time. My sponsors seem to like it when I do those rants on the Heat of the Moment segment, but I don't just do them because I get paid to do it. It is how I genuinely feel about the subject we talk about, but maybe I should've put a warning sign up or something that says, "If you get butthurt easily, please leave the room." or something like that. For the people who like the show, I appreciate the support, and if you don't like it, bear in mind that I'm not forcing you to listen to my show. Just turn the knob or press the button on your radio and switch to a different channel. Plain and simple, because I know I'm not gonna please everybody with what I say on this show, but the bottom line is, whether you like it or not, I'm gonna give my honest opinion, and you can take what I say however you want. End of discussion.

On a lighter note, we received some breaking news during the commercial break. It has been confirmed: Yevgeny Kuznetsov will be driving the second Katzev alongside fellow Russian Yuliya Nosova in 2013, as he guns for Rookie of the Year.

Yeah, pretty much the worst kept secret in the garage. We all had a feeling that Kuzzie would be hired by Katzev. A popular Russian driver with a Russian team. Seems like a perfect fit, and this might be the perfect time for Kuzzie to join Katzev. We've seen that the Katzevs have been improving from the start of the season, and if they continue to improve, they could be a force to be reckoned with in 2013. Now, some people might say, "Well, he got the ride because he has deep pockets." Granted he has a lot of money that he will bring to the table, but if you've been watching the ARLA Elite Series this season, he's scored two victories in his rookie season, one at Four Corners, and one at Tokyo, and he's a legitimate championship contender for the ARLA championship as we head toward the end of the season. Of course, he'll be hard pressed to catch Ebenezer Quiggles, Jr., who currently leads the ARLA championship right now. Both Kuzzie and Quiggles will be in Cup next year, and just like this year, they could be competing for Rookie of the Year and the TM Master Cup Series championship. They are that good, and their teams are certainly capable of competing for a championship. Will it happen? Only time will tell.

So the other spots on the grid that have yet to be revealed are Lynxe Racing, although we expect one of those seats to be filled by Divina Henton, and we have our suspicions about the second seat. Star Team Nemoto haven't named their second driver yet that will be the teammate to Louis Kingston, and Manticore, Tutino, and Mitchell and Sons haven't announced their line-ups yet either. And we still don't know who the 14th team is. All of our answers (or at least some of them) might be answered after New York, so stayed tuned.

Okay, it's time to go over the Round of Brazil.

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF BRAZIL

This is the race where the fan designed paintschemes return, and one of those paintschemes sat on the pole, the #9 of Arto Kekkonen. The five points he gains from the pole puts him even with Adrien Devereux in the championship, but Devereux holds the tiebreaker with most victories: 5 to Kekkonen's 3. Devereux would pounce on Kekkonen to take the lead early. Divina Henton and Carlos Donzelo are running 2nd and 3rd at this point. At the back, Luciano Soveral scrapes the wall and cuts a tire down, which will put him several laps behind. Not exactly what he was hoping for in his home race.

With Melanie Clevenot running the TM Europe finale at Monza, even though she's already locked up the TM Europe Championship, Ethan Everett was called up to take her place in the #74 Mitchell and Sons car. Everett was doing a pretty good job early in the race, running at the front of the field. The cobalt blue car of Chris Johaanes was also making his way towards the front of the field early on, as was Kevin Dwyer in a special Pepsi scheme and Packer Carroll, in a special Lego scheme.

The first caution came out on Lap 27, as the #5 of Zach Duff blows up in turn 2. Yuliya Nosova slides in his oil and hits the back of the 5 car sending it around. In response to this, Mika Paasonen runs into the back of Joel Rodriguez in the 08 and spins the 08. Paasonen would continue on as does Rodriguez, but Nosova has terminal damage from the contact and has to drop out as well as Duff.

During pit stops, both Hodges-Walter cars had terrible pit stops, dropping them back in the field. Of course, it probably didn't help Devereux's cause when the 44 of Michael Sykes ran into the right front of the 1 car when he was pulling into his pit. As has been the case in the past with pit road collisions, officials would investigate it after the race. No word yet on any penalties that might be assessed to Sykes at this point. Also under this yellow, the #2 Volpi of Packer Carroll has an engine failure, and Packer will have to drop out of the race due to engine failure for the third time this season. He had a great run going, but Volpi unreliability strikes once again.

Also, on the restart, we have a very controversial call by the officials. Apparently, they said that the 9 of Arto Kekkonen passed cars under the yellow flag, and hit him with a stop and go penalty. I personally did not see where the infraction took place, so in my opinion, that was perhaps the most bogus call made by the officials all season. Kekkonen would comply and come to the pit lane to serve his penalty, but you can bet the Gessler team is gonna be screaming at the officials over this call, and I personally can't blame them.

This means that three of the four title contenders have encountered some kind of problem during the race. The only one who hasn't, Leonid Roderick, now has a huge opportunity to capitalize on his opponents' misfortunes and perhaps take the championship lead after being in fourth for much of the second half of the season. In the meantime, pink becomes the color at the front of the field, as Divina Henton and Ian Cooper battle for the point in pink cars. Scott Bates is right behind them in third.

After a bit of shuffling, Leonid Roderick finds his way to the front. Chris Johaanes takes his turn at the point a lap later, before Roderick takes it back. Devereux, at this point, has almost worked his way back to the front. Kekkonen, a lap down, tries to work his way to the front as well in order to get his lap back and salvage a decent points day. Michael Sykes and Kevin Dwyer make their way up to the front as well.

Tyson Lautenschlager is back in the #42 Tutino instead of Cody Keaton, who unsurprisingly had his Master License revoked. The 42 isn't running much better, but at least there's a competent driver in that car.

Scott Bates works his way back into the lead as green flag pit stops begin. Adrien Devereux, now up to second, comes in behind him, but the 1 team has yet another disastrous pit stop, this time under green flag conditions, and it's gonna cost him a lap as a result. The other teams make their pit stops, and when everything cycles out, Bates is still the leader, with Divina Henton 2nd and João Paolo Vidal, a local Brazilian driver, running in 3rd. To make matters worse for Devereux, he was caught speeding on pit road, and has to serve a drive-through penalty, which will pretty much end his hopes of scoring points in this race. His other title rivals have had some trouble as well, except for Roderick, so Devereux had better hope that the 4 car runs into trouble as well to maintain his grasp on the point lead.

Lautenschlager goes out of the race near the halfway point with an engine failure. In the meantime, Henton and Bates continue their fight for the lead among the lapped cars of Soveral and Kekkonen. As more lapped cars approach, Henton takes advantage and takes the lead, although Bates would take it back not long after. Kekkonen would get in front of the leaders, but Henton would get back around him and put him back a lap down, as Bates and Henton continue their duel for the point in amongst the lapped cars.

Green flag pit stops would begin once again on Lap 116 as Dwyer and Vidal come down. But then a caution came out on Lap 117 as the 15 of Blake Camphausen blows up in turn 3 and Jose Luis Martinez runs into him in turn 4, bringing out the second caution.

Divina Henton led on the restart, Bates in 2nd, and Kevin Dwyer in 3rd. But then, all of a sudden, the 88 suddenly cuts down a tire in turn 4, and swerves down the race track into the 3 of Soveral, who was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This would bring out the 3rd caution on Lap 121.

Marcos Leonard in the Xenos led on the restart, with Henton in 2nd and Dwyer in 3rd, but on the charge was the 64 of Chris Johaanes, as he made his move down the backstretch. He would take the lead coming out of turn 4. Henton would make her move the next lap and took the lead back. Dwyer makes his move on Henton just as Mika Paasonen comes out of the pits in front of him, but he makes the move stick. Carlos Donzelo would find his way to the point, much to the delight of the Brazilian crowd. Yamino Tenchi was now a contender as well, and another Brazilian, João Paolo Vidal, was not that far behind Donzelo and Tenchi.

Things get a little hairy toward the end of the race, as Zelda Ashby, Tenchi, and Donzelo go four-wide with the lapped car of Michael Sykes as they battle for the race lead. Ashby comes out on top, but gets passed by Kevin Dwyer not long after. A cut tire takes Tenchi out of contention for the win with 8 laps to go. Ethan Everett in the 74 now finds himself at the front battling with Kevin Dwyer for the win with less than 5 laps to go. Dale Roswell and Louis Kingston now make their presence know at the front as they fight for a podium spot. Donzelo loses his chance at the win when he has a flat tire with 3 laps to go.

Dwyer takes the white flag, and at this point, you all know the rest.

Everett comes home 2nd, Louis Kingston nabs the final podium spot, Henton 4th, and Chris Johaanes rounds out the top 5. Roderick finishes 10th, Kekkonen finishes 19th, and Devereux and Soveral fail to score any points.

So now, heading into the Round of New York, Kekkonen has a two point advantage over Arto Kekkonen. Roderick is only 19 markers out in third, and remember, he's the only one of the four title contenders competing at New York. If he finishes 10th or better at New York, he will become the new championship leader. Soveral drops to fourth, 27 points out of the lead, but still very much in contention. It's beginning to look like this will come down to a four-way dance at Decatur for all the marbles.

Coming up after the commercial break, we will give our closing thoughts on Brazil, and we will preview the upcoming race on the streets of Manhattan.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Fri Dec 14, 2012 10:10 pm

Closing thoughts from the Round of Brazil, in The Fuel.

As we look toward New York, we just received some news regarding the mysterious Team 14. It has been confirmed by TMMC officials that it will be BlackDiamond Racing. Despite having a limited budget, BlackDiamond has decided to give it one more season. So far, we have no idea who the drivers are, but I'm certain they will be revealed in the near future.

So the 14 teams that will be competing full time in 2013 are the Volpi Racing Team, Hodges-Walter Racing, American Launch Energy Racing Team, Katzev Engineering, Gessler Richter MC Team, Lynxe Racing, Power Steering, Inc., Star Nemoto Racing, BlackDiamond Racing, Manticore Engineering, Scuderia Tutino, Fluffy Penguin Onionburger, Mitchell & Sons Racing, and Team EFR. Nine different countries will be represented on the full time grid, as far as the full time teams are concerned. There are still some seats yet to be filled, and we will pass that information along once it becomes available.

Anywho, I've taken a look at the layout for the course that will be used for the Round of New York, which will take place on the streets of Manhattan. The view of the skyscrapers is pretty cool, but as far as the layout is concerned, it's not really that spectacular. I know that the city streets can limit what kind of course you can build, but this layout just seems... generic. Hopefully, that won't be the case as far as the racing goes, so we'll have to wait and see what happens.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it's time for the Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

OVEREXUBERANCE

According to the urban dictionary, overexuberance describes someone or something exhibiting hyperactivity, excessively happy, joyously unrestrained, to be filled with or characterized by lively song and dance, energy and excitement, happy spirits and vitality. Derives from the German 'uber' meaning 'very' or 'over'. Therefore the tag of 'exUBERance' refers to one who is 'very over'.

Hmmm, interesting. Seems like the perfect word to describe Dan Mullen and the American media, eh? We certainly saw plenty of it when Dwyer won the race, and it got to be a little too much, almost to the point of diluting the victory. Bottom line is this: if you want to give a driver praise or congratulate him on a victory, that's fine. I have no problem with that. Despite the fact that I hate Dwyer with a passion, I still gave him his props on a good win. So my advice to Mullen and the media is this. Talking about the win and giving Dwyer his props is fine, but you need to draw the line somewhere, because if you do it too much or drag it out for too long, it hurts the legitimacy of the win. Some food for thought as we head to New York.

Well, that will do it for us from The Fuel and our coverage and review of the Round of Brazil. Next time, we review the aftermath of the Round of New York, and we find out who the new Lynxe driver is and if Leonid Roderick took over the championship lead. All of that next time. This is James Spalding, and we're signing off.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(End of Episode 4. Comments and opinions are welcome.)
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sat Dec 22, 2012 4:01 pm

EPISODE 5: NEW YORK

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.


The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your source for all things TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding.

Well, it's a bit of a sober mood in the studio today, because of what happened in the ARLA Elite Series race at Orange County last night. Scott Morales, driver of the #78 Groves Racing machine, was killed last night in a horrific crash that saw Bill Tissom and Todd Stater also get collected. Morales hit the end of the pit wall at about 105 miles an hour, and Tissom's car pushed him right into the end of the pit wall, which caused the back of the 78 car to lift off the ground, and the right rear wheel hit the #15 of Todd Stater as Stater was trying to avoid the accident. To be honest, we're lucky we didn't have two fatalities in this accident, because that tire almost went through Stater's windshield. The rescue team spent about two hours cutting Morales from his destroyed machine, and he was immediately airlifted to a local hospital. The race went on as planned, although several drivers didn't want the race restarted, but they went back out and finished the event. Power Steering, Inc. took their second twinbill sweep in three events with Bigsby Foote and Rip Tyler winning both rounds, but there wasn't a lot of celebrating going on with that team, because I'd say they were more worried about what had happened to Morales. And at about three o'clock in the morning, we got the news everyone had feared: Scott Morales had succumbed to his injuries. The extent of his injuries at the time were unknown, with some reports indicating that he had died from a basilar skull fracture, but further reports are indicating that the steering wheel had detached from the column in the accident and hit Morales in the chest, causing significant internal damage to his upper body. Whatever the case may be, we lost a driver with a lot of potential, and he will be sadly missed by everyone in the racing community. He was just 26 years old, and had one career victory to his name, the 2010 Daytona 200. May he rest in peace.

What's sad about this is the fact that he leaves behind his wife Andrea Kinasa and his son Raymond, who's only about two years old. Kinasa's a driver herself and she knows the risks of being a race car driver just like Scott did, but I don't think anything can ever prepare you for something like this. Even more unsettling, Kinasa's only 21 years old, and she's already a widow. No I can't even begin to imagine what she's going through right now. Morales also leaves behind younger brother Kenny, who currently competes in Formula Overdrive. I imagine he's also trying to come to grips about his brother's passing, and... well, it's gonna be a tough road ahead for that entire family. My condolences are with the entire Morales family today.

Obviously, this overshadows the TM Master Cup Series race at New York, which was just as I had expected. The generic layout produced generic racing, which means it was boring as all hell. Other than a couple of pit lane incidents, this was a fairly clean event, so I really don't have anything to talk about in our Heat of the Moment segment, and besides, it wouldn't be in good taste to have Heat of the Moment today anyway in light of what happened to Scott Morales, so out of respect for Scott, there will be no Heat of the Moment segment on today's program. However, we do have something in its place, and despite the tragedy from last night's ARLA race, what we have in store today is a really heart-warming story. We will have our first guest on The Fuel today, and while it's not Leonid Roderick, like we had hoped for, this is still significant nonetheless. Gravity Racing, Inc. driver Regina McCloud will be joining us via the Pepsi-Cola hotline today. She currently competes in Formula Overdrive, and yesterday, she became the first ever Formula Overdrive Road Course Champion. Quite the accomplishment, considering that two years ago, she was competing in the ARLA Street Stocks and, for the lack of a better term, sucked major ass. She decided to make the switch to open-wheel cars, and boy did she make the right decision. Two years later, she brings GRI its first major open-wheel title, and she will join us today to talk about that, as well as what happened last night at Orange County.

Anywho, getting to the Cup race, we found out who the first driver was to be signed to Lynxe Racing: Divina Henton. I was a little disappointed, because we all knew this was coming from a mile away. Personally, when they said it was "a driver everyone knew really well", I personally thought it was Alexis Rainsford, because she is well known as being a long-time representative of the Lynxe brand. Speaking of Rainsford, the V8 Champ Car Series was also in New York this week, racing on the same street course as the Cup Series was, and Rainsford got her first career Champ Car victory with a bold late race pass on Kenny Falcone. Falcone wasn't terribly happy with the move, but that's because Falcone and Rainsford have a bit of a rivalry going in Champ Car, and I think he was just butthurt over the fact that Rainsford got the best of him. A more hilarious story stemming from this is that Rainsford's finace, Chris Davenport, had made a little bet with Alexis before the race. If Alexis managed to win a race before the year was out, he'd dye his hair platinum blonde, and if she got that win at New York, he'd let her paint his nails. Well... he said it was something to motivate her with, and I'd say it worked. Laughing Oh, Chris is a funny guy, I tell you, and has a great character. He's gonna be fun to watch next year. Congrats to Alexis Rainsford on getting her first win in Champ Car. Correct me if I'm long, but I believe Rainsford is the first driver ever to win a race in Master Cup and V8 Champ Car. Man, I tell you, Rainsford continues to prove she's the best female driver in the world without question, and she continues to prove she's one of the best drivers in the world period, male or female. Hopefully, she'll decide to return to Master Cup full-time one day.

In the meantime, we had a first time winner in Cup this week. Melanie Clevenot, not that far removed from clinching the TM Europe championship, scores her first career Master Cup victory, albeit with a shorter field, but it still counts as a win, nonetheless. She completely dominated the race, leading all but one lap after starting from the outside of the front row and passing polesitter Michael Sykes on the first lap. The only lap she didn't lead was during the pit stop cycle, when Zelda Ashby stayed out an extra lap. She eventually wound up sixth. And Leonid Roderick failed to capitalize on this opportunity to take the lead in the championship, although a flat tire before the race's start had something to do with that. We'll get into further detail with that in our race review, which based on how there wasn't that much action in the race, might be a bit abbreviated, but I digress. As for Clevenot, she's proven she's a pretty damn good driver, and I think she deserves s shot at Cup full-time next year, and if she doesn't get a ride, then its completely bogus, because Clevenot has talent. TM Europe showed that for sure, but we'll have to wait and see. There's still a few spots available on the grid next year, so she might get her shot.

Opening rant in The Fuel brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Well, he had a slight improvement in our Fast Five this week, going three for five. That puts our overall record at 11-9 for the 2012 season with two races to go.

Coming up next, our interview with Regina McCloud, and we will make our Fast Five picks for the Round of British Columbia.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by PackerMan71 Mon Dec 24, 2012 9:51 pm

Coming up next, Formula Overdrive competitor Regina McCloud makes an appearance to discuss her first major championship and how it will impact her career, in The Fuel.

That's right, folks. Formula Overdrive Road Course Champion Regina McCloud will be joining us via the Pepsi-Cola Hotline, as our first ever guest on The Fuel. Of course, the focus in the racing world today is on what happened last night at Orange County and the tragic passing of Scott Morales, which marks only the second time a driver has been killed in ARLA competition, the other being Floyd Moss in 2004 at Talladega. Morales is the fourth driver to be killed in the past year. Scott Hamilton was killed at Brazil last year, and Dash Cup drivers Shawn Glencooke and Ben Tremblay were killed at Rockingham, U.K. earlier this season, which begs the question: Are we falling behind on safety innovations? Granted, this is a dangerous sport and we can take it for granted sometimes, but we have to keep up with safety innovations to protect the drivers as much as possible, because while this sport will never be entirely "safe", we can take steps to ensure the safety of the drivers, crew, officials, and the fans.

Now, this is something that's been brought to my attention, and I want to get this off my chest real quick before we get to our Fast Five picks. Apparently, some of Scott Morales' fans have sent death threats toward Bill Tissom, who's car basically pushed Morales' car into the end of the pit wall, resulting in Morales' death. First off, those fans need to grow up, because issuing death threats is freaking childish. Second off, and I want to make this perfectly clear, BILL TISSOM WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE CRASH TO BEGIN WITH. We've been pouring over the footage, and from what we saw, the 78 pushed up in turn 3 and made contact with the 26 car, which got the 78 loose and made him slide down the track, right across the front bumper of Tissom's car. Tissom had nowhere to go, so to say that he's responsible for the accident is ludicrous, and besides, Tissom is emotionally distraught because he thinks he killed Scott. Bill, you weren't responsible for what happened to Scott. It was a racing deal. Nothing more, nothing less. It's just unfortunate that it resulted in the death of a competitor. Once again, all our thoughts and prayers are with the entire Morales family.

Well, we've decided to change things up a little bit. Typically, our Heat of the Moment segment would be next, but we've decided not to do it today out of respect for Scott Morales. So, before we do our interview with Regina McCloud, it's time for our Fast Five picks for the Round of British Columbia.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

#1.

Well, I know I'm gonna get ridiculed for this pick, but I'm making this pick based on what we saw earlier this season. My pick to win at British Columbia is Packer Carroll, and I'm gonna explain why. Earlier this season, Packer had an engine failure early on at Michigan. The next race was in Canada, at Road Gatineau, which Packer went on to win. He lost an engine early at Brazil. The next race for him on the schedule? In Canada, this time at the HLR Circuit. I know this is a long shot, but we've seen history repeat itself before, so I'm rolling the dice. Packer Carroll is my pick for British Columbia.

#2.

I really wish I would've picked Melanie Clevenot for #1 last week, because she showed that she has the goods to get the job done at the Cup level. She recently wrapped up the TM Europe championship, and now she's in the 74 car for the remainder of the season. Look out for this 74 car at BC. Now that she's tasted Cup success, it's only gonna make her hungrier.

#3.

Coming in at #3 this week is Arto Kekkonen, who must be thanking his lucky charms when Leonid Roderick failed to capitalize on his opportunity at New York. Kekkonen comes to the semi-final event with the point lead, and even though Devereux, Roderick, and Soveral are in hot pursuit, I think being the point leader will give Kekkonen conidence, and I think he will be on the podium at BC.

#4.

Well, she's come close a couple of times, and she's running out of chances to claim that first career victory before the season's out, but honestly, I don't think Divina Henton is all that worried. She knows where she's going next year, to Lynxe Racing, so the pressure's off. Of course, that might give her more motivation to get that elusive first win.

#5.

My fifth and final pick is Adrien Devereux. Normally, I wouldn't have him this far down on the charts on a road course event, but he's struggled a bit in the past few weeks, and besides that, three of his five wins this season have come on ovals. Devereux hasn't forgotten how to drive a road course, though, so he might still be a threat in this race, especially since he's just 2 markers behind Kekkonen for the championship lead.

Those are my Fast Five picks for the Round of British Columbia: Packer Carroll, Melanie Clevenot, Arto Kekkonen, Divina Henton, and Adrien Devereux. Got three out of five last week, which puts our overall record at 11-9. Hopefully, we'll have a better outcome this time around.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, joining us now on the Pepsi-Cola Hotline is 2012 Formula Overdrive Road Course Champion Regina McCloud. Regina, it's great to have you on The Fuel today.

REGINA: Thank you for having me on.

JAMES: Of course, you claimed the road course title yesterday at Mayville, which we'll get to momentarily, but I'm pretty sure that just like everyone else, your thoughts and prayers are with Scott Morales and his friends and family today. What was your initial reaction when you heard of Scott's passing?

REGINA: I was stunned, to be honest. I never thought that someone like Scott would go at such a young age. He had a wonderful wife in Andrea Kinasa, a son, a budding career as a race car driver. There was so much coming for him, and it's a tragedy that he was killed so suddenly, and it hits home as a driver, because in the back of your mind, you know that it could happen to you at any time, but when we're behind the wheel, we don't think about that, because we all know the risks we take when we slip into that cockpit. The scary thing about the fatal crashes we've seen in the past year is that all were in some form of stock car racing. We saw a devastating crash at Darlington with the Formula Overdrive cars, but thankfully, those didn't result in drivers getting killed. When you've had four drivers killed in stock cars when open-wheel racing is considered much more dangerous because of the open cockpit, it really puts things in perspective, and like you said, I think we need to take a look at some of the safety innovations we have on these race cars, because based on what we've seen in the past year, they're not adequate enough.

JAMES: Indeed. Let's focus on you for the next little bit, because I just find it remarkable that you've reached this stage in your career. In fact, I remember an interview after an ARLA Street Stocks race where you said "I suck as a driver", and you only managed one top ten and finished 17th in points. I imagine that you had doubts about yourself being a race car driver at that point.

REGINA: I did. It really made me wonder if I belonged in the sport as a driver, and after I basically dropped a monumental turd that season, I seriously considered giving up as a driver.

JAMES: Really? What made you change your mind?

REGINA: Rush and Packer. They motivated me to continue racing, and they gave me the idea to try a different discipline, since stock cars didn't seem to be my thing. So when Formula Overdrive was restarted under the ARLA banner, I was put in one of the GRI cars, and the rest as they say is history.

JAMES: And you showed considerable promise that season, despite not scoring a single podium or leading any laps, you still managed to finish 4th in the final standings. Did that boost your confidence, knowing that you were capable of doing so much more in that car?

REGINA: Yes, it did. It made me realize that I had found my calling, and that I should follow an open-wheel career. Of course, I had no idea it would lead to winning the road course title, which was beyond my wildest expectations.

JAMES: And the funny thing is, you weren't really a considerable threat for the road course title, until your win at Watkins Glen. What was it like to domiante the field like that, leading every lap on your way to victory?

REGINA: Unreal. It was almost like a dream. I knew I had road course skills, but I never knew that I could rock the house like that. Getting that first win, with my husband watching... it felt like a dream.

JAMES: Heading into Mayville, which was the final road course event of the season, you came in as the road course point leader. Who did you consider a threat for the road course title?

REGINA: I honestly thought Kenny Morales would give me a run for my money, since it was his home race. One of the drivers I knew would be a threat was Tommi Arjanien, because he was also gunning for the overall championship, and I knew he could make a run at me for the road course title despite being 19 points behind me. And he nearly pulled it off when he made that pass on Natalie Kendall for the win, but thankfully, we had a good car under us that day, and despite starting 19th, we managed to finish 7th, and it was just enough to win the title.

JAMES: You exhibited a ton of emotions when you learned that you had been crowned the first ever road course champion in Formula Overdrive. What were the emotions you were feeling when you learned you were the Queen of the road courses for 2012?

REGINA: When I climbed from the car and was told that I was the road course champion, I completely lost control of my emotions. I just started sobbing, and I grew weak in my knees. It was just so overwhelming, because I never, ever in my wildest dreams did I expect to win any kind of championship in my racing career, because I had basically given up hope of ever being a successful driver after my stint in the Street Stocks, and it was my husband Rush and Packer that encouraged me to keep going, and I have them to thank for that. If it hadn't been for Packer and Rush, this never would've happened, and I am eternally grateful to the both of them. Hopefully, we'll be able to repeat our performance next year.

JAMES: Thank you very much for joining us, Regina, and we'll hopefully see you again in the near future.

REGINA: Thanks for having me, James.

That was Regina McCloud on the Pepsi-Cola Hotline, our first ever guest on The Fuel. Quite the remarkable story, she is. Almost gave up racing altogether, and two years later, she's Formula Overdrive's first ever Road Course Champion. I guess all it takes is a little encouragement, and I guess the morale of this story is: Never give up on your dreams, because they might come true. They certainly did for Regina.

Coming up after the break, we will review the epic boringness that was the Round of New York, and I'll try to get through it without falling asleep in my chair. Sleep

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by PackerMan71 Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:10 pm

Coming up next, James will give his thoughts on the Round of New York, in The Fuel.

Well, I have to say I'm not really looking forward to giving this review, because... well, not a lot happened. Like I said after Brazil, the layout for the Round of New York was too generic, and that was gonna have an effect on the racing. I'll be honest, I was hoping that I was wrong, but that wasn't the case. Other than a battle for the lead on the first lap and some pit road scrums, the race was kind of... meh. But, it's my job to give my opinion, so I will do my best to give one on this... race. (sigh) Let's do this.

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF NEW YORK

Race Review Music begins playing...

Michael Sykes is on the pole once again, with Melanie Clevenot on his outside. Right off the bat, Chris Johaanes, who started 7th, made a move to the inside heading into turn 1, and would find himself in the top 3 right away. In the meantime, before the start, Leonid Roderick and Blake Camphausen both hit the same piece of debris on the warm-up laps, and both would have to pit to change flat tires. I wonder what the hell the clean-up crews are doing. Are they on a lunch break or something? Shouldn't the track be clean of debris before the cars are sent out for their warm-up laps? Some food for thought for the future.

Back at the front, Johaanes would find himself in 3rd, while his teammate Clevenot battles with Sykes for the lead, and would eventually clear the 44 car for the lead. Sykes tried to get the lead back, but brushed the wall. Clevenot would assume the lead, and that is the last anyone would see of the 74 for the rest of the race.

Green flag pit stops began right at the halfway point of the race, with pretty much everyone coming down pit road. One of the few cars to stay out was Zelda Ashby, who would lead one lap and prevent Clevenot from going flag-to-flag. Sadly, this was where the most interesting portion of the race was. Coming out of the pits, Sykes hits the right rear of Johaanes' car, causing a fender rub on the 44 car which would necessitate Sykes returning to the pits to have it repaired, forcing Sykes to give up a podium finish. Johaanes would take over 2nd, right behind his teammate Clevenot.

Also making contact on pit road was Mika Paasonen in the 12 and Paul Lyons in the 36. Lyons was on the far left side of pit road, so the 12 team might have done an unsafe release. The 4 of Leonid Roderick also made contact on pit road, with the 47 Xenos of Mariano Zavala. All three pit road incidents would be reviewed after the race. Typically, if there's a pit road collision, there's a point penalty coming, but so far, we have no word on what the penalties might be, and whom will be assessed the penalties.

In the meantime, Clevenot pulls away from Johaanes, and as long as the engine didn't give out on her, as it has done several times already this season, she is cruising to her first career win.

Near the end of the race, Zelda Ashby, with fresher tires than her competitors, begins to carve through the field. Tire wear is pretty significant on this street course, due to the surface being particularly rough. Ashby would eventually climb up to the sixth position, and that's where she would finish.

In the end, nobody was a challenge for Melanie Clevenot, who would lead all but one lap in the race. Johaanes completes a 1-2 sweep for Mitchell and Sons, who wins their first race since Daytona in 2007 with Cyrus LaTerza. Yamino Tenchi rounds out the podium. Tony Durbin and Kevin Dwyer round out the top 5.

So, due to Roderick not being able to capitalize on the situation, Arto Kekkonen remains the championship leader, just 2 markers ahead of Adrien Devereux. Roderick only gains 6 points, but he moves up to third, and is just 13 points out of the lead. Soveral is in 4th, still a contender, but he's gotta pick up the pace if he wants to remain in contention for the championship. All four drivers are separated by just 27 points. That's tight.

(sigh) Well, I managed to get through my review of what I consider the most boring race of the year so far, and without falling asleep, which is a surprise. Laughing

Coming up after the break, we'll have our Word of the Week, and I'll give my closing thoughts on the Round of New York.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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Post by PackerMan71 Mon Dec 31, 2012 6:21 pm

Closing thoughts on the Round of New York, in The Fuel.

Well, we're heading into the home stretch of the season, with just British Columbia and Decatur left to go. Roderick may not have taken advantage at New York, but he's still a huge threat for the championship, especially with Decatur just around the corner, where he's won a record five times. Conceivably, any of the four title contenders could be the champion by the time Decatur is all said and done.

It's time for Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

BOREDOM

According to the urban dictionary, the meaning of this word is an emotional state experienced when an individual is left without anything in particular to do, and not interested in their surroundings. Well, I think a lot of people had this feeling when they were watching the Round of New York. It was almost like watching paint dry. Without a shadow of a doubt, the most boring race of the season so far, and it was all because of the layout of the course. It was too generic to produce any good racing, but when you have to work with street courses, it can really limit what an organizer can do, and this was no exception. It's too bad, because the visuals are spectacular. Too bad the race wasn't.

Well, that's all for today's edition of The Fuel. Next time, we head back north to Canada for the Round of British Columbia at the HLR Circuit. Hopefully, this race will be a little like last year's, but only time will tell. I'm James Spalding, and we're signing off.

This is The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(OOC: End of Episode 5.)
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Post by PackerMan71 Sat Jan 05, 2013 5:25 pm

EPISODE 6: BRITISH COLUMBIA

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.


The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your source for all things TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding.

This week at the HLR Circuit in British Columbia, we saw not one, but two Perfect 70s accomplished, one in the TM Lights race, and one in the Cup race. We'll start with the Cup race, where we saw Divina Henton finally score her first career TM Master Cup Series victory, and not only did she win, she dominated the Round of British Columbia, winning by more than 18 seconds. I had said at Queensland that Divina would probably get her first win at one of the remaining road courses on the schedule. It took till BC to do it, but she finally has that first career win under her belt. Now, depending on how Lynxe Racing handles its Cup program next year, I'm skeptical on whether or not she'll be able to return to victory lane next year, but one thing's for sure. She's got the talent, she just needs the equipment. Speaking of equipment, I wonder what Cyril Volpi is thinking right now after seeing yet another Volpi engine expire on the 2 of Packer Carroll. I wouldn't wanna be one of Volpi's engineers right now, because that's the eighth Volpi engine that's gone poof this season. However, they've been doing a lot of testing on the new VC05 engine that they will be using next season, so I hope they've been focusing on the reliability problems that VRT has been having the past couple of seasons, because I'll guarantee you, if it hadn't been for those engine failures, both Divina and Packer would be a lot higher up in the points standings. But Divina's got her win, so good for her on a job well done.

But the surprise of the 2012 TM Lights season has got to be Cameron Taylor. If you would've told me before this season began that Taylor would be a championship threat, I would've stared at you like a deer in the headlights. But after what I've seen this season, there's no question this guy's got talent. He has a mind numbing four runner-up finishes in 2012, and he finally broke through and got his first career TM Lights win in a similar dominating fashion to Divina Henton, although it was a little bit closer as far as the competition is concerned. He was also a little close on fuel, but he managed to stretch it all the way to the checkered flag, in what has to be one of the most surprising performances of the season. Team owner Dan Timothy must feel like a genius hiring Taylor to drive the #68 Applebee's car, and now, Taylor has a legitimate shot at winning the TM Lights championship. The only driver standing in his way is the #9 of Troy Adams. Adams had a 94 point lead coming into BC, and could've locked up the championship right here, but had several problems during the race that ultimately ended with him scoring no points, while his nearest rival scores maximum points. Adams still has a 24 point advantage, but I'd be looking over your shoulder if I were you, Adams, because Cameron Taylor has all the momentum on his side right now, and if things fall his way, Taylor could score one of the biggest championship upsets in motorsports history.

Speaking of championships, the battle for the TM Master Cup Series championship has evolved into what is perhaps the closest championship battle in the history of Master Cup. Leonid Roderick, Luciano Soveral, Arto Kekkonen, and Adrien Devereux are separated by just 11 points heading into Decatur. That's an average spread of 2.75 points per position. That's about as tight as you can get for a championship, and as close as these guys are, anyone of these four men could conceivably win the championship. Roderick is looking for his fifth title, which would put him behind only Arthur Thomas and Benny Dwyer for the most all-time. Devereux is looking to become the first driver since Roderick to defend his TM Master Cup championship, and Kekkonen and Soveral are both looking for their first Cups. It will be a battle for the ages, and it will come at the Round of Decatur. Who will win? Well, I'll give my thoughts on who will win the championship in our Fast Five segment later on this episode, but the best thing for us to do is tune in this Sunday and find out.

Opening rant in The Fuel is brought to you by Pepsi, it's the cola.

Coming up next, it's our Heat of the Moment segment, and we'll make our Fast Five picks for the season finale at Decatur, with a special championship pick thrown in for this occasion.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Thu Jan 10, 2013 9:06 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding.

I've been paying attention and keeping my ear to the ground as far as rumors about the open seats for next year, and I've come across some very interesting reports about who may be going to Manticore. One of the rumored drivers is Chris Johaanes, who currently drives for Mitchell and Sons. Apparently, Mitchell and Sons only signed him to a one year contract, and even though he is in the top 5 in points, he hasn't won this year, so from the looks of it, Mitchell and Sons and Johaanes have decided to go their separate ways after this season. Of course, we saw Manticore earlier this year at Karjala, and while the cars had some reliability problems, they were lightning fast. If they can iron out the bugs, I'd expect Manticore to be a serious challenger next year, which is why the second rumored driver was a major shock to me. Apparently, the other driver rumored to be heading to Manticore is... Kalvin Oreiller???

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRUK3HtpJ74zVnko2HKRPijipgxOVOarlqUasrM035EoRLOEVgN

Now, he's actually having a good ARLA season, currently in the top 20 in points, but really? Oreiller to Manticore? This is probably the least talked about top 20 driver in ARLA right now, because this guy just seems to come out of nowhere to score good finishes. He currently drives for Dangerous Dog Racing, which let's be honest, isn't the most well funded team on the grid, but still manages to pull these good runs out of a hat. Now, I would've considered Oreiller for maybe a TM Lights ride or maybe a lower tier Cup team, but Manticore? I just don't know about that, and I certainly hope that Manticore has done their research on Oreiller and what he has done, because compared to some other drivers, his performances have been average. Of course, we don't even know if this rumor is even true, because this is so far out of left field, so until we get OFFICIAL confirmation for Manticore Engineering, I'd take this rumor with a grain of salt.

Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way, there's something I really need to get off of my chest, so let's get to Heat of the Moment.

HEAT OF THE MOMENT

Heat of the Moment begins playing...

Now, most of you know that I'm a big supporter of the Volpi Racing Team, but what I've seen this season from them is unacceptable. What am I talking about? Their engine department. The last two races, Packer Carroll was in position to earn good points days, and both times, suffered engine failure. British Columbia was probably the worst one, because it happened on the LAST LAP OF THE RACE. In the meantime, his teammate, Divina Henton goes out and completely smashes the field, winning by 18 seconds and scoring a Perfect 70 in the process... and she's the one leaving the team.

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTA6gDQJ8tOMgawPNpu_NBI5DfLD7fuTWFUEzAPVzKREjnVba3Cww

I thought Volpi was supposed to be giving Packer the equipment since he's the one that was resigned to the team, yet Divina's the one with the top notch performances so far. It just doesn't make sense to me. Also, both of these drivers could be higher in the points standings if they haven't had all of these engine failures. Between both teams, they've had a total of eight engine failures this season. The only team I can think of that has more is Xenos, and that team is not exactly at an elite level right now, and in fact, it looks like they may be leaving motorsports altogether. And here is where my problem is. There have been WAY too many engine failures out of the Volpi camp this season. There's no question that the Volpi engines have incredible horsepower, but it all doesn't matter if it doesn't make the distance. They're sacrificing reliability for horsepower, and it's hurt them this season. The proof is in the points standings. Divina's in the top ten, but she really should be in the top five, with Packer right behind her. And here's the thing: horsepower is not really the most important thing at every race on the schedule. On ovals, horsepower is important, but that's not really the case on road courses, where it's more important to have a great chassis setup, and considering that over half the schedule was road courses, I'd say that preferring horsepower over a longer engine life was a poor decision. Hopefully, Volpi learns from their mistakes and make the necessary adjustments on the VC05 engine, because if they don't, they'll be revisiting 2012 all over again... and I don't think they want that with Leonid Roderick coming on board.

Bottom line, I think VRT should scrub some horsepower off of their engines and improve on the reliability. I honestly think it will pay off in the end, because from the looks of it, road courses will more than likely make up more than half the schedule next year as well.

Heat of the Moment is sponsored by TirADE, official sports drink of Tom Delgado. It's all the RAGE!

Taking a look at our record in Fast Five this season. We're currently 12-13 for the year after I pretty much whiffed at BC, going just 1-4. This will be our final Fast Five of the season, because Decatur is up next. This one will be special, because there will be a special sixth pick for this edition. Let's do it.

JAMES SPALDING'S FAST FIVE PICKS: ROUND OF DECATUR

Fast Five Theme Song begins playing...

#1.

My pick to win the race is also my Championship Pick, and based on the fact that he is the championship leader coming in, and he has a record five wins at Decatur, my pick to win the race and the championship is the Hot Rod, Leonid Roderick. Based on past history, Roderick has pretty much been the man to beat at Decatur. He always seems to be up front in this race, and I think he'll take care of business this time around and claim his fifth Master Cup, which would put him just one behind the all-time record that is held by Arthur Thomas and the late Benny Dwyer.

#2.

However, I don't think Adrien Devereux is willing to give up just yet. He's in fourth place in the championship, but he's just 11 markers behind Roderick, and he's a former winner at Decatur. No matter where Devereux starts from, I think he will make this a battle all the way to the checkered flag.

#3.

Arto Kekkonen is currently third in the championship, and road courses are his bread and butter, although one of his three victories this season came on a short track, at Ohio. He's looking to rebound from a Gessler engine failure at British Columbia, which certainly set him back a little bit, but all he needs is a victory at Decatur to win the championship. In fact, if one of the four title contenders wins the race, they win the championship. It's been that close between these four for pretty much the entire second half of the season.

#4.

And this is not a knock on his talent, because he has plenty of it, but I don't think Luciano Soveral will be much of a factor in this championship battle, simply because he's never been in a championship fight before, and there's a lot of pressure that comes with competing for the Master Cup. Of course, he could probably prove me wrong and become the first driver from Brazil to win the Master Cup. One thing's for sure, this championship battle is gonna be something to watch.

#5.

So who's the best of the rest? Considering he wants to make a statement before this season's over with, I think Chris Johaanes could play the part of spoiler as far as the race win is concerned. He nearly won this race last year, and I think he wants to make up for that. He's pretty much a lock for his second consecutive top ten finish, so I think we'll see some balls to the wall action out of Johaanes in this race. Let's just hope it's not a repeat of Quebec.

Those are my Fast Five for Decatur: Leonid Roderick, Adrien Devereux, Arto Kekkonen, Luciano Soveral, and Chris Johaanes. This is our last chance to finish with a winning record, and in order to do that, we need to go 4-2 at Decatur. Will it happen? Only one way to find out.

Coming up next, we will review the Round of British Columbia, which turned out to be another boring race. Not on the level of New York, but Divina Henton didn't make it exciting, that's for sure. Laughing

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Sat Jan 19, 2013 2:54 pm

You're in The Fuel with James Spalding. Coming up next, it's our review of the Round of British Columbia.

Well, we've got some news surrounding some teams for next season. According to our sources, a contract is in the works for Chris Johaanes at Manticore Engineering, which we've long expected, Melanie Clevenot might be getting a spot at Lynxe, and Kevin Dwyer could be with Mitchell and Sons next year. This is all just speculation at this point, but I think all of these reports will be confirmed either before Decatur or after.

Let's get to our race review.

JAMES SPALDING'S RACE REVIEW: ROUND OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Race Review Music begins playing...

Well, Divina Henton starts on pole for the second time this season, with hometown hero Marcos Leonard on her outside. Leonard tries to make a challenge at Divina, but the Volpi's power proves to be too much for the underpowered Xenos, and Henton takes the lead right from the outset, and that's the last anyone would see of it for the rest of the race.

Peter Short's BlackDiamond car breaks down early in the race, and Melanie Clevenot, the New York winner, is piledriven at the hairpin by Michael Sykes, who completely blows his braking point and completely destroys the front end of his car when he smashes into Clevenot. Sykes did report brake problems during the warm-up laps, though, so it is suspected that was the reason for Sykes missing his braking point. Sykes would fall out of the race.

Coming into the V corner, as I like to call it, Johaanes hits the back of Packer Carroll's car, and that seemed to push the 2 by Adrien Devereux for position. Weird. Yamino Tenchi had mechanical troubles on Lap 2 and her race was over. In the meantime, the 0 of Gaspar de Sousa, who has a shot at the Independent's Trophy, is currently running in the 4th position. If he stays there, he will win the trophy, but that's assuming that Danny Savin doesn't improve his score, either. Savin, currently in 18th, would be the IT winner.

In the championship battle, Adrien Devereux was surprisingly back in the 15th position. He didn't qualify all that well, which was even more surprising. But he was making his way forward, slowly but surely. Arto Kekkonen is currently 11th in the race, and could, theoretically, lock up the championship if he leaves BC with a 71 point lead or better. Considering how close this championship battle has been, it's highly unlikely that will happen.

In the meantime, Scott Bates moves up to 2nd past Marcos Leonard. Bates is in the top 10 in points, and will obviously be returning to Tem EFR in 2013, once again driving the #88 car. Leonard will be moving his own team, Fluffy Penguin Onionburger, up to the Cup level in 2013, and his two drivers will be "Japanese driver" Zelda Ashby and and Sealand's Ebenezer Quiggles, Jr., who is contending for the ARLA championship this season.

Kekkonen has problems when he has a tire go flat early in the race, not exactly what the championship leader wanted to see. Even though Devereux isn't doing that well either, they still have to worry about Soveral and Roderick as well. Both Soveral and Roderick were having solid runs up to this point.

Scott Bates has a disastrous pitstop on Lap 10, which would drop him out of the top 10 when the car stalled on the pit lane. By staying out an extra lap, Dwyer moves up to 2nd, but is immediately challenged by Leonard, who already has his tires warmed up. Leonard would retake 2nd, and de Souza divebombs Dwyer in the hairpin and takes over 3rd. All of this is happening behind Divina Henton, who has a pretty big lead and is looking to FINALLY get that first career win. If today is the day, well... took you long enough. Laughing

Kekkonen's day would go from bad to worse when he suffers a terminal problem midway through the race. So, the championship plot thickens as the title contenders are not having the spectacular runs we expected today. Looks like this is gonna come down to the final race at Decatur, and who knows who'll win the title there.

After the second round of pit stops, Henton continues to hold a massive lead, no surprise there, but Marcos Leonard continues to hold onto 2nd in an underpowered Xenos. Clearly, he wants to do well in front of his home crowd, and I'd say he's doing a helluva job in an underpowered car.

Problems strike for Adrien Devereux late in the race when he has a mechanical problem of some kind. He brings the car in and the crew changes left side tires. Devereux heads back out, but reports that the problem wasn't fixed and brings the car back in. This would really set back his title hopes as he went several laps down, which would put him out of the points.

An interesting bit happened on the frontstretch, when Packer appeared to let Louis Kingston back by after passing him for position. Turned out, that wasn't the case. The engine had started to misfire on the 2 car. Packer immediately switched to the backup ignition box, and the engine corrected itself... for the time being. It eventually gave up the ghost on the last lap of the race, which was the second straight race that a Volpi engine let go, and it cost Packer valuable points. In the meantime, Divina Henton would cruise to her first career victory, winning by more than 18 seconds in an absolute ass-whupping she put on the field. Marcos Leonard pulls a surprising 2nd in the Xenos, and in an even bigger surprise, Gaspar de Souza finishes on the podium in the Alex Harrison machine, which was enough for him to win the Independent's Trophy by just 4 points over Danny Savin.

So now, with one race remaining, Roderick holds a 6 point lead over Soveral, 9 points over Kekkonen, and 11 points over Devereux in what might be considered the greatest championship battle in the history of the TM Master Cup Series. Any one of the four drivers could be the champion when Decatur is all said and done.

Today's race review is brought to you by Stacker 3 XPLC. Stacker, the world's strongest fat burner.

Well, we are almost out of time for today's show, so it's time for our last segment for today. It's time for the Word of the Week.

MAKING IT'S RETURN ON THE FUEL, IT'S WORD OF THE WEEK

Word of the Week music begins playing...

LACKLUSTER

According to the urban dictionary, the meaning of this word is lacking in vitality, force, or conviction; uninspired. That's basically what I've seen the last two races. Both New York and British Columbia had pretty lackluster races, where in both cases, one driver took the lead and never looked back. BC had some more interesting battles in the mid-field, but for the most part, it just wasn't interesting, at least from my perspective. After such a good race last year, HLR Circuit drops the ball this year, and hosts what I consider the second most boring race of the season, the most boring being New York. However, I have a feeling that this won't be the case at Decatur, but we'll just have to wait and see.

Well, that's all for today's edition of Words of the Week. Next time, it's the season finale for the TM Master Cup Series. It's Decatur Championship Weekend, and we've got two very interesting battles for the championship in both the TM Lights and the TM Master Cup Series. Hopefully, you'll join us as we review the conclusion to a very competitive 2012 season. I'm James Spalding, and we're signing off.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.

(OOC: End of Episode 6. I'll probably have the beginning of Episode 7 up either today or tomorrow.)
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The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Empty Re: The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California)

Post by PackerMan71 Wed Apr 10, 2013 11:32 pm

(OOC: Time to revive this bad boy for the new season. The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) 215644238 )

2013 SEASON

EPISODE 7: CALIFORNIA

Now, The Fuel with James Spalding.

On TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com.


The Fuel Theme Song plays

Ah, it's The Fuel on TMMC Radio, your source for all things TM Master Cup and everything in between. I'm your host, James Spalding, back to cover another great season of the TM Master Cup Series. Of course, I'm sure you're wondering where I've been for the past several months and why I didn't cover the season finale at Decatur. Well, I had some family matters to attend to, so I was unable to fulfill my commitments for Decatur, but I'm back, and ready for the 2013 season. There is so much we have to go over, like who's where, new teams, and all that jazz. So without further ado, let's begin.

And where do I begin for the first race of the season? Well, it's at a new venue, the California Speedway, which played host as the season opening venue in place of the Las Vegas Autoring. But one thing that hasn't changed is the fact that Adrien Devereux is still the man to beat, and he proved it once again, leading all but five laps from the pole at California and was never passed for position on track, and picked up his 11th TMMC victory, and earns a Perfect 70 in the season opener for the second year in a row. Feels almost like Groundhog Day, if you ask me. If history is any indication, we could be talking about Adrien Devereux as a three-time TM Master Cup Series Driver's Champion, and he's gotten off to a pretty damn good start.

But the story of the weekend was the incident involving Volpi driver Packer Carroll and Alex Harrison Racing driver Jose Luis Martinez. From what I saw on the video, it appeared that Packer tried to go three wide with Martinez and another car on the outside, made contact in turns 1 & 2, and the end result was the 0 sliding into the wall and doing several flips. How Martinez drove that thing back to the pits, I'll never know. This incident eventually resulted in Carroll being excluded from the race results, which wiped out a 10th place finish and 22 championship points. Now, you're probably asking yourselves at home, why this warranted such a penalty. Well, the fact is, he had been warned for aggressive driving earlier in the race, and he had showed show ambitious driving earlier in the race, which was a little surprising. So the fact that he attempted a three-wide pass in the first and second turns and causing such a wreck can be described as a bit shocking. Now, do I think that it warranted some type of penalty? Yes, I do. Should that penalty have been exclusion from the race? I don't know. That's up for debate. Yes, it was a dangerous maneuver, but if it was such a dangerous wreck, why didn't the officials throw the yellow flag? I mean, typically, when you have a wreck like Martinez did, it should've been an instant yellow flag, but instead, they kept the race green, so that was a massive fail on the officials' part as well.

In addition to the exclusion penalty, the officials also slapped Packer with a 30-point deduction and a 1-race suspended ban that will last until after the Round of Wales. Now, for those of you that are confused, a suspended ban basically means that it's a probationary period, and if that driver does something to encur the wrath of the officials, then that driver will be slapped with the ban. This means that Packer is on probation for the incident until the Round of Wales is completed, which is on May 26, about 2 1/2 months, and is 8 races away, which is basically half the season. Until then, he is gonna be under the TMMC's massive microscope. And I'm pretty sure he knows that, because he came out and accepted the blame for the incident, basically saying, "Hey, my fault." Now, I will admit that I do support Packer in his racing career, and even I can't condone what he did, and I'm kind of ashamed that it went down like that, but at least he came forward and admitted that he made a mistake, and while it doesn't mean that all will be forgiven immediately, at least he took it like a man and admitted that he was in the wrong, and you'd think that with that, the TMMC officials would do their thing, everyone would accept it, and that would be that, and we'd move on to the next race.

Apparently, for a few drivers, that's not the case. Like for instance, my old pal Kevin Dwyer, who wasn't even involved in the deal, got on Twitter and made this tweet...

KDwyer72: @packer71 Sorry man, nobody buys that excuse.

No Okay, here's my reaction to that tweet. First of all, Dwyer just couldn't resist taking a shot at Packer, because we all know those two have a history, and they don't like each other, so even though he wasn't involved in the deal, he just decided to get on Twitter and take a cheap shot at Packer. Now, I don't agree with what Packer did, because I thought he was way over aggressive in that race, but this tweet further proves how much of a scumbag Kevin Dwyer can be. Second of all, and this point is directed at Dwyer himself, how is it any of your goddamn business anyway? If anything, this matter is between Martinez and Packer, no one else. But as usual, Dwyer couldn't resist sticking his fat nose where it doesn't belong, and you people wonder why I have a problem with him. All you have to do is look at what he tweets. That says everything you need to know. End of discussion.

...............................

And THEN, as if this entire situation couldn't get anymore WTF, it decides to take it to the next level of God damn it.

So, apparently, Jose Luis Martinez was invited to the Dan Mullen Radio Hour, which you can also listen to here on TMMC Radio and TMMCRadio.com. Now, I would definitely understand Martinez still being a bit sore about the whole deal, but this interview with Dan Mullen left me completely thunderstruck. Here was the part that stood out to me...

"For him to say sorry is really empty... because everything I've seen, the data, the cameras, everything, made it totally clear that he do that on purpose. If he does that by accident, it just means that he is not qualified to run at that speed with other cars. Nobody holds the throttle wide open like that for that long unless you do it on purpose... so I feel that he should be penalized further. His apology... or whatever you want to call it was just very, very empty... because it's a lie, it is false."

The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) Images?q=tbn:ANd9GcT3y2VDcHMfwwdUyAom-pKIWN3DZ7ZEWdd9ZMjDgtfcUh6J4PvnEg

Wow. I really didn't know what to say after I heard that, but after I took a few minutes to let it sink in, it really made me wonder if Martinez had been hanging out with Adrien Devereux lately. I mean, let's face it, I can understand being upset about what happened, but to call someone's apology empty and a lie, even after they owned up and said they made a mistake, to me, those are the words of a butthurt Mexican driver. Here's the thing, Martinez. If you're still mad about it, that's fine, but after you made those comments, all you did was make yourself look just as bad. I mean, that's something a 9-year old would say after they got kicked in the shins by their older brother. Now, don't get me wrong, Packer's not off the hook as far as I'm concerned, and I think the penalties were justified, but at the same time, if you go on a radio show and make those types of comments toward someone, and even hint at possibly giving payback down the road, all that does is make YOU look like the asshole, because if you're not willing to let it go, then you need to do some serious growing-up, son. I had respect for you, but I've lost it all, and I sympathized with you when this whole deal went down, but after that interview, you'll no longer get any sympathy from me, because you don't deserve it. I don't condone what Packer did, and I don't condone what Martinez said. I personally think EVERYONE needs to grow the f**k up, because this whole thing has gotten way out of control, and it makes the entire series look ridiculous, and the media isn't helping either. Good... freaking... grief. What... a... mess.

Opening rant in The Fuel is brought to you by TirADE, official sponsor of TM Master Cup Series star Tom Delgado. It's all the RAGE!

(sigh) Well, that was a lot to get off my chest, and now that I have, I feel a lot better. Should be an entertaining show today. The Fuel with James Spalding (Round of California) 215644238

Coming up next, with all the attention focused on the Martinez/Packer situation, it seems that everyone forgot that Adrien Devereux scored a Perfect 70 at California. He did the same thing last year, and ended up winning the championship. I think history will repeat itself, and I'll tell you why on the other side of this commercial break.

It's The Fuel on TMMC Radio.
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