2013 Races 9 & 10 (ARLA Mexico Grand Prix)

Complete Standings

Spoiler:

Howard Takes Points Lead as Hayes' DNF Sees Rookie Plummet in Standings

Despite the fact that Joseph Howard salvaged a good day for TDR, I don't think anyone will be too happy that the 77 was taken out by a local driver. Team owner Tom Delgado was not in the mood to cut Hector Quinones some slack.

"I guess when you're a local driver, you can do whatever you please, <censored> the consequences!" Delgado said sarcastically. "We may still have the points lead with Joseph (Howard), but we really needed to do better today. It didn't help that Jim was mired in the back of the grid with all the idiots. There are still some things we as a team need to improve on, but I feel once we get back on the short ovals, we'll get Jim back on track and Joseph will continue to provide excellent driving. We're still in a good spot, just have to survive the roadies" Delgado added after taking a second to calm down.

Joseph Howard took the points lead coming out of this race, with Jim Hayes falling to 5th in the championship. However, Hayes still leads the Rookie of the Year standings by a considerable margin.

Ashley Tucker takes third career ARLA win in the rainy Mexico Grand Prix

Ashley Tucker is known for her speed on the speedways, as her two previous wins at Lone Star Supercell and Twin Ring Motegi suggest, however, today, it was road course racing the young driver excelled at.

Although the race was full of attrition, Tucker controlled her car in the difficult and rainy conditions, and won the race in thrilling fashion, passing Rip Tyler at the last moment to take the win.

The race had no full course cautions, so that means Tucker finally wins one under green.

"I can't believe it." said Tucker, emotional after her win, "I'm so happy to get one for Bjorn Green. Never thought I'd get one under green after last year, but we did! Mura was really putting up a good fight, well, before her spinning me... but, God, I'm so happy to win a road course!"

Entering the Grand Detour/Grundy County weekend, Tucker rockets up to 7th in points, only 26 points behind points leader Joseph Howard.

Ashby and Brinson Engineering rebound at Mexico


In a season that has seen more downs than ups for the #12 team, hopes were still high that the crew could turn things around. That is exactly what they did as Brinson Engineering and driver Trey Ashby rallied in the rain from 20th on the grid to finish a strong 7th. It was only the team's second top ten of the season, marred by bad luck.

Brinson: I'm extremely proud of the entire group for never giving up. We've been very quick this season despite bad luck and a gutless powerplant; not a lot of people have given us our fair share. Although it's been gut-wrenching these past few weeks, everyone on this team has remained positive and kept a can do attitude. I can't say enough about these guys.

Going into Mexico, we knew Trey (Ashby) hadn't had much experience on road courses and the rain didn't make things much better either. With that said, our gameplan was to simply give him a stable car to work with and coach him through the treacherous conditions. The BR-01 proved once again to be very agile and I feel that the mechanical grip gave Trey quite a bit of confidence.

Obviously, we got quite a bit of help from other driver's misfortunes but I can't help but be impressed with Trey's performance. To come from 20th on the grid in absolutely horrible conditions and finish 7th is no small feat, especially when you have no road racing background. It's quite admirable and I have nothing but praise for the poise he displayed out there.

I have to however show a great deal of displeasure with the way ARLA and track officials handled the ponding of water in turn 3. It was obvious before the race that the drainage was sorely inadequate yet nothing was done to address that. That fucking turn was a ******* deathtrap and I'm quite shocked that the race wasn't red-flagged after Leslie Riggs was hit multiple times. I'm glad to see her okay but that was a sheer display of ignorance on the officials' part. The turn was unsafe and nothing was done about it.

Schwarzloski celebrates win, has no recollection of on-track incidents

38 year-old Austrian driver Edwin Schwarzloski celebrated his latest ARLA victory as the rain that plagued the ninth and tenth races of this season continued to fall in the winner's circle.

"Everything went together perfectly for us," said the former Rockford 200 winner and Racers With Disabilities owner, "I wish I could say the same about Laura [Cyrus] and Kiriki [Hetsuno], but this makes it all better"

Schwarzloski was then asked about his spin at the start of the race, in which he was turned around after contact with Pearson/Sweeney Motorsports driver Lucas Sweeney. On the next lap, he turned Mitchell & Sons driver and 2010 champion Bobby Porteau in the wall in an apparent case of mistaken identity, as both Sweeney and Porteau drive primarily black and red cars.

Schwarzloski claimed to have no recollection of the first two laps, telling reporters, "I don't play that game. If I am angry with someone, I would not take it out on the track," despite replays and radio transmissions that say otherwise.

Porteau, who fell out of the race on lap 12 and finished 27th, could not be reached for comment, as he quietly left the track immediately after his retirement.

Brillon angry at Young after being impeded

Despite finishing a solid 12th coming off of her win at Texas, M&J Racing driver Taylor Brillon had a rough journey in Mexico today.

OEN cameras caught two instances of Brillon being held up by her teammate AJ Young, who never found any speed in the rain. Brillon eventually crashed into Young while battling for position with veteran driver Joseph Howard.

Brillon confronted her teammate after the race, but Young immediately blew her off. Brillon shortly thereafter told reporters, "I dunno if [Young's] got somethin' against me or what but every time I came up to him he was swervin' all over the freakin' place and goin' too damn slow and I just knew I was gonna crash into him and then I did and he won't even listen to me he's so useless!"

Before Brillon finished drawing a breath, reporters caught up to Young himself, who was just as dismissive as when Brillon confronted him.

Said Young, "I knew she was pissed about something but I couldn't hear her from up here," jabbing at Brillon's 4'9" stature. "The car handled like crap, and I couldn't get used to it all weekend, simple as that. Whatever she thinks isn't my problem."

Young currently sits 29th in the points standings, 2 points behind Leslie Riggs, another one of his M&J Racing teammates. This is the highest in the standings that Young has ever sat in his career.