Race 5: Toddring

Race 1 Results
Race 2 Results
Points

McMillan Escapes Toddring with Victory

Coming into the Dash Cup race at Toddring, Christian McMillan had no idea he would wind up in victory lane.  McMillan, in fact, was involved in a wreck early in the race and fell off from the lead draft soon afterward.  Due to this, he was able to save enough fuel to make it to the finish and win the race.

When interviewed, this is what McMillan had to say, "Yes! I can't believe it!  This is awesome.  I can't believe we won!  I wanna thank everyone who gave me the opportunity to race here. This is awesome!"  

Despite many strong runs in 2012 with Matthias McMair, this is Ike Durbin, Inc.'s first Dash Cup victory.  Despite the excitement from the victory, team owner Ike Durbin explained that financial troubles hindered the celebration just a bit. "First off, congratulating Chris is the most important thing.  He's done a great job, and it's great to see him get his first win.  We've been having some financial troubles, and this has really boosted the morale of everyone.  It's not the sponsors--they've been great.  But it's been really difficult financially getting to the track with equipment that can be competitive.  This has helped alot."

Defending Toddring Winner O'Reilly Disappointed By Late Race Green Flag Pit Stops

What was supposed to be a defense of last year's Toddring GP victory by Andrew O'Reilly and the Westockin Racing Team was not meant to be, as a late race pit stop with just 3 laps to go cost O'Reilly a chance of a top-5 finish, and even possibly a win.

"We've sacrificed qualifying for race pace this year, and we weren't worried about that today, seeing as we've always been strong on the superspeedways. The car was fantastic and we moved our way to the front in a hurry with the help of some other competitors. There were some hairy situations there, but we managed! My crew did a great job to give me the lead early in the race after the lap 2 wreck, but with the nature of this kind of racing, that lead went away quick.

I did a good job, I think, in managing the pack and lapped traffic, but knowing we had to pit one more time is what cost us a great run. Pitting with most of the pack hurt a bit, because even though we could have had drafting help, the amount of cars coming in a full speed cost me time entering, as I went wide a tad on the access road. The stop wasn't the fastest in the world, and we ended up separated from the main group. Even though we collected a top-15 finishing position, I still feel that we need to improve, whether it me managing traffic, or saving fuel, or pit stops, or adjusting on the car, we need to improve, otherwise this season will be gone from us very early," said O'Reilly after the end of today's race.

O'Reilly also announced his plans for the upcoming Karjala Grand Prix, the most prestigious TM Master Cup Series race on the calendar.

"Yeah, we've managed some funding from other Irish companies which made it possible to attempt the race, and hopefully they might come back for other one-offs or to the Dash Cup program. It's an honour and privilege to be able to race there, and I can't wait to see if we can make the show!"

O'Reilly's team improved slightly in the points tally, and the next race for the Dash Cup campaign is surely to be an emotional one for the team as they return to Rockingham for the first time since last year's tragic running.