Race 25: Decatur

Disappointing end to "Double" attempt as Matthews gains nil on Durbin
How do you lose the Independent's Trophy when your main rival didn't make the Round of Decatur?

You start near shotgun on the field like Ryan Matthews did.

"You can't go out and lay that big of an egg in qually and expect a good result," he said. "We got behind the 8-ball from the jump having to start almost DFL, and when you do that, well, you saw what happened."

Though Matthews rallied to finish 20th, the bigger story was where he needed to finish - according to Channel 44's Lance Andrews, Matthews needed an 18th-place run to snatch the Trophy from eventual winner Ike Durbin.

"Was it really?" he asked the assembled throng of media. "Well, that sucks. Really would've liked to have gotten two more places but this car just didn't have it in it. It is what it is."

Derrike Chaiter, the 24 year old rookie who drove for a few late races for Delgado-DeGarmo did not qualify for Decatur, but he was still beside himself wondering who would win the championship. Chaiter has been seen wearing Luciano Soveral t-shirts....well, ones he made himself to root for Soveral. You could hear Chaiter at points yelling loudly at Luciano Soveral on screen aloud saying "Go ye bloody fool! I been rootin' fer ya the whole season an' ya cannot be beaten' by these blasphemers!"
The word blasphemer is used lightly because in Chaiter's point of view, "blasphemer" means fool....I guess. Regardless, Derrike Chaiter is a heavy Soveral fan and completely wants Adrien Devereaux to have a bad day - Chaiter has a strong lack of remorse towards Devereaux, even though Chaiter and Devereaux have never had an altercation.

In spite of Derrike Chaiter's yelling, Adrien Devereaux moved quickly through the field, and that had Chaiter on edge the whole time. He was practically screaming when they were fighting for fifth towards the end of the race.

Derrike Chaiter shed his thoughts on Adrien Devereaux winning the championship after the race, and his rooting for Luciano Soveral failing to provide Soveral what was, a longshot of sorts.

"That bloody Frenchman. I cannot believe that blasphemer won this -expletive- champ'inship again. I am very pissed off at this. I wanted Luciano Soveral to win the -expletive- championship. He will get 'em next time."

Derrike Chaiter is expected to return next season, hopefully scoring an Independence Trophy ride. It is his dream to run in Master Cup, and eventually win a championship. We will have to wait and see how his story unfolds!

Strong Charge From 38th Leads Delgado to 9th Place Finish

There were many rumblings in the press that claimed that Tom Delgado was "washed up" after barely qualifying for the Round of Decatur in round 3 qualifying. What the 40-year old ASCC champion did to quiet those rumblings was extremely impressive to say the least.

Starting 38th, Delgado turned heads on the start with a surprisingly aggressive demeanor, a far cry from his usually conservative starting tactic. He made up positions quickly as cars fell out around him, and after the first pit stops, he was in 11th, shadowing Adrien Devereux for most of the day. By the time the second pit stops of the race came and went, the 37 was in 7th place thanks to running a long fuel strategy. They would switch it up late in the race and pit early for the last time, hoping that others would run out.

Nobody else ran out, but Delgado was able to hold his ground and moved up from 11th to 9th in the final laps in order to take his second Top 10 finish for Lenard International this season. He had also been very vocal on the radio with regards to teammate Luciano Soveral being held up by Melanie Clevenot. "Turn her next time you lap her, Luciano!" Delgado roared multiple times. Luciano did not turn her.

"I think we had about as good a race as we could have starting from 38th. They gave me a great car and a pretty damn good strategy. Who am I to doubt my crew chief today? He was brilliant." Delgado said as he was being interviewed after the race. He then proceeded to thank Lenard International for giving him a chance to be competitive again. "It's been a great few weeks being in a strong car again, and I have to thank Lenard International for everything they've done for me. They didn't have to, but they did, and I'm honored that they did. First class organization across the board, and I'm grateful for this opportunity that I've been given the past few weeks" Delgado added before heading back to the garage.

Delgado's plans for 2015 onwards are unknown, but he's made it clear that he intends on slowing down as a driver and upping his participating as the owner of Tom Delgado Racing. Now, what he says and what actually happens usually turn out to be two completely different things, so we'll just have to wait and see what happens, shall we?

Post-Race Comments from Woody Watts
Woody Watts’ celebrated return to the TM Master Cup Series came to an early end after an incident involving Russell Jones, Yevgeny Kuznetsov, himself, Alexis Rainsford, Calvin Hobbes, Juvo Kivela, and Mariano Zavala. Watts took a shot or two but luckily came to rest on the right side of the track at the Decatur hotel passageway and oncoming drivers passed him on the left. After being cleared from the track’s medical center, Woody was available for comment.

“The car was solid today. We kept working on getting more straight-line speed out of it, and I think we got the best out of it that we could - but as far as handling in the corners, I was really comfortable in the car. I’ve got many people to thank for that and I will do so in person. I can take a moment to thank IcyHot, Campbell’s Soup, and Halls for being so supportive and giving us the means to get here. Their products also helped me a lot on the road to recovery,” Woody said, with a chuckle at the end.

“Although if I’m being completely honest, I can’t leave out that I’m not happy about the way I exited the race today. I don’t know if there was a spotting issue or just impatience from the 216.... either way, that could have been avoided and a lot of racecars got tore up because of that move.

But you know, I can’t let that sour what we did accomplish here. Considering the efforts that were brought together here by the people I’ve had in my life in the past few years, and the truly generous help we received from colleagues and cohorts of years ago...... racing with the likes of Adrien [Devereux] and Alexis [Rainsford] again, and being here for Mr. [Dale] Roswell’s return..... this was like a dream come true. The encouragement I received from some of the most respected people in world motorsport made me feel very honored. And the fan’s excitement and support has been truly phenomenal. So thank you all so very much.”

This was a great race, and I think it's maybe the best I've felt about our team's performance in a long time, and that is saying a lot.

From the moment we got to Decatur, this car was absolutely spectacular: the team did an amazing job on setup, and both myself, Tom, and Luciano showed a lot of speed all weekend long. Running up front with the likes of Adrien, Leonid Roderick, Arto, and others was an absolute dream come true, and I'm proud to say that myself and our team held our own.

Congratulations to Adrien, he had an awesome season, and had to win a fight with the best in the business. I'd also like to give a shoutout to Woody Watts - his comeback to this series is nothing short amazing. He's a hell of a man, and I hope we get to see him in this series more in the future.

Thanks to everyone at the 6 team who gave me another chance this year. I hope to be racing in the Master Cup series next season.