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<body> <Table Width="550" border="0" style="border-collapse: collapse" cellpadding="0"><TR><TD Width="35"><IMG SRC="//www.totalmotorsport.com/images/spacer.gif" WIDTH="35" HEIGHT="1"></td><td> <CENTER><Table border="0" width="100%"> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="5">AMERICAN LE MANS SERIES</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">07/08/2001</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="4">Controversial Stuff</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><B><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="3">At Most</FONT></B></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><img border="1" src="Storage/tuffAt%20MAME.jpg"></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="center"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="1">  </FONT></TD></TR> <TR><TD width="100%" align="left"><FONT FACE="Tahoma" SIZE="2">We're not ones to shy away from controversial stories, but this one puts the Editor in a difficult position. PK Sport and Harlow Motorsport both use our services to tell their story of each race they enter, in this case the ELMS event at Most. The income we receive helps the site go forward, and we respect and appreciate their business. Both teams are in this racing business for the long haul, and both have serious, long term, aims and ambitions.<BR> <BR> One oddity of the Most entry was the appearance of Geoff Lister and Terry Rymer in the lead Harlow car; they were PK team mates last year, of course. PK had their usual pairing in the lead car (Mike Youles / Robin Liddell), with three drivers in #61 (Robert Babikan / Piers Masarati / Milan Madryc). This background needs some explaining because everything that happened in the race played a part in bringing certain cars together at a certain moment in time.<BR> <BR> Youles, Lister and Babikan started the relevant cars, the first two aiming to pit at half distance, the latter after 45 minutes to allow Piers Masarati a long middle stint before the local driver finished the race. Geoff Lister led much of the opening period for Harlow, with Mike Youles in touch but fighting a locking brake into the hairpin. One lock up too many and the PK plan had to change. Youles had to pit for fresh rubber just before the hour, leaving Liddell to run a long middle stint, then pit near the end for a top up.<BR> <BR> Lister pitted on cue at 85 minutes, Terry Rymer reappearing in third place. Piers Masarati had meanwhile taken over #61 as planned, and was getting down to it in determined fashion, driving what looked to be his best stint of the year. Knowing that the Lister / Rymer car had also made one pit stop, when #66 appeared in his mirrors, Masarati believed that they were racing for position - they were, for what would soon be third and fourth place, but a lap apart. An inoperative radio didn't help him to understand the relative positions.<BR> <BR> So with Masarati defending, who should appear behind them but Liddell, on the same lap as Rymer. Did team tactics play a part here? However the next little scenario worked out, the result was Liddell passing them both, with Rymer still stuck behind Masarati - and getting frustrated, inevitably.<BR> <BR> Knowing that Masarati would have to pit before too long, should the Harlow team instruct Rymer to stay behind? Was that too risky, as Liddell was pulling away, buiding up a cushion for his last, quick stop? The racers' approach was to tell Rymer to make the pass, which is when the real controversy came. Rymer made the move on the outside into a tight right hander, Masarati sticking to the inside line. As one braked as late as possible and had to turn in from wide out, the other also braked as late as possible and locked up, sliding into #66 firmly enough to bounce the Harlow car into the gravel. <BR> <BR> Masarati continued undamaged, while Rymer sat seething in the gravel. The situation bore comparison to the incident between the Prototypes at Estoril, where again the two cars involved were a lap apart. Should cars a lap apart be racing each other? You could argue that they should, on the understanding that this was a long distance race, and it was as much a race to cover as far as possible in the time, as it is a race against the opposition.<BR> <BR> The odd thing was that all this happened with only 14 cars in the race. The circumstances which made it all happen were a series of coincidences. Logically, had there been two drivers in #61, the cars just wouldn't have been racing together, on the same piece of track.<BR> <BR> Once Rymer was pulled out of the gravel, he was on a charge - also managing to make his feelings known to the PK crew on the pit wall on every lap, by showing them his sore finger. After the race, Terry Rymer was keen to show Piers Masaarati more than one finger of his right hand, but contact was avoided this time.<BR> <BR> There has been a suggestion that the contact was deliberate; after all, with Harlow's lead car delayed, which GT entry should go on to win the race but PK's #60? Rymer didn't even get to the flag, gravel in the water pump pulley destroying the belt. That added to the sense of a lack of fair play from Harlow's point of view.<BR> <BR> The matter was taken up before the stewards, who excluded the PK #61 for the move that knocked off Harlow's #66. Harlow Motorsport team members felt sure that they were heading for the win and a good placing for their #67, but they ended up with DNFs for both. PK initially ended up with first and fourth, later reduced to first and nothing.<BR> <BR> Has this tale been told fairly? I hope so. That's the only way we can be sure to stay on good terms with both teams. Controversial stuff, this racing isn't it? At least there wasn't the danger of a very high speed accident, as Tom Coronel suffered at Estoril. Perhaps both accidents were simply the result of cars running in close company - simple racing accidents. Perhaps there was more to it in both cases. Let's close the case here, and look ahead to the rest of the season.<BR> <BR> Vallelunga should be interesting...<BR> <BR> <BR> <BR> </FONT></TD></TR> </TABLE><BR> </CENTER> <BR><CENTER><font size="1" color="#808080" face="Tahoma">Copyright ©2000-©2023 TotalMotorSport</font></CENTER> </td> </tr> </table> </body>