Lehdistötiedotteet - Wheeler Breaks Through in Cleveland

Wheeler Breaks Through in Cleveland

Nearly a week ago, the HamrHedz Cup podium was one of the hottest commodities in racing. The 3rd spot was split between 3 drivers and 2 others were sitting within striking distance. After the dust settled from qualifying, the 3 drivers with a share of P3 were sitting 3-5 on the grid with the top-2 North America Drivers, American Nick Wheeler and Sterling Audet of Canada queued up behind Season 11 Champ, Nick Schmidt of Germany.

After a 3-way shootout, Wheeler broke the tie with a podium on the stage, and Schmidt beat out Audet for P4, While Ukraine's Sergey Staruhin hung on for 6th taking advantage of a slip-up from Milan Pituch of the Czech Republic to gain some distance in the standings.

This all set the stage for a showdown in week 4, but as qualifying time loomed, no one had seen Nick Schmidt's machine on course. Without any testing, he fell to P13 on course, and due to a poor setup, Sterling Audet started P8. 3 machines were between Wheeler and Audet on the grid, which led reporters to ask Wheeler how he felt.

He said "this is the best opportunity I've had in a season series since my rookie season. If Schmidt can't find points, and I can stay away from Audet, who has to climb through Staruhin and Rossi to get to me, I can put myself in a position to get away. I'll likely just play it safe but strong and follow Pituch all day. Pan and Villanova are just too fast, but Pituch in clean air will carry me to a points breakaway for sure."

After all was said and done, Wheeler did just that. He followed Pituch for 24.95 laps. But in the final turn, on the final lap, Milan Pituch slid wide, and Wheeler drove under him for a podium finish on the day. Adding to his points pad was a tumultuous day at the wheel for Audet. Neither he nor Schmidt were able to find points, and after the first stage, Wheeler found himself 18 points clear of the traffic jam for P4.

Stage 2 saw a rough start from Wheeler, who couldn't seem to control the machine, through the first half. "My pit crew, first of all, killed that stop. They're the reason I moved from P5 to P3 during the pit cycle. They easily put one or two seconds into Staruhin and Pituch. I relayed the message to my engineers that I was struggling, and they had fixes lined up for me when I stopped. Without my crew, I probably would've fallen out of the top 10."

Indeed, after the pit stop, which was the 3rd fastest stop on the day, Wheeler ran consistently fast laps and slowly pulled away from Staruhin and Pituch, who had been challenging him all afternoon. He opened up a 5 second gap back to the Ukrainian and Czech drivers who battled through the remainder of the race, finishing P4 and P5.

After the race, Wheeler was approached by reporters. In response to a question about carrying a 25-point advantage over P4 into Denver, he responded "it isn't enough. It's not even P4 or P5 that I'm really worried about. I'm not sure what happened with Schmidt this week, but if it continues, I need to gain as much distance on him as I can between now and when he starts finding podiums again. Staruhin, Audet, and Pituch are strong drivers, but Schmidt has proven that he can win when it matters. That said, we're in Denver next week. My eyes are on Villanova and Pan. Denver is one of my favorite tracks, and if I'm going to challenge either of them, that would be the place."

Will 25 points be enough to hold 3rd? Will 33 points be enough to hold off the defending champ? Despite the selection in Cleveland, the HamrHedz Cup still has some scores to settle.