What was a closely contested race transformed into a destruction derby in the second Indy Lights race at St Pete. With 16 laps to go and Jeff Simmons leading, Raphael Matos made a move to the inside or race leader Simmons that resulted in both of them being taken out of contention. Matos looked to have the stronger car but his move was questionable since he hadn't actually gotten past Simmons. Call it one of them racin' deals.
Soon Ana Beatriz had claimed the lead, and with 10 laps to go it looked like she might become the first woman ever to win an Indy Racing League event. That is until she got punted out of the lead by Richard Antinucci, who just so happens to be her teammate. Team owner Sam Schmidt might have thrown something, but he's in a wheelchair so he stayed in control.
As if that wasn't enough Beatriz, who had her car facing the wrong way, tried to spin around and rejoin the pace while traffic was still going past her. Her car immediately rammed poor Pablo Donoso, who in a radio interview afterwards uttered the now immortal line "That girl ees stoopid!"
There were plenty of other incidents, but I'll leave that work for Allan at IndyProRacer.com. The end result is that the St Pete streak is over as Antinucci won and Matos did not, with JR Hildebrand and Logan Gomez joining Richard on the podium as the beneficiaries of all the attrition.
UPDATE: IndyProRacer.com is reporting that Antinucci will be docked 10 championship points for punting his teammate, although he still gets the win. That's so N-word.
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Rinus V...
1 day ago
what a race, Indy lights is the next big thing, the big race today should be something special.
I gotta feel for Bia but Pablo just went way up in my books...
did you see Dario didn't qualify for the N-word race this weekend...
ever wonder if he sometimes thinks he made a big mistake?
how do they dock him for "avoidable contact" in that race and then there's nothing called in the IndyCar race? WTF? There was avoidable contact all over the place in that race. Different rule book, I guess.