23-07-06
Cunningham second at Milwaukee
History will record that defending Indy Pro Series champion Wade Cunningham finished second to Brazilian Jaime Camara in this morning's Milwaukee 100 on the Milwaukee Mile oval.
However that is only part - a small part at that - of the story of the race.
Kiwi driver Cunningham qualified quickest, set the fastest race lap and led 98 of the 100 laps - only to be pipped by Camara after a last-minute two-laps-to-go re-start.
A similar thing happened to the 21-year-old Brian Stewart Racing team leader at Nashville last weekend, but this time, Cunningham said, there was nothing wrong with his car.
'No,' he told journalists after the race,' it wasn't like last weekend when the engine loaded up. This time the yellow came out on lap 94 when Tom Wood spun and hit the wall and when the race went green again I didn't get a great run out of Turn 4. It was enough to keep the lead but, you know, I don't think I was able to get rid of the marbles (tiny bits of discarded rubber which stick to the tyres when the cars are slowly running around the track while the yellow caution flags are out) off the front tyres quickly enough because when I turned into Turn 1 I pretty much missed the corner. The car just understeered up the track which meant I was really high heading into Turn 2 which in turn meant the door was wide open for Jaime to drive through. After that there wasn't much I could do with one lap to go. I tried pushing hard but it wasn't enough.'
Cunningham showed real maturity at the press conference, accepting that despite being the quickest driver on the track it was Camara who won the race.
'We don't have anyone to blame,' he concluded. 'We just didn't win!'
Which doesn't seem fair considering how quick the 2003 World Karting Champion, and defending Indy Pro Series champion was this weekend. At one stage he was almost six-and-a-half seconds in front of Camara, and only lost some of that advantage when he had a massive lose mid-way through the race.
'The wind changed and made the rear end of the car light,' he explained.' At a place like this (a one mile oval with laps in the 25 second bracket) it's hard for people to see something like that because it happens so quickly but the telemetry showed that on that lap where usually I'd be using only about 2.5 degrees of steering lock I had up to 6.5 so it was a big one alright and it took a while to tame!'
The start of the Indy Pro Race was in fact delayed for half an hour when light rain fell as the cars were lining up on the grid, though once underway it was only the wind that affected proceedings.
Cunningham was not the only front runner to have things not quite go his way either.
Championship points leader, and fellow front row starter Jay Howard, had another day to forget, quickly slipping back through the field to cross the line in seventh place, two laps down on Camara and Cunningham.
Runner-up Bobby Wilson also struggled in the conditions, finishing fourth.
After two race meetings over two consecutive weekends there is now a three week break in the Indy Pro Series schedule with the ninth round in Kentucky over the August 12/13 weekend.
