TW finishes 9th in ISDC opener at Homestead-Miami
A gamble to stay out on fuel proved unsuccessful, as Tanner Watkins came home ninth in the opening round of the 2018 ISDC Rigshare World Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway Monday night.
Justin Rector parlayed a fuel-saving strategy into a victory in the first of 15 rounds in the series. Rector won by 2.406 seconds over Will Roberts.
Watkins continued his recent hot streak in ISDC competition by starting the race from pole position, with a lap time of 24.939 seconds.
From there, the No. 3 Avery Huffman Defeat DIPG Foundation Chevrolet was up near the front most of the race, battling in the top three and staying far ahead of the trouble that took out a handful of racers early on in the going.
Danny Roberts started on the outside of the front row beside Watkins and dominated tonight's race. He led 83 of the race's 100 laps tonight, but would finish sixth after pitting late in the race from the lead, as Watkins had done.
Watkins would lead 7 laps and would come home as the last car on the lead lap in ninth as the race stayed green and Watkins needed to pit for fuel to finish the race.
"We had a great run going this evening and the fuel strategy went those guys' way," said Watkins after the race. "We did everything we needed to do early on by qualifying on the pole to stay ahead of the trouble. As the race progressed, our strategy was to stay out as long as possible on fuel runs to avoid being trapped a lap down by a caution flag.
"Unfortunately the yellow never came and when some of the guys behind us worked a fuel mileage strategy, our bed was made essentially. Very disappointing after running in the top three for 95 percent of the race, but that is how it goes sometimes. Ninth isn't a terrible start to our championship and hopefully we can pick up a solid result at Motegi before the month of May starts."
The race featured 11 lead changes among 8 drivers. Slowed by only two cautions for during the 100-lap event at the 1.5-mile oval, the event took just 49 minutes to complete. The race was broadcasted live by SYM TV, the new streaming partner of the ISDC Rigshare World Series. The link is listed above.
The action for Watkins and the other drivers in the series will pick back up again next Monday night, as they will race on the Twin Ring Motegi oval. The race will be broadcasted live by SYM TV.
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