Tyson Sy got the jump at the start on James Winslow who had to defend from a fast starting Moreno Soeprapto. Soeprapto had a great run through turn two and was drafting Winslow when he ran into the back of the British driver’s car as they braked for turn three. Moreno took off, vertical lift according the following pack, and rolled many times before landing sideways against the tyre wall. Chaos rained as Sy took evasive action as he saw Moreno’s car about to land on him and the pack fought to avoid the flying debris. The race was immediately red flagged.
Winslow rushed to Moreno’s aid, finding the driver trapped against the tyre wall and with fuel pumping out from a fractured fuel line he fought to free Soeprapto. The car erupted in flames and somehow Winslow was able to help the Indonesian get free from the wreckage. Winslow was to say later it was nothing but his burnt race suit was testament to his heroic efforts to save Moreno.
Soeprapto was taken to hospital for precautionary checks and received a clean bill of health although he was naturally extremely shaken and thankful to Winslow. The conflagration was so large over fifty metres of the tyre wall burnt and it took some time to extinguish. As a result of the delay to replace the damaged tyre wall and the race track, the final race of the day, round 15, was cancelled and round 14 was re-run in the afternoon with just Soeprapto missing from the grid, his car being burnt to a cinder.
Winslow this time made a good start with Sy in second from Jackson and Battistini. This was the order for the first three laps with Bagoes Hermanto in fifth place fending of Henri Karjalainen who once again had made a poor start. Their battle came to an end when the Finn got alongside Bagoes into turn three only for the latter to turn in on Karjalainen taking them both out. Once again the race was red flagged to clear up the mess. At the re-start Winslow again led from Sy and a fast starting Battistini. Ali Jacskon forced his way past Battistini at turn three and Rama Dinindro took the opportunity to go by at the same time. This was the last of the action until the last lap when Jackson got alongside Sy in the fast esses but ran out of road and took a trip through the gravel trap fortunately without losing a place.
Satrio Hermanto won the Promotions Class, despite the race long attention of Michele Bumgarner. The latter dropped to third in class on the last lap when she lost second gear.
Round 15 was cancelled due to lack of daylight and will probably now be run at the last event of the year at Batangas in the Philippines on November 4/5th.
|
