DOVER, Delaware -- It has been a long time, 196 days, 28 weeks or more than 6 months to be exact since Ben Fischer was in an eDimensional Cup Series victory lane. This weekend, at Dover's 'Monster Mile' Fischer finally broke through for his first career Cup win since Martinsville last fall.
And the race somehow was a summary of the past six months Fischer had to overcome in order to get 'One of the most important, best feeling wins of my career' as the German born put it himself.
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| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| James Krahula and Voffka Bykoff racing side by side in Saturday's SimRacingLinks.COM 200 at Dover Int'l Speedway |
Fischer started out good from the outside pole, next to Changyoun Kim, who was looking for his second win in a row after putting in the fourth pole of the year for the No. 64 LG Electronics Ford Fusion team of Bang Racing. But a questionable pit strategy put Fischer in a hole and as far back in the field as 16th.
By the time the race reached the halfway mark, however, Fischer was back into second place, right behind Kim who led 81 laps all day and looked like a dominant ride to his fifth win of the season. But shortly after halfway point, another caution flag came out and the leaders opted for pit road.
Fischer's No. 18 Mirage Boats Chevrolet made contact with Kim's rear bumper, turning the leader around. Even though Kim's car had not suffered any damage, he lost track position as Fischer took over the lead. After the race, Fischer said he had screwed up the pit entry and therefore made contact with Kim.
"I was on the brakes, but when he slowed for the yellow pit entrance line, I didn't slow quick enough. I missed the yellow line, so I bumped him, causing some mess. I've already let me spotter tell his (Changyoun Kim's) spotter I was sorry and it wasn't intentional," Fischer said after the race.
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| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| Fischer Racing had three cars in the top ten at Dover, with Fischer winning the SimRacingLinks.COM 200 and David Topie finishing third. Bjarne Laursen was eighth. |
Kim had himself a nice comeback after the trouble on pit road, though. Restarting in 12th he was back to third with twenty laps to go, following Fischer and Fischer's team-mate and defending series champion David Topie in the No. 5 EMBARQ Chevrolet.
In the final twenty laps, two cautions came out again for wrecks and a blown engine of Bill Fields, who completed a nightmare day for Lone Star Racing, after his team-mate's, Robert Hampton's No. 31 car suffered from an exploded engine earlier in the race.
With five laps to go, the final restart went under way and Kim made a hard charge on second place runner David Topie and took second place. Kim then set his eyes on Fischer's rear bumper, who had a two car length lead. Kim closed that gap within one lap but was unable to pull of a winning move in the next two laps.
Meanwhile Fischer, leading the race and holding on for the lead had to fight the massive, oily smoke of Bill Fields' No. 33 SendOutCards.Com Dodge that had a broken engine. With one and a half lap to go eventually, TASCOR threw the yellow flag, handing the win to Fischer.
"I'm tickled to death. This was one fantastic race for the whole Mirage Boats team, for everybody at Fischer Racing. We've not come here thinking we'd win today. But that's just how it goes sometimes. I gotta give credit to Cody (Vassell, crew chief) and everybody at Fischer Racing who's been working so awfully hard to get us here," Fischer said in victory lane.
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| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| On lap 88, Kim was spun by Fischer on pit road. Krahula also made contact with the two cars. |
"The curse is finally over and we can win races again. We've had a chance multiple times already this year but weren't able to put it together. It makes me real proud we didn't give up and closed the deal today. That means the world to me," Fischer added.
David Topie wound up third, giving Fischer Racing a very successful one-three finish. Bjarne Laursen was the third best Fischer Racing driver finishing eighth while Jean Costa was 12th and Richard Cragg 16th.
Voffka Bykoff meanwhile held up the Toyota banner in the race, finishing fourth in his No. 16 Castrol GTX Toyota Camry. He also beat team-mate and boss Mark Agee who was sixth in the No. 27 Advance Auto Parts Toyota Camry.
Michel Wolf, who made his first start of the year, after failing to qualify at Daytona back in January, put his No. 24 Denit Chevrolet Impala SS into fifth place. Wolf has an awesome career record of five top-fives in eight starts.
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| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| On Lap 109, trouble broke loose in turn one, after Tom Splain made contact with Carlos Costa's No. 13 Black & Decker Ford. |
James Krahula finished seventh in the No. 1 ATX Computers Chevrolet. He pitted late in the race but the fresh tires ultimately did not pay off for Krahula as almost everybody stayed out when a caution flew in the final stages of the 200-lap event.
NEPA Motorsports team-mates Tom Splain and Ricardo Pino rounded out the top-ten finishers. It was Splain's seventh top-ten finish in the last eight races, easily making him one of the most consistent drivers in the field over the past month.
The SimRacingLinks.COM 200 was a very competitive race once again that saw 14 lead changes among nine drivers. Ben Fischer led the most laps, 90 en route to his first win of the season and his ninth career Cup win overall. The race was slowed by eleven caution flags for 41 laps under yellow flag conditions.
The TASCOR eDimensional Cup Series now enjoys one of its rare off weeks before returning to action with the Pocono 300 at Pocono Raceway in two weeks. It will be the first time in TASCOR history, Pocono Raceway hosts two races per year.
With his SimRacingLinks.COM 200 win, Ben Fischer moved up one spot in the official driver point standings, he's now fourth, 207 points out of the lead that is still held by Changyoun Kim. Tom Splain is in second, 127 points behind the South Korean driver.
Jeroen Anema, who had a nightmare day and finished 19th after a series of wrecks and mechanical problems on his No. 57 Cheetos Chevrolet, remains in third. Miguel Gomes meanwhile dropped out of the top-8 in the point standings that will qualify for the inaugural 'Chase for the Championship' starting at Richmond in September. Ricardo Pino meanwhile is back in the top-eigth with his tenth place finish.
