When Ron Fellows, of Mississauga, ON, signed a three-race World Challenge Championships deal with CRP Racing, one of the races he wanted to run was the World Challenge Grand Prix of Watkins Glen, mainly because he had never raced the 3.4-mile full circuit at The Glen.
Fellows demonstrated convincing pace through the weekend's practice and qualifying sessions. The team parked their #2 CRP Racing Chevy Corvette early in the qualifying session. "We were three-quarters of a second up on everybody, so we decided to stop and save our tires for the race," Fellows said. In the closing minutes, series veteran, Randy Pobst, 1:54.467 (106.930 mph) in his #6 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60 - over a second faster than Fellows, to take the pole position.
"It was a complete shock to me," said Pobst. "We turned a time that kind of took the breath away from me."
The shock was certainly over come race day, when Pobst gained an early lead from the green flag. Fellows fell behind by about 3.5 seconds, although he kept his second place secure. Settling down to business, Fellows caught up to the leader by the fifth lap. During the next lap, Fellows looked to make a late-braking pass on Pobst in Turn 1, then thought better of it.
Pobst, who was having braking issues, went wide and Fellows slid into the lead. From there, the veteran driver made it two in a row in the World Challenge series, averaging 104.06 mph over the 22-lap, 74.8-mile race. As well, he posted the race’s fastest lap at 1:55.672 (105.816 mph).
Of the Turn 1 incident, Fellows explained, "I locked the rear tires as well, which is why I ended up moving in behind him. I was going to make a move to the inside, but he went in deep. He was closer to the two marker, and I was braking somewhere between the three and the two, and it was way too early in the race and we would have ended up just banging doors. My car had a bit of a twitch, but when Randy went off, I went by.”
Photo:
World Challenge
Kuno Wittmer, of Montreal, QC, followed the #2 Corvette across the finsh line just 11.775 seconds after. Wittmer managed to get by Pobst during lap 8, so making it two Canadians on the Watkins Glen podium.
In spite of his early difficulties, Pobst managed his Volvo well enough to keep the last spot on the podium.
"We had a great start ," he explained. "I got out to what looked like a big lead, but I've been around and I knew to wait and see how it sorted out. Ron reeled me in pretty quick, and my brakes just weren't up to snuff in the race. I had a lot of trouble getting the car to stop, and it made it very tricky to drive."
Fellows' deal with CRP Racing is complete, but he enjoyed his new experience at The Glen. "When I first started in the Trans-Am Series, we ran on the NASCAR weekend and ran the short course, and of course again in my NASCAR starts. But I must say, the long course is awesome. That is the most fun section of the race track, and it's surprising how much grip you can generate through turn six. I really enjoyed it," Fellows commented.
The World Challenge Championships return to action, July 16 - 17, on the streets of Toronto.
Linear Mode
