JOLIET, IL: An open wheel crash-fest turned into a thriller at the end as Crown Point, Indiana’s Logan Gomez capped his rookie season in the Indy Pro Series with a spectacular photo finish victory over recently crowned 2007 IPS champ Alex Lloyd. The victory margin of 0.0005 seconds is the closest finish in the entire
history of the Indy Racing League!
As expected, Alex Lloyd continued his domination of the IPS 2007 season by leading a total of 38 of 67 laps, but found himself in a wheel-to-wheel dual
during the final laps, as Gomez refused to be denied.
In victory lane, a surprisingly composed Logan Gomez offered his thoughts following his first professional
victory:
“It feels great. Alex had a great run out there as well as us. I think that Sam Schmidt Motorsports was the class of the field today. It’s great to go out with a win at the end of the year. I’m looking forward next to running in the Indy Pro Series possibly. You couldn’t ask for anything else. We progressed from not finishing races at the beginning of the year to winning a race at the end of the year,so it’s just been a steady progression. Hopefully we can start here next year.” (About running side-by-side at the front of the pack): “That was my first time, especially with Alex. I knew he’d race me clean, and I did the favor back to him. To race side-by-side with somebody like that who is going places is really a great feeling. To beat him is even better. It’s about as close as you can get a finish. I
couldn’t ask for much more out of this series.”
33 of the 67 race laps were run under the caution. The most heart-stopping crash occurred on lap 43, as Travis Gregg, charging from dead last starting position to join the lead pack, pinched third-running Wade Cunningham into the wall entering turn three. Cunningham’s car executed a a frightening “blow-over”, landing upside down hard. Amazingly, Cunningham was
out of the car and on his feet before help arrived.
Chicagoland 100 results: 1. (4) Logan Gomez, 67, Running $32,500 2. (1) Alex Lloyd, 67, Running $26,000 3. (7) Robbie Pecorari, 67, Running $20,000 4. (11) Bobby Wilson, 67, Running $16,400 5. (16) Mike Potekhen, 67, Running $15,900 6. (17) Sean Guthrie, 67, Running $15,400 7. (19) P.J. Abbott, 67, Running $14,900 8. (15) Jon Brownson, 67, Running $14,400 9. (18) Ken Losch, 67, Running $13,900 10. (14) Jimmy Kite, 67, Running $13,400 11. (21) Brad Jaeger, 67, Running $12,400 12. (10) Stephen Simpson, 65, Running $11,400 13. (12) Leilani Muenter, 55, Running $10,400 14. (3) Ben Petter, 49, Running $10,000 15. (8) Jonathan Klein, 45, Mechanical $9,500 16. (22) Travis Gregg, 43, Contact $9,000 17. (2) Wade Cunningham, 43, Contact $8,500 18. (13) Adam Andretti, 34, Contact $8,000 19. (6) Chris Festa, 13, Contact $5,000 20. (5) Jaime Camara, 13, Contact $4,000 21. (9) Andrew Prendeville, 4, Mechanical $3,000
22. (20) Tom Wieringa, 0, Did not start $2,000
Race Statistics Winner’s average speed: 108.764 mph Time of race: 56:10.8201 Margin of victory: 0.0005 of a second Cautions: 5 caution flags for 33 laps Lead changes: 9 among 4 drivers Lap leaders: Lloyd 1-7, Cunningham 8-12, Lloyd 13-14, Cunningham 15, Lloyd 16, Klein 17, Lloyd 18-41, Gomez
42, Lloyd 43-46, Gomez 47-67.
Final point standings: Lloyd 652, Mutoh 481, Cunningham 423, Wilson 393, Potekhen 379, Camara 373,
Gomez 368, Pecorari 344, Simpson 340, Festa 313.
IndyCar SeriesJohn AtlasThe Dirt Guy