Oh So Close For The Fly

Ian Lewis was back in force last night at Riverview Speedway where he was in the mix all night and challenged Fred Rahmer for the lead of the A-Main with seven laps remaining.

Finally 'The Fly's prayers were answered when he was destined to be the ninth car out in time trials where he wasted no opportunity as he set the then fastest time of the session with an 11.633 second lap which saw Lewis the sixth fastest car by the end of time trials despite the side panel of the main wing collapsing slightly.

"It's amazing how much of a difference it makes when you can time trial out of a better position," said Lewis.

Starting from the back of the grid in the heats with such a vast number of competitive drivers out front saw Lewis drive an aggressive but intelligent two heats where he avoided the accidents out front to put the Komatsu Used Equipment, Adtrans, Camden Neon Signs, J&J Auto Racing car in third and fourth respectively.

With no inversion on the dash grid, Lewis lined up in second place in the B-Dash alongside Darrell Hodges where despite a large amount of pressure from Robbie Farr, 'The Fly' got a perfect start where he stayed up high and ran around the outside of Hodges where he comfortably took the lead and the win during the six lap race.

Rahmer elected to run from the outside position on the front row and thus put Lewis' Komatsu Used Equipment, Adtrans, Camden Neon Signs, J&J Auto Racing car on pole position for the thirty-five lap A-Main.

With the outside position the primary position to be in 'The Fly' made the most of the start to slot into second place behind Rahmer and in front of Hodges. The top three were quite evenly spaced, as they never got close enough to lapped traffic due to some early caution periods.

Hodges eventually made a mistake and allowed Brooke Tatnell through where he caught onto Lewis who held his line and was unfazed by the four-time champion's presence behind. Lewis knuckled down and pushed on to catch an ever so slightly ailing Rahmer and gradually reeled him in.

With seven laps remaining 'The Fly' was nose to tail behind Rahmer where Lewis saw an opportunity to take the lead and drove the Komatsu Used Equipment, Adtrans, Camden Neon Signs, J&J Auto Racing car underneath Rahmer in turns three and four only to have the door closed by a defensive Rahmer where the duo made contact and left 'The Fly' spinning in turn four.

"That's racing for you. I saw an opportunity and I took my chance, unfortunately it didn't pay off but the important thing is we are understanding this new car well and the car is all in one piece for the upcoming rounds."

Lewis restarted and finished in tenth after thrilling the crowd to some spectacular racing.

Tune into Channel 9's Speed Machine program on January 15 for all the action of 'The Fly's' Riverview Speedway attack.

Tonight Ian Lewis Racing continue their trek as they compete in round eight of World Series Sprintcars at Borderline Raceway.

Ian Lewis Racing is sponsored by Komatsu Used Equipment, Adtrans Truck Centre, Camden Neon Signs, J&J Auto Racing, Cascade, The Metric Men, Radum and Transport Equipment Hire.