Close Battles on the Track, in the Points Fight

This summer has been more exciting than usual, with serious fights for championship points going on up and down the motorsport pyramid.

From the height of Formula One, where brotherly love is hard to come by courtesy Michael and Ralf Schumacher, to Champ Car where Canadians Paul Tracy and Patrick Carpentier have both been in the winners circle, to CASCAR where Kerry Micks, the iron man of Canadian short track racing, has managed to be at or near the top of the standings for most of the season. Micks has been hanging only a few points behind defending series champion Don Thomson Jr., with DJ Kennington only a little further back in third by the mid-point of the season.

The Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal was a barn-burner of a race, with the last third seeing Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari barely outrunning brother Ralf in his BMW-Williams, with his teammate Juan Pablo Montoya nipping at their heels as the checkered flag fell.

In Champ Car competition, critics of the series should eat their hats after several rounds saw Paul Tracy win four times, but run away from the field only once, in Toronto. The rest of the wins were hard fought and entirely unpredictable.

CASCAR, which shares something with Champ Car in that many had declared it dead last season, showed that the competition is very much alive. Veteran Dave Whitlock won the opening round and, to show it was no fluke, won the Calgary round, too. Of course, consistency pays in CASCAR points, and no one has been more consistent, year in and year out, than Don Thomson Jr. This is why he has won the national title twice, and why he leads this year.

CASCAR Super Series
After six of 12 rounds

CART Champ Car Standings
After 10 of 19 rounds

Formula One Standings
After 11 of 16 rounds