Sunday morning at the race track is always intriguing. The nerves drivers feel on Friday, before heading out on track are for those first practice sessions, they’re long gone. Through qualifying and the first race on Saturday, everyone has sized up their competition. There’s a sense of calm in the paddock, knowing full well there’s a battle ahead.
The BEMC Indian Summer Trophy race (which lately has been billed as the ‘Late Summer Trophy‘ race due to political correctness) is a vintage motor race, so there’s always cool old cars driving around, like a car show within a race weekend. Formula Vee race cars are based on the running gear from pre-1963 VW Beetles, so the race teams looked at the fully restored punch-buggies as a source for new parts. There was even a mint-condition CG Subaru Impreza parked near the Vallis Motor Sport paddock, and a vintage RV with the most glorious ‘motel art’ on the rear window. You could just picture that Winnebago cruising down Route 66 back in the 80’s!
Enough of the scenery. Let’s get back to racing! Sunday was an action packed day with two races schedules. The F1200s were the first group out on track at 8:30 am, with the starting order set based on the finishing positions from Race 1, so Daniel Demaras would once again start on the outside of row one.
Similar to Race 1, this was a four way battle between Wang, Kingsborough, Murray and Demaras. And the rivals didn’t let up all race long. Each driver took the lead, but nobody could break away from the group, and the all-powerful draft.
It was exciting to see such skilled drivers in equally prepared equipment. But at the same time, the diversity of seeing a BRD battle a Mysterian chasing a Caracal was a Formula Vee dream come true. Daniel once again brought the car home in second place, this time behind Phil ‘the champ’ Wang.
The battle for The Vallis Cup was going to be close. With one win apiece for Phil and Barret, they had an edge in the points against contenders Daniel and Robert. But during Race 2, Kingsborough had received a black and white flag (warning for driving standards) when the track marshals claimed they saw him bump-drafting Phil Wang on the Andretti straight. That’s crazy! Nobody would ever bump-draft in an open-wheel car.
With all that behind them, the final race of the weekend began, and it was once again a classic Formula Vee race, with leaders being unable to escape their predators.
On the last lap, it was Kingsborough, Wang, Demaras and Murray heading up the back straight. Daniel decided he was not satisfied finishing second and went for it. As the race cars entered Turn 8, Phil popped out of Barret’s draft and used the speed boost in an attempt to pass. Daniel had a double sode of the draft, and went three wide through the corner, trying to overtake both his competitors, just like an outside pass on an oval. But with so many races run over the weekend, the outside of Turn 8 was covered in marbles, and Daniel nearly lost control. He had to back out, lost a position, and came home in P4.
For the first time all year long, Daniel was not on the podium. He’d gone 15 races in a row on the podium, including a three-race win streak, which put him at 1270 points and in the lead of the 2023 Canadian Formula 1200 Championship. Yes, he was disappointed to miss out on The Vallis Cup (which returned to Phil Wang’s home for another 364 days) but looking at the big picture, things are still positive.
And it was better to try to make the last lap pass for the win than just settle for the podium. Massive respect, Daniel.