Jonathan Bomarito Edmonton Driver's Diary

It's never a good idea to tempt fate, but there was something different in the air this year at the Rexall Edmonton Indy doubleheader (and no, it wasn't drifting down from the Alberta oil sands). Simply put, there was a distinct sense of renewed optimism within the Mathiasen Motorsports team, along with a quiet confidence that this weekend could be free from the frustrations we'd endured in two of the first three races. We were clearly on our way to a win in the season opener at Long Beach until the gearbox had other ideas, we'd had an engine issue at my home race in Laguna Seca, and a disappointing run in Mt. Tremblant. I felt strongly that the potential of our Mathiasen Motorsports team had yet to be fully realized, and as several of our supporters observed after our front row qualifying performance, perhaps we'd had our share of glitches. It just might be our turn to have a trouble free run for a change.

Everything had gone very smoothly leading up to the start of Race 1 on Friday, which proved to be a difficult challenge. I got a good start from the front row, slotted in behind pole sitter James Hinchcliffe, and patiently settled down for what became a very tactical race. The two of us were never more than a second apart for the first 30 laps, and I was able to develop a small gap on the third place car. James was driving well but I noticed that his car could be a handful going into Turn 1, which was heavily rubbered up with tire marbles from earlier sessions with the Indy Cars and NASCAR Canada stockers. If your entry into this corner is at all off line, you're immediately into the marbles, out of the throttle, and losing time. James' car had a tendency to run a touch wide going into Turn 1, and when it happened early in the race, I darted into the gap. We raced side by side, wheel to wheel for the lead through Turns 1 and 2 untiI I ran out of road. This was great stuff, and although I eventually had to tuck back in under his wing, I patiently filed the Turn 1 move for future reference.

I had a long wait for another opportunity but it came again with 8 laps left. As before, James' car drifted slightly wide going into Turn 1 and I was right there to make a solid pass for the lead. After the aggravation of the first three races, it felt great to get back out in front again, and with the car the Mathiasen guys had given me I was able to pull away comfortably. With less than 10 minutes remaining, I had about a 2 second lead and it all seemed to be coming right until we had a car spear into the barrier in turn 7. That brought out a full course yellow and my lead disappeared as everyone caught up and we all held station behind the pace car. It took a while to retrieve the crashed car and I wasn't sure if we were going to finish the race behind the pace car and under yellow, or if there would be enough time for a final charge. As it turned out, we got the green flag again with only a few minutes left which set up a last lap dash to the finish. I got a great restart, and although I was hotly pursued by Markus Niemela I maintained the lead over the final lap and brought it home for the win.

It was great to notch my third Atlantic win, and it was especially sweet for team owners Ray and Leslie Mathiasen, who finally tasted victory after several years of relentless hard work and commitment to this series. I was genuinely delighted to be the guy who put their car in the winner's circle for the first time, and the grins from our crew and high fives for Ray and Leslie from our competitors said it all. It was a very popular win and a particularly timely one for our guys, who really deserved it for their sterling efforts.

We lined up 5th to start the second race on Saturday, but I have to admit that the back half of this double header wasn't nearly as dramatic as the day before. Everyone got a good start except Jonathan Summerton who got a truly great one, rocketed into the lead from third on the grid, and just took off into the distance. I managed to move up into fourth during the opening lap, tucked in behind James Hinchcliffe again, and from there the leading five cars were all hooked up in a train turning fast laps within 3/10ths of each other for the duration of the race. The top five positions remained unchanged for the rest of the 35 laps and our lead group of five finished up within 7 seconds of each other at the chequered flag. And each of the races this season has now had a different winner. That's how close the competition in this series has become.

Overall, this was easily my most productive weekend of the season. Nothing broke, no off track excursions, and the car was great. Most importantly, a win plus a 4th place put us right back into the championship hunt. We came into Edmonton sitting seventh in the standings, but left in fourth spot only 19 points out of the championship lead at about the mid point of the season. With six races left, what we need to do for the rest of the season is build upon our renewed optimism and earned confidence at the next race at Road America. That's another double header, and if we can race hard for some more podiums, we'll be in good shape for a championship run.

As a footnote to this diary, I'd like to thank Noah Johnsen and his Dad Brent for dropping by our pit and really brightening our Edmonton weekend. Only 6 years old, Noah has muscular spinal atrophy and is often confined to a motorized wheelchair. But once we set him up with an official Mathiasen Motorsports team hat and showed him the car, he returned the favour by demonstrating what he could do with his joystick control. This involved laying down some hot laps around our pit, and at times even zipping out into the paddock at an impressive rate of speed. His Dad admitted that Noah is already into the second motor for his chair, and that he's been placed on notice by the teachers at his school for speeding in the hallways! If he gets three speeding tickets in a day, it's an automatic loss of recess.

I'll bet Noah's going to be losing a few recesses. I know a racer when I see one.

Photos courtesy Augie Hermenegildo and Tony Hampshire