The stage is set: Montreal, Quebec. Kasamets versus Zwolsman. One race to determine the championship. What a show it’s going to be this weekend! Bessette, Legge, Wirth, all worthy competitors this year in what was one of the best Atlantic seasons is recent memory. But now it comes down to the number 6 and the number 11. the winner celebrates his championship that evening at the banquet and pretty much until Mexico City where he gets to strut his stuff with the big boys. Both have such different personalities. Kasamets: outgoing, proud, loud, aggressive. The doer instead of the thinker. Zwolsman: unassuming, cerebral, consistent.
It all comes down to one race with so much on the line.

I watched the IRL race in its entirety yesterday and though nobody’s fault, it turned out to be a pretty uneventful event. Wheldon won by 15 seconds or something and the great battle for 2nd never took place, as Hornish was able to get away from Kanaan. Here’s my take on Todd Harris: he has probably been told to, I don’t know what the IRL or ABC’s MO is, but the guy has to Curb his enthusiasm a little. It’s not that it sounds phony. It does sound genuine. It’s just too much. Give the viewer some credit. This isn’t the Xgames where everything is unbelievable every time! When a driver is a couple of laps down and struggling with the handling, its okay to point that out. The team and sponsors know that their driver isn’t going to be great every race and the car will sometimes not perform. Don’t insult my intelligent by trying to convince me that so and so in 13th place is doing well.

I am never going to be in favor of timed event. I know it’s a reality with Champ Car this year for television purpose. You want the entire event broadcasted on television. But yesterday at the IRL race, it was an example of WAY too much television time. Granted, a short oval with those drivers, you expect yellow after yellow and that didn’t happen. They ran clean for the most part. But the broadcast had 1 full hour of off-track stuff, 20 minutes before and 40 minutes after. It was kind of funny to watch ABC and the crew struggle to find things to talk about. That interview with Jimmy Kite was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. If you had just tuned in, you could have swore he won the race. The interviewer and Jimmy were so happy. Then the graphic comes up and he finished 17th. You know you have way to much airtime when you are interviewing the driver who finished 17th of 20 cars.

By the way, its stupid for the IRL to have two road courses in the final 4 races. Since it’s the first time they have road courses, they should have had them at the beginning and middle of the season. Now these races are so critical to the championship and its not fair to guys like Hornish who has been running ovals his whole life. They should have been throw away races at the start and middle of the season. Not make or break events. Just my opinion.