FATL: Trois-Rivieres Saturday report 


CARPENTIER ON ROLL; DOMINATES OPENER OF TROIS-RIVIERES DOUBLE-HEADER


TROIS-RIVIERES, Que. (Aug. 3) - - Patrick Carpentier entered the
Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship double-header at the Player's
Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres wanting to dominate both Round 7 and Round
8. After Saturday's third-straight wire-to-wire victory, Carpentier was
halfway there.


Driving the Lynx Racing-prepared Ralt RT-41, the 24-year-old from
Joliette, Que., went flag-to-flag in the 30-lap seventh round sprint
race, and was never seriously threatened, eventually beating race
runner-up Paul Jasper, of Lake Forest, Ill., by 12.57 seconds.
Carpentier averaged 79.17 miles-per-hour and covered the 45.18 miles in
34:14.401.


Carpentier's solid victory increased his point total to129 heading into
Sunday's event. Lee Bentham, of Richmond Hill, Ont., is second in the
points with 84, followed by Jasper with 81. Case Montgomery, of Salinas,
Calif., entered the race in second place, but an accident on a lap-11
restart ended his day, dropping him into fourth place with 73.


"I could drive where I wanted to, and lay the power down where I wanted
to, so while it is never easy to win a race, I just drove like I drive
in testing ... every lap the same, not pushing too hard and trying to be
very smooth," said Carpentier, who claimed an $18,000 winner's purse for
his fourth Atlantic victory in 1996. "We didn't make any adjustments at
all between qualifying and the race, and I told the team that I didn't
want them to touch the car before Sunday's race, except maybe to wash
off the dirt."


Jasper, in the B.D.J.S.-Quaker State/SHURTECH/Sylvania/AGFA Ralt RT-41,
also was rock-solid during the race, collecting a season-best second
place. Starting sixth, Jasper worked his way into fourth by lap eight.
On a lap-11 restart, Jasper was the beneficiary of nose-to-rear contact
between Montgomery and Jeret Schroeder. The aftermath left Jasper in
second place by lap 12, and he held the position for the last 18 laps.


"A fourth in Montreal, a third in Toronto, and now a second in
Trois-Rivieres ... there's only more more step to go," said Jasper.
"We're definitely right where we want to be. We've got another race
(on Sunday) and we're starting on the front row. At the restart, Case
(Montgomery) and Jeret (Schroeder) ran into some bad luck. I was able to
get by them both, but by that time Patrick was long gone."


Bentham, perhaps one of the most consistent drivers in the series,
started third and finished third, but his race was anything but
steady. Bentham couldn't get his P1 Racing-NTN Bearing Canada Ltd./TMI
Racing Ralt RT-41 into first gear on the standing start, leaving him
temporarily stranded on the front straight.


Undaunted, Bentham popped the car into fourth, and sped through the
field. By lap 12, Bentham had improved all the way into fifth place. His
third-place ending was his fifth podium finish this season.


Stan Wattles, of Sewall's Point, Fla., picked up his second straight
top-five finish with a season-best fourth. Wattles, in the Metro Racing
Systems Ralt RT-41, started 10th and consistently worked himself through
the field.


Former series champion Chris Smith, of Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.,
made his 1996 debut, taking his Intercar-Earl's Performance Racing
Ralt RT-40 for a ride. Smith jumped the start, was brought in for a
stop-and-go penalty that dropped him from seventh to 14th, then raced to
a fifth-place finish.


Several Atlantic drivers came through with season-best finishes.
Montreal's Martin Roy started 11th and finished sixth, while C2 driver
Mike Agnifilo, of North Salem, N.Y., improved five positions during the
race to capture the C2 category, placing seventh overall. Mike Shank,
of Columbus, Ohio, remained in the C2 points lead with 82 following his
sixth-place finish in class, and 15th overall.


Montgomery's 22nd-place finish not only dropped him from second to
fourth in the standings, but also placd the Long Beach winner 56 points
behind Carpentier with five races remaining in the season. Canadian
Alexandre Tagliani was in position to post his best finish of the
season, starting second. But a spinout on lap seven dropped him to 22nd.
Tagliani moved up to 10th by race's end.


The Trois-Rivieres double-header will conclude with Round 8 on Sunday,
Aug. 4.


Round Seven will be broacast on ESPN2 on Saturday, Aug. 10, from 9:30
p.m. to 10:30 p.m., ET, and on Wednesday, Aug. 14, from 1:30 a.m. to
2:30 a.m., ET. ESPN International will broadcast the race on Sunday,
Aug. 11, from 1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., ET. CTV will telecast the race on
Saturday, Aug. 10, from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET.


FOR COMPUSERVE MEMBERS, PLEASE SEE THE RESULTS OF ROUND 7 IN
FORCOMPUSERVE'S RACING UM, UNDER "SCCA PRO RACING."
All information courtesy of MNI - Motorsport News International
This archive is made possible by the support of Software Metrics Inc.