Bertrand Motors' Cabral Ends NEMA Season with Win at Thompson World Series
- Dec 14, 2010
Cabral of Plymouth, Massachusetts, grabbed the early lead but soon found that his K&N Engineering teammate Cole Carter had put together a strong run, passing point leader Russ Stoeher, with his sights clearly set on Cabral. For the final 15 laps Carter dogged his teammate every inch of the way, but on the final run to the checkers, Cabral managed to stretch his advantage and notched the very popular victory. It was Cabral's fourth win of the season and his club-record ninth at Thompson.
How did Tim Bertrand feel about the win at the Thompson World Series? "Excellent! We really felt in the last three races of the season that we were back to our old form of 2008. We were leading by a half lap at Waterford, and broke a rocker arm. We were coming to the front quickly at Seekonk, and got in a tangle - and then 'redeemed' ourselves at Thompson with a convincing win." Cabral was eager "to redeem himself" after over-aggression proved costly at Seekonk's DAV. He was cautious on the initial start at Thompson, determined to let things settle out. Then the second green, realizing how fast everybody was going, he moved to the outside and went for it. "He felt bad about the tangle at Seekonk," said Bertrand. "He said that it was his in-patience that caused the wreck. At Thompson, he laid back for about a lap - but saw the other cars getting away from him, and then just went for it. He had the lead in fewer than three laps." "When Carter got under him in his team car he was completely surprised. Carter was running an Esslinger 'spec' engine - Cabral never thought he would be able to keep up." Carter even appeared to grab the lead momentarily coming out of turn two, but Cabral beat him into three. It was really the only time Cabral actually saw his teammate, although the one-time USAC driver did make two other determined moves out of two, before settling into a run on the leader's tail. Cabral said he was surprised it was Cole, expecting somebody else like Russ. Still, he felt "if I didn't screw up I was going to be OK. We wanted to win the race that was our only objective." "This was one of our best seasons ever," remarked Bertrand. "We were on the podium nine out of 13 races. The other team that won the championship suffered the loss of their car owner early in the year (Gene Angelillo) - who was one of the most successful car owners ever. It is hard to beat 'divine intervention'!" Find K&N products for your vehicle using the K&N application search then use the K&N dealer search to find a K&N dealer in your part of the world. |
