Jaskol and Matos rule Road America FDodge.

The Formula Dodge National Championship presented by Racer magazine convened at the weekend at Road America for rounds eight and nine with the top five drivers in the championship separated by just twenty points, or one race win.

Sebring pole sitter Rafael Matos made the most of rounds six and seven at Mosport, taking two race wins to launch himself to the top of the championship standings but, with just three points more than Mexico's Salvador Duran, Matos knew that every point is crucial. The weekend was the second visit to Road America of the season for the Formula Dodge National Championship, and utilised the full course layout which spawned some extremely close racing as the hungry field fought for every
position all weekend.

Duran, who won the two previous rounds at Road America, picked up where he left off and took the pole position for the first race. He then led the opening laps with Philip Gelinas giving chase ahead of Matos. The race went yellow after Sergey Shleikin tried to make too much of an opportunity that wasn't there, attempting a bold move in turn five and making contact with David Jurca and Ricky Schmidt. Jurca and Shleikin were out of the race, with Schmidt giving it a go again before pulling out of the race after just five laps with damage.

Duran, Gelinas, and Matos took turns leading laps, with the three running in a tight train all around the circuit, with Duran heading the pack as they took the white flag. On the final lap, Matos took the lead in turn one and Duran while Gelinas both went for the lead, going inside of Matos to make it three-wide into turn five. Matos recognised that there wasn't enough room, and let the two by, demonstrating a growing maturity in the young Brazilian.

Duran and Gelinas got by cleanly, but when Duran braked too late and drove across Gelinas into the gravel trap, the Canadian had to back out of the throttle, and that
allowed Matos to resume the lead spot, which he held on to until the chequered flag, edging out to his widest margin of the race with a gap of nearly two seconds as Gelinas followed him for second place. Matt Jaskol took the final podium position, after working his way steadily up from the fourteenth starting position after besting Gerardo Bonilla for third.

"That was some of the most exciting racing I have been involved with since the first round in Sebring," said Bonilla, "Frisselle, D'Agostino, Jaskol, and I were fighting all over. This track is so much fun, especially in cars that are this even giving everyone a shot at everyone else. Jaskol did an unbelievable job to work his way up through the pack and, while I was hoping to hold him off on the last lap for third, there was no keeping him back and he finally got me. I hate losing the position, but I loved the racing!"

The second race of the weekend would prove to provide even more entertainment than the first, as the finish was one of the closest in series history, and the battle up front was only one of several throughout the field.

Matos led the field to the green flag, but was bested for the lead by the end of the first lap by Gelinas. Gelinas held the point for two laps before Jaskol, on a hot streak in Elkhart Lake, took the lead under braking for turn five three laps later. Gelinas damaged his front wing and started to drop back, while Duran started to move up bringing Ben Freudenberg with him.

The top three - Jaskol, Duran and Matos - began to break away from the rest of the field, building a gap of nearly three seconds, an eternity in Formula Dodge competition, over the fourth place runner Ben Freudenberg.

Battles raged throughout the pack as well, as a three-way battle for fourth developed between Joe D'Agostino, Gelinas, and Freudenberg, with Zilvinas Oskutis moving up to join the fray for several laps.

Duran tried to remind the field that he thought of Road America as his own, and held off Jaskol and Matos, both of whom were harassing the young Mexican at every turn, for several laps as the lead three crossed the line for the white flag.

For the second race of the weekend, however, the lead was not the place to be on the white flag lap, as Jaskol, Duran, and Matos exchanged the lead one more time, each taking turns at different corners, before staging a drag race up the long final straight to cross the line three-wide. Jaskol, who thrived in the often six-wide battles in Sebring on his way to his first win in National competition in the season-opening race, did so again as he crossed the finish line just inches ahead of Duran, with Matos right alongside. A mere 0.119secs separated the first three finishers, with a scant 0.022 of a second between first and second place.

The racing wasn't only up front, though, as positions seven through eleven finished within one second of each other.

"This was a fantastic race weekend for the National competitors," commented series director Divina Galica, "The points battle is certainly going to be interesting with so many drivers having the chance to take the title - it's anybody's guess who will take it. These drivers are really learning a lot about racecraft, and about racing - its like a shark tank out there, but they will all emerge from the series and be better racers for it."