Block/Not a Block?

[devilmaster]

Doornbos on Rahal on the front straight....

[cameraman]

If you were listening to the international feed both Jeremy Shaw and James Hinchcliffe's brains just about exploded as it happened. They seem to be rather firmly in the "it was a block, let's lynch him camp".

[Indy]

It's a block in CC, but CC's rules are mickey mouse.

[Accipiter]

I'm not sure you need to penalize a guy if he blocks and gets passed anyway. But perhaps Champ Car feels they have given Doornbos enough warnings already.

[Ruben Barrios]

Or perhaps Champcar thinks they need to protect the has-been... anyway you cut it, a drive through was also merited for punting twice...

Weird race... reminded me of certain win in Laguna Seca, when a 10+ pitstop gets the win...

[jonovision_man]

It's a block in CC, but CC's rules are mickey mouse.

The right answer. :)

I prefer giving drivers one defensive move before calling it a block.

jono

[devilmaster]

I believe in the one move ok, two moves bad argument also.

Question is, can it be called a 2nd move if you move twice in the same direction as the first move?

I'd want to see it again, but I think one might be able to argue that doornbos moved twice in the same direction. Is that 2 moves or 1?

[Insomniac]

Seemed like a block to me. What I don't like is:

1. Not applying the rule to the entire field (Cotman said he asked himself would that driver be in that position if somedone wasn't trying to pass him?). If that's the standard, he missed a lot of blocks this season. Heck, he even missed Doornbos do it again later when he put a wheel off.

2. The penalty before was give up the spot, now it's a drive through all of a sudden?

In the end, I'm in favor of enforcement with no warning to get rid of it from CC (passing is hard enough, why let people defend/block?) and making it a drive through penalty. Make them think twice.

[shaggy_socal]

Or perhaps Champcar thinks they need to protect the has-been... anyway you cut it, a drive through was also merited for punting twice...

Weird race... reminded me of certain win in Laguna Seca, when a 10+ pitstop gets the win...

Or how you can make four pit stops at Elkhart Lake and win.

Doornbos did not block Rahal. The move that, IMO, that drew the drive threw was the squeeze move he threw when Rahal got along side.

As for PT, he had to pit twice to replace the front wing, so it's not like he improved his position at all in either case.

If PT was contesting the corners with either Rahal and Junky when the contact happened, he probably would have drawn a penalty. In Rahal's case, he was trying to take advantage of the situation between Rahal and Doornbos that didn't pay off and Junky had to hit the brakes when Servia passed him. PT either got caught off guard or he was on the binders but couldn't avoid the contact.

IMO, the driver's intention weighs pretty heavily in Cotman's decisions on penalties.

Doonrnbos' opinion on the penalty.

If you ask me, I know in Europe we race a bit tougher than we do here in the States, but I still feel nothing went wrong. We might have to talk about it afterwards. Anyway, I got the punishment, so I went to the back of the field.

[FTG]

has-been (hăz'bĭn')
n. Informal., pl. has-beens.

One that is no longer famous, popular, successful, or useful.


Winner \Win"ner\, n.
One who wins, or gains by success in competition.

[FTG]

It's a block in CC, but CC's rules are mickey mouse.

Real drivers know how to hold their line and still win.

[grungex]

has-been (hăz'bĭn')
n. Informal., pl. has-beens.

One that is no longer famous, popular, successful, or useful.


Winner \Win"ner\, n.
One who wins, or gains by success in competition.


:rofl:

[jonovision_man]

If you ask me, I know in Europe we race a bit tougher than we do here in the States,

OUCH. :rofl:

jono

[Hard Driver]

To me, it looked like he moved to the inside line, but he did not force Rahal to lift. I mean the "would he have been there if there was no other car? " idea is silly because that means you have to always give away the inside line. Taking a defensive line is not blocking.

If he cut in front of him to the extent that Rahal had to lift or crash, or if he made two moves to take the inside and then the outside away, those are blocks.

Lastly, how can it be an illegal block if he got passed anyway? That seems silly to send the guy to the back for being passed.