{"id":344198,"date":"2023-11-05T04:20:35","date_gmt":"2023-11-05T05:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344198"},"modified":"2023-11-05T08:02:10","modified_gmt":"2023-11-05T08:02:10","slug":"ruining-races-rivals-fume-over-title-defining-crash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=344198","title":{"rendered":"'Ruining races': Rivals fume over title-defining crash"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lochie Dalton and Ben Grice would not see eye-to-eye on a last lap clash that took them both out of the National Trans Am Series finale at Sydney Motorsport Park<\/a>, taking parting swipes at each other post-race.<\/p>\n

A four-way fight for the final places on the podium with Cody Gillis and Nash Morris ended with Dalton and Grice behind them going side-by-side through turns four and five before Grice ran wide on the exit and got loose.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It was at that point the pair made contact \u2013 the left front of the No.03 Ford Mustang tagging the right rear of the No.45 entry.<\/p>\n

Stan Sport is the only place to watch every second of the 2023 SpeedSeries.<\/strong><\/em> All the action streaming ad-free, live and on demand<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

That spat them both across the grass and towards the outside wall on the run to turn six, taking them both out of contention.<\/p>\n

\"Lochie<\/p>\n

Upon investigation by Motorsport Australia stewards, neither driver was found to be predominantly at fault for the incident. However, the pair would have you think the other was to blame.<\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports spoke to Dalton and Grice after the incident, who both gave different accounts of what happened.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dalton was left visibly frustrated by the incident which put a massive dent in his title hopes. He arguably came off worse in the ordeal as the gap between him and series leader James Moffat widened to 107 points.<\/p>\n

Dalton finished 17th while Moffat claimed two race wins at Sydney Motorsport Park. Grice was 16th at the chequered flag.<\/p>\n

"Coming to turn four, Gricey bombed it in and made contact to the rear of Nash, which has just unsettled him," Dalton told Wide World of Sports.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

"I was still on the outside at this time. He's forced me all the way to the exit (at turn four). Then coming in to turn five \u2013 I didn't try and force him or anything, you can look on the footage I stay within the track limits \u2013 Gricey has run it all the way out on the exit.<\/p>\n

"I don't know if he's trying to keep around the outside and gain an advantage. So he's still in it and he's just come back on and nailed me.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I don't know what to say really. Like we're in a championship and we've got fellas like him. He's just tearing up gear and ruining races."<\/p>\n

Grice offered his own version of events, taking aim at Dalton for a "cheap shot" and "disrespectful move" on Morris ahead of him moments before the furore.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

While Dalton said he gave Grice enough room, Grice argued Dalton had pushed him off the road at turn five.<\/p>\n

"The rule is that you've got to leave a car width to the outside, which is exactly what I did (at turn four)," said Grice.<\/p>\n

"At not one stage did one wheel of the No.45 car go off the road. He has still had an overlap.<\/p>\n

"We went side by side through the next left, turn five, and the track is defined by the yellow lines. He's made car contact at the apex, opened his steering wheel, forced my car off the racing surface.<\/p>\n

"Then there's a big bump there and I'm just trying to gather my car back up from being forced off the road.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpeedSeriesAU\/status\/1720751997660569696<\/a><\/p>\n

"The rule is if there's an avoidance of doubt in any case, in any overlap, there should be one car width left. I pay my entry fee. I deserve to be here."<\/p>\n

Grice said Dalton let his emotions get the better of him and that the incident could have been avoided if his opponent had backed out at turn five.<\/p>\n

"He'd be pretty upset that he's having his arse kicked by another car by his teammate all year," said Grice.<\/p>\n

"I guess he just got frustrated and just disrespectfully opened me up and fed me off.<\/p>\n

"I'm just trying to gather my own stuff up and make contact and he's just wiped us both out of the race \u2013 but I'm not surprised he did that.<\/p>\n

"I'm off the road trying to gather my car up. If I get off the gas, suddenly I'll have lift-off oversteer and then I'm in the fence," he added.<\/p>\n

"I was on the outside, I was probably in the worst spot. He would have just been a lot smarter to leave me the car width that I'm entitled to.<\/p>\n

"I was on the outside of the next corner and he probably would have cleared me, but I guess he's not that experienced or all that bright."<\/p>\n

\"Trans<\/p>\n

It marked the second controversial moment of the weekend for the Garry Rogers Motorsport team, who were found to have used a non-compliant part in their cars at the first and second round of the season, but could not be penalised due to a statute of limitations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The team had a disqualification overturned upon appeal by the team, who argued the parts hadn't been used in round three of the season.<\/p>\n

That's been a particular sore point for rivals who behind the scenes are upset that the team that owns and operates the series ran illegal componentry in-race.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lochie Dalton and Ben Grice would not see eye-to-eye on a last lap clash that took them both out of the National Trans Am Series […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":344200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344198"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=344198"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":344205,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344198\/revisions\/344205"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/344200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=344198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=344198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=344198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}