[ckissick]

I just got off the phone with my brother-in-law, Craig Watkins, the Flying Lizard chief engineer. Here's the team's take on the finish: (He gave me the OK to write this.)

First, they went to the organizers to protest, but they said it was contact in the heat of a very exciting moment. Had it been earlier in the race, he probably would have been penalized 20 seconds. But they just couldn't bring themselves to strip Melo of first in those circumstances. Flying Lizard accepts this. As Craig said, it was just wild and crazy at the finish. Craig just worked 158 hours in 10 days, and he still sounds energized. It was his most exciting racing moment ever, and he's still thrilled. Too bad the outcome couldn't be better.

Anyway, Jorg was absolutely livid. He was mainly mad about the second bump. He thought the first bump was just racing, and that they should have just had a fair sprint to the finish. (The first bump is what made him take the turn too far outside.) Instead, Melo bumped him again. Jorg was running around vowing to take out Melo at the next race. But his teammates told him, "No way." He'll cool down.

Craig said Flying Lizard has always played by the rules and always will. They don't want tit-for-tat racing. As Craig said himself, what they really don't want is for ALMS to become NASCAR. ALMS may get ugly sometimes, but at least they're trying hard to run it with class.