Round 6 of the Civic Inter Series was held at Sports Land SUGO in Miyagi prefecture. With a typhoon closing in, all the teams were worried, but fortunately the qualifying session was held in dry conditions. Ichimori grabbed pole position, closely followed by Maejima in 2^nd and the series point leader Matsui in 3^rd. The qualifying round was hotly contested and only 1 second separated pole position and 11^th place!! The qualifying session reminded us of how furious the Inter Series can become.

 

On the morning of race day, the weather forecast turned out to be wrong, and rain started to fall. It was the first sight of rain during race week, and it had to come on race day. The 18 lap race started with expectations of a stormy race.

 

The race got under way, and there was no sign of trouble! Ichimori, starting in pole, was immediately under attack from Maejima and Matsui, and on the 2^nd lap both drivers successfully overtook Ichimori! For both drivers, this was where the real race began, as the championship title was on the line. The difference between the 2 cars grew at one point, but closed up again at another point. Maejima was bravely overtaken by Matsui during corner 1 from the outside!! But as he went on to try and build on his lead, trouble occurred exiting out of corner 3. Matsui lost his 4^th gear! He gradually started losing pace, and eventually handed Maejima the lead. Matsui drove hard until the end and even with his transmission problem he was able to finish on the podium in 2^nd place. After the race, Matsui commented "this is part of racing". But the result could only reflect disappointment, as it was a race he could have won.

 

The battle for the series championship has now become a tighter contest, as only Matsui or Maejima can claim the title. They both head into the final round at Fuji Speedway with 97 points.