2012 British Columbia Grand Prix

The 2012 British Columbia Grand Prix was the 20th edition of the CRL Modified Division's most prestigious event. It was the seventh race of the 2012 CRL Modified Division season.

SuzukaCorp. driver-owner Sean Suzuka, a rookie in the CRL Modified Division for 2012, won the race, his first CRL Modified Division victory. Suzuka won the race from the pole, leading all 20 laps, becoming only the third driver to win the British Columbia Grand Prix flag-to-flag, after John Ledowski in 1996, and Rallen Hayden in 2008. Ironically, Hayden was driving for SuzukaCorp. in 2008.

Suzuka held a comfortable lead for the first half of the race, until Mitjutu Sukayama, who clearly had the fastest car, took second away from Kurt Shelton. Sukayama caught Suzuka, and a battle for the lead began on Lap 11, when the pair were leaving the back part of the course, known as the Blubber Bay Section, and heading into The Neighbourhood. Sukayama went to Suzuka's inside, but heading into the long, sweeping left-handed turn that leads out of The Neighbourhood and into The Beach (officially named the "Petro Canada Sweeper" during the race weekend, after the Petro Canada fueling station that's across the street), Sukayama held the inside line too long, running up on the infamous concrete curb at the turn's apex, causing his car to spin. Miraculously, Suzuka only received cosmetic damage as Sukayama's Bolden spun across the nose of Suzuka's Juneau. Sukayama would spin and back hard into the rock wall across the street from the curb he hit. He kept going, but had to pit to repair the damage. Sukayama would finish 37th, out of the points, and one lap down. Suzuka recovered after briefly running wide following contact with Sukayama when the accident started.

Many people called the incident the biggest moment in the history of the British Columbia Grand Prix. In a post-race column on ModifiedsWeekly.com, James Butler typed the following about the incident:


 * "Here, you have this owner [Suzuka], whose team has really sunk since winning the championship in 2008, taking matter into his own hands, and getting into the 09 car. Finally, things are going his way; he won the pole, and he's leading the race, well on his way to victory. But, then, this rookie [Sukayama], passes another veteran [Shelton] for second, and he clearly has the fastest car. And so, this battle between the rookie and the veteran owner commences, and just when it looks like the rookie is going to grab the lead, and take off and win, and put his name on the map, he makes the most common mistake in the British Columbia Grand Prix: hitting the steep curb at the apex of the Petro Canada Sweeper, and spinning into the rock wall across the street, somehow not taking the veteran owner with him. I have been to all 20 British Columbia Grands Prix, and this is the most famous moment in the history of the race. Even if Mitjutu Sukayama wins this race ten times, he will never live down the moment when he let it slip away in 2012."

Chris Walker, the pit reporter for the CRL's television broadcaster WSBC, proclaimed Suzuka's recovery as "the best save in the history of the CRL" seconds after it happened.

Suzuka became the first driver under the series' brand-new points system, introduced for 2012, to score the maximum 195 points available to a driver who had yet to win a race in a season (150 points for a win, plus 5 for starting on the pole, plus 5 for leading at least five laps, plus 10 for leading the most laps, plus 25 for getting the first win of the season; the final bonus can only be received once during the course of a season). The media covering the event proposed that the achievement be called, "The CRL's Five-Point Star", a nickname that has stuck.

Rounding out the podium for the race was runner-up Dave Bloomers, Jr., whom, at age 67, became the oldest podium finisher in British Columbia Grand Prix history, and third-place finisher Summer Whitten, also a 2012 CRL Modified Division rookie, who recorded her first Top 10, let alone Top 5, finish in the series.

Sukayama-Suzuka incident
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