BLOK’S DISASTER AT CALABOGIE ENDS IN TRIUMPH
There was no rest for the wicked at the Super Production Challenge season finale for Nathan Blok at Calabogie Motorsports Park. Running the shorter stadium track, Blok would need a flawless performance, and simultaneously hope for bad luck from the Honda Canada Manufacturing VMC car to secure third place in the standings from Todd Chiappino.
In Friday morning practice, Blok was a dominant 1.5 seconds a lap faster than the 2nd place car, before an electrical issue caused the ABS to fail and Blok crashed heavily into the turn 14 tire wall, rolling the car and trapping him inside. Almost an hour later, Blok was rescued from the car and taken to the Medical Centre. He was unharmed, but the car received extensive damage. Amazingly, nothing critical was damaged or bent in the accident. Blok joined the crew and got to work bending, repairing, and fixing the wounded car. By 11:30pm, the car was back together and ready for race day, although the cars steering alignment was heavily compromised.
Blok would only muster up a 4th place in qualifying, 0.6 down on pole, but critically ahead of Chiappino. An incredibly close and intense battle in the opening 6 laps ensured with Brad Ranson, Arek Wojciechowski, Kurt Wittmer, Guillaume Labee, and Shawn Bernier. All 6 taking turns at the front of the pack. Blok would overtake Bernier for 3rd before the car went into limp mode and come to a stop just after turn 14. After cycling the ignition and trying to bump start the car in reverse down the hill didn't work, a full course yellow was deployed, but the Futec Motorsports team refused to roll over & quit. After the recovery truck towed the car to the pit lane, they found the problem and sent Nathan back on track 6 laps down to score critical points for the championship. Meanwhile, Chiappino would be involved in an accident that would end Shawn Bernier's race. This accident would see Chiappino disqualified from race 1, and banned from race 2. With Chiappino not able to score points in the next race, Blok needed to finish 5th or higher to move into 3rd in the championship.
The crew discovered that the limp mode was caused by a damaged sensor due to a broken motor mount. When it was fixed, Blok was unstoppable, and converted a 4th place starting position into two commanding victories the following day, leading 43 of the 44 laps in the remaining two races, securing the fastest lap, and winning both races by 8 and 11 seconds respectively.
"I knew at some point in my racing career I was due for a big crash and a rollover, but I didn't expect it to happen and then dominate the weekend less than 48 hours later. The crew deserves all the credit for this weekend, they were the ones who worked tirelessly to get the car running again, and they did an amazing job doing so. It was an amazing comeback, I’m happy to end the year on a high and looking forward to keep the momentum up in 2025".
