2023 Girls Dead Monster 150
2023 Girls Dead Monster 150 | |
[[Image:|175px]] | |
Date | September 10th, 2023 |
Location | Kansas Speedway |
Laps | 120 |
Polesitter | Grant Macintosh |
First | Grant Macintosh |
Second | Honoka Kousaka |
Third | Ruby Mayberry |
Fourth | Ben Atkins |
Fifth | Daniel Leckliter |
Cautions | 3 |
Race Results |
The 2023 Girls Dead Monster 150 was the twenty-fifth race of the 2023 STARS Lowe's International Series season.
Post-Race Incidents
During the race, Matilda Dillinger, who was a lap down, played a significant factor in the finish, hindering the progress of other competitors in the battle for the win. Ben Atkins managed to get to the lead with a handful of laps to go, but was passed by Grant Macintosh. When trying to recover, Dillinger forced him to the high line, forcing Atkins to lose more positions. Dillinger's teammate, Honoka Kousaka managed to get around Dillinger to battle Macintosh for the win with 2 laps to go, but blocked Ruby Mayberry when she went to join the battle for the win. Macintosh ended up holding off Kousaka, while Mayberry had to settle for third with Atkins in fourth and Daniel Leckliter in fifth.
On the cool-down lap, Atkins drove up to Dillinger and spun her around in the fourth turn. Dillinger did not hit anything, and no other cars were collected. There was no conversation between the two after the race.
On pit road, Mayberry confronted Dillinger about her antics in the closing laps, to which Dillinger replied by shoving Mayberry. This sparked a fight between the two drivers with Mayberry landing some blows on Dillinger before it was broken up quickly by STARS officials and pit crews. Had Mayberry not confronted Dillinger, Ben Atkins' wife, Riko Vance, was allegedly ready to confront Dillinger instead. In their post-race interviews, both Atkins and Mayberry criticised Dillinger and urged the series to take action as it was not the first time she has caused issues during the season.
While the series had not yet taken action, µ's Autosport team owner Maki Nishikino had taken the option to cease operations of the #18 team and fired Dillinger from her driving role, with the team citing their focus for the other four drivers and their playoff bids, and being fed up of Dillinger's "childish antics" as the reasons for her firing.
Chase Grid (after Kansas)
Rank | Driver | Points | Wins |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Honoka Kousaka | 3433 | 2 wins |
2 | Ben Atkins | -64 | 3 wins |
3 | Evie Vance | -109 | 1 win |
4 | Grant Macintosh | -136 | 3 wins |
5 | Daniel Leckliter | -151 | 0 wins |
6 | Ruby Mayberry | -160 | 4 wins |
7 | You Watanabe | -161 | 1 win |
8 | Lilly Samson | -167 | 2 wins |
9 | Joe Branch | -176 | 1 win |
10 | Kay Douglas | -234 | 1 win |
11 | Lillie Corden | -235 | 2 wins |
12 | Madison Baszler | -240 | 0 wins |
13 | Ruby Kurosawa | -265 | 0 wins |
14 | Misaki Andou | -284 | 1 win |
15 | Corbin Rhodes | -326 | 1 win |
16 | Caitlin Conway | -372 | 0 wins |