Francis Wins Going Away at Infineon Raceway after a Yearlong Layoff

Even though Jeff Francis hadn’t sat in his BMW racecar in almost a year as his team pulled into the Infineon Raceway on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, he was chomping at the bit to get on the track. After a busy year kept him out of action, Francis knew he would have to be at his best to have a shot at winning on this day.

After a quick technical inspection, Francis and his racecar were cleared to race. John Cook, the team crew chief, went about his work setting up the BMW racer and a short time later Jeff was sitting at the back of the IT grid.

At the drop of the green flag, Francis and his BMW started carving his way through the back of the field as he settled into a smooth rhythm through the first quarter of the race. With Infineon’s elevation changes and blind spots in mind, Francis tried to be as cautious as he could while navigating through the slower cars but made some bold moves when the opportunities arose. Francis steadily picked off each car one by one and by the halfway point, had moved into second place in his ITB category with a string of precision passes and out-braking maneuvers.

With the ITB leader far ahead, Francis tucked his BMW behind an ITA racer and the pair started to slowly reel in the leader. After cutting chunks into his rivals lead every lap, Francis finally pulled up on the bumper of the leaders Volvo racer with about 10 minutes left in the race. Carefully stalking the Volvo for the next lap, Francis kept his BMW glued to the leader, hoping to make a clean pass going into the hairpin turn. As Francis made his move on the outside, the leader showed his determination to keep the lead as he moved over and nearly sent Francis’ BMW careening into the retaining wall. Francis gathered his car up and once again set his sights on the cantankerous Volvo. Coming onto the backstretch, Francis pulled to the inside of the lead Volvo and the two cars engaged in a classic drag race down the back straight. As the two fought for the lead, a racer in front of the rival’s Volvo missed a gear, slowing the Volvo for a split second. That was all Francis needed, as he skillfully charged in front of the two cars and used a classic pick maneuver to pin the Volvo behind the slower racer.

Francis pulled into the lead with just a few minutes left in the race and by the time the white flag flew, Francis was almost a straightaway ahead his rival. Francis and his BMWthen blazed pass the checkered flag and took a well-deserved victory lap.

“That was a heck of a lot of fun”, exclaimed Francis. “It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to knock the rust off after such as long layoff, and this track is pretty technical so I’m very satisfied with the result”. Francis and his entire team would like to dedicate the victory to his late father Ben Francis.

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