Taws is Back:
Barbie Driver Fourth at Toronto Indy
July 13, 2003 (Toronto, Canada): Ashley Taws
put on a great show this afternoon taking her
"Be Anything With Barbie" car to fourth place in
the Canadian Formula Ford Championship race at
the Toronto Indy. Many fans stayed to watch the
Formula Fords after today's Champ Car race and
were rewarded with a thriller which included
Taws doggedly fighting to score a podium finish.
She crossed the line side by side with Walter
Koller and Dan Birchill in a three-way battle
for third place. Although the
nineteen-year-old from Newmarket, Ontario,
started and finished in fourth, she was involved
in plenty of battles over the course of the
twenty-lap race. Following an excellent start,
she held her position through the opening laps,
but then fell back to fifth, sixth and
eventually seventh, before mounting a charge in
the closing laps. She was back up to fourth and
attacking third-placed Koller when a full-course
caution temporarily put the action on hold.
Racing resumed when the green flag waved with
two laps remaining, setting up a thrilling
finish. Over the final laps, Koller's mirrors
were full of pink race car and he vigorously
defended his position. On the ch arge
to the finish line, Taws carried lots of speed
through the final corner and looked certain to
take third, but Koller's car moved across into
her path. Taws swerved the other way, but she
lost speed foiling the pass and allowing
Burchill to pull even. Fans leapt to their feet
as the cars raced across the finish line three
abreast. The victory went to veteran racer
David Clubine. "That really felt great," Taws
said of her first race since being severely
injured in a traffic accident in December. "Now
I've proved I can still race competitively and I
expect to get better and better in the upcoming
races. "I could not have come back and raced
without a lot of support. Thanks to all my
sponsors for their backing, AIM Autosport for
making the Barbie car fast and reliable, and all
the fans who kept shouting, "Go Ashley," and,
"Go Barbie," all weekend. It's been great!"
Taws will be in action again in less than three
weeks at the Grand Prix de Trois-Rivières,
August 1-3. |
