Jon Nichols had another brilliant drive at Défi. Fifth overall in an old VW is certainly worthy of coverage, but he had the double misfortune of turning in this drive when his closest competitor, Gord Olsen had trouble early, finished over 3 minutes back and the overall leaders were virtually tied! Erickson and Richard were having an exceptional duel. I can't seriously think that many people in the audience would be saying to themselves, "I wish they'd show more of that VW 14 minutes back in 5th than these two guys who are fighting for the overall win."
The closest battles usually make the best entertainment and the closer the battle is to the front, the better the show. Pat and Sylvain put on the great show at Défi, not TV2GO. We had to leave out shots of those two that were more exciting than the best pictures we had from the Production classes.
Gord Olsen and Jon Nichols never seem to have clean runs on the same event. When that happens, they'll certainly get more coverage. I remember about four years ago at Tall Pines when two P4 cars had been fighting all year for the championship. One crashed out early, but the reaction of the other service crew was very insightful. Instead of, "hooray we win!" it was "damn, there goes our TV coverage." They were right. It was the duel that made the story compelling, not just fast driving.
Have you noticed this season that the story line has been "PAT RICHARD vs. A NEW CHALLENGER" At Perce-Neige it was Sprongl; at Rocky, McGeer; at Baie, ACP; Défi, Erickson and PFR, L'Estage. If these guys all show up at the same event we should win an Emmy! Let's hope it happens at Tall Pines. What would be really cruel is if Nichols and Olsen finally go toe-to-toe at the same event. Then I'll need to come up with a new excuse for snubbing the old VW class;-)