NEWTON, IA ()June 21, 2009—The Iowa Corn Indy 250 ended before it really got started for the No.14 ABC Supply car. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time when rookie Robert Doornbos spun on the second lap and collected the No.14.

Hunter-Reay’s debut with A.J. Foyt’s team was proceeding smoothly up till then as the team transitioned to its fourth different driver of the season. With just a day of practice, the team was 13th in speed heading into the qualification rounds.

With a couple tweaks to the ABC car, they were confident, thinking that Hunter-Reay might even break into the top 10 in qualifying. Then problems with the track’s surface—weeper holes leaking water in turn four—forced the IRL Officials to cancel qualifying. According to the rules, the grid would be set according to the entrants’ points which meant that the No. 14, 18th in points, would start 17th because the 10th place No. 21 car (Hunter-Reay’s former car) was no longer competing in the Series.

On the first lap E.J. Viso’s spin coming off turn four triggered the chain reaction crash which saw Doornbos spin. Hunter-Reay took the low line to get by Doornbos who did a half spin and then shot into the No. 14 clipping its right front wheel and knocking out the suspension and front wing.

“We had a decent start,” said Hunter-Reay. “We were a little loose to begin with but nothing we couldn’t have worked with. I started moving up a little bit and was passing Doornbos in turn four, got underneath him and he just lost the car and got into us.

“Unfortunately, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. It’s a product of starting back there. If qualifying hadn’t been cancelled, we wouldn’t have been back there. We were looking forward to a really good day for ABC Supply and I think we were really going to have a good day.

“We had a good weekend going. The best practice times and the best speed I’ve had all year turning left on an oval has been with this team, it’s been fun. I’ve had a good time this weekend. It’s a bummer to be out on the first lap. I feel bad for all the guys ‘cause they worked real hard. We’ll just have to get them at Richmond.”

Dario Franchitti won the event which was slowed for accidents four times involving seven cars. Second through fifth were Ryan Briscoe, Hideki Mutoh, Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon.

The next race for the IndyCar Series is this coming Saturday night under the lights at the ¾ mile Richmond International Raceway. The race will be televised on VERSUS starting at 8pm ET.