SOUTHEAST: Road Atlanta Round 4+5 Race Report

March 20, 2011
Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA
Atlanta Double-Header Features Intense Competition
by Sam Lockwood

The East Coast Formula Car Challenge rounds 4 & 5 were held at the historic Road Atlanta race course. The 2.52 mile race circuit is famous for its roller-coaster like elevation changes and high speeds. As both races are part of an SCCA National weekend, there would be multiple classes in the run group, adding traffic complications to the races. 9 Formula Mazdas would compete this weekend, with a total of 36 cars in the group.
Race 4
Veteran driver and 2010 SCCA Southeast Division Champion Doug Peterson would start from the pole position, with Bruce Lawrence 2nd, and 2010 SEDIV runner-up Curt Harrelson in 3rd. Beau Borders, Ty Young, Robert Noell, Brock Baldwin, Sam Lockwood, & David Obenauer would make up the rest of the Formula Mazda grid.
A wild first lap would shuffle much of the Formula Mazda field. Brock Baldwin spun in turn 1, dropping to the back of the pack. Ty Young had contact with Beau Borders in turn 5, damaging both cars & dropping Ty several positions.
Up front, the race would end as it started, with Peterson winning from pole position, and Lawrence finishing second in spite of a last-lap tire puncture. Further back in the field things were more lively. Sam Lockwood & Ty Young would battle back & forth for several laps for 6th position, with Brock Baldwin entering the mix as well. Ty would drop out of the race after an incident on lap 5, which was one of several accidents that necessitated a long 6-lap caution period. Eventually Sam Lockwood would win the battle & finish 6th.

By far the most intense fight of the race was between Beau Borders & Curt Harrelson. These two drivers would trade places all race long, with Curt beating Beau out for 4th place with a last-lap pass. The two drivers finished less than two tenths of a second apart.
Robert Noell would be the race’s hard charger, moving 3 positions and mixing it up briefly with Beau Borders & Curt Harrelson to finally grab the final podium spot just before the caution.

:checkered:Southeast Formula Car Challenge
presented by Goodyear
Race 4 Results
1. Doug Peterson
2. Bruce Lawrence
3. Robert Noell
4. Curt Harrelson
5. Beau Borders
6. Sam Lockwood
7. David Obenauer
8. Brock Baldwin
9. Ty Young





Race 5
The second race of the weekend would be on an overcast, cool day. Doug Peterson & Bruce Lawrence would again start first & second on the Formula Mazda grid, with Brock Baldwin in third. Robert Noell & Curt Harrelson would round out the top 5, and Beau Borders, Ty Young, Sam Lockwood & David Obenauer making up the rest of the field.
Doug Peterson would win from pole again, although two full-course cautions would help tighten up the front end of the field. The race would also be shortened by two laps due to a multi-car wreck in turn 4. Ty Young’s race would be a short one again, dropping out of the race on lap 5 and bringing out the first full-course caution. The greatest racing action would be in 2nd through 6th place. Curt Harrelson, Robert Noell, Bruce Lawrence, Brock Baldwin & Beau Borders would stay in contact for much of the race, with most of them swapping positions several times.

Curt Harrelson would make an aggressive early drive to move up to second place by lap 3, but would fade back to 4th by the race’s end. Robert Noell would again be the race hard-charger: steadily moving up all race long & grabbing 2nd place just before the first caution. Bruce Lawrence’s race was much more eventful than Saturday’s: he’d drop back as far as 5th, finally grabbing the last podium spot on lap 13 & finishing less than half a second behind Noell.
Beau Borders would suffer a collision mid-race, destroying the nose of his car. In spite of the damage he managed to continue & hold on to 6th place.

:checkered:Southeast Formula Car Challenge
presented by Goodyear
Race 5 Results
1. Doug Peterson
2. Robert Noell
3. Bruce Lawrence
4. Curt Harrelson
5. Brock Baldwin
6. Beau Borders
7. Sam Lockwood
8. David Obenauer
9. Ty Young

Series Notes & Quotes
“As a competitor in these 2 races it was even more exciting than normal,” says series organizer Bruce Lawrence. “Turnout was great this weekend, and we are very proud that the series is gathering steam. I’d like to thank all the FM competitors for helping to make this a great and exciting weekend.”
After round 5, the series points standings have Curt Harrelson increasing his championship lead to 114 points over second place Beau Borders’ 98 points. Brock Baldwin is in 3rd with 93 points. However, six races remain in the 2011 East Coast Formula Car Challenge, and the championship title is virtually wide open.
The next two rounds of the East Coast Formula Car Challenge will be at the Oak Tree Double National at Virginia International Raceway on April 15-17. The series expects a car count of at least 12 Formula Mazdas at this event, including the return of Daryl Wills, Russ Hillenburg, & Stuart Rettie.

:trophy:Current Points:
1. Curt Harrelson 114
2. Beau Borders 98
3. Brock Baldwin 93
4. Robert Noell 72
5. Ty Young 64
6. Doug Petersen 58
6. Daryl Wills 58
8. Sam Lockwood 54
9. Bruce Lawrence 47
9. Russ Hillenburg 47
11. Carson Weeder 37
12. Stuart Rettie 20
The next two rounds of the East Coast Formula Car Challenge will be at the Oak Tree Double National at Virginia International Raceway on April 15-17. The series expects a car count of at least 12 Formula Mazdas at this event, including the return of Daryl Wills, Russ Hillenburg, & Stuart Rettie.

About the Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is a multiple-region series with an annual NASA sanctioned national championship. The series features a multi-class format; Formula Mazda (FM), Pro Formula Mazda (PFM), and the FormulaSPEED2.0 (FS2.0). All classes are powered by Mazda, and equipped with Goodyear Racing tires. For 2011 there are four Formula Car Challenge regions; The West Coast Region promoted by World Speed Inc, the South West Region promoted by Texas Autosports, the East Coast Region promoted by The Speed Connection, and the Mid West Region promoted by Lake Effect Motorsports.

www.formulacarchallenge.com
www.formulamazda.com/fcc-east-coast.html
www.thespeedconnection.com