Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Round 9

Herta and Negron Take Victories in Heat at Buttonwillow in Round Nine

Buttonwillow, Calif. (July 27, 2013) – Colton Herta recovered from a poor start to take the victory in the Formula F1600 group as temperatures approached 100 degrees while Bob Negron claimed his fourth win of the season in the Formula F2000 group round 9 of the Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Championship Series, at Buttonwillow Raceway Park on Saturday in Buttonwillow, California.

The early qualifying session began at 8:00am with the temperature already approaching 80 degrees as the cars took to the track. The battle for the pole in the Formula F1600 group was once again a duel between Joey Bickers and Colton Herta and when the flag fell to end the session it was Herta, in the #98, PR1 Motorsports w/BHA Curb-Agajanian entry sponsored by DVS shoe Company, Curb Records, Mygale N. America, OMP, Bell Helmets, Penske Shocks, Mygale/Honda prevailed. Joey Bickers, #34, PR1 Motorsports Mygale/Honda joins Herta on the front row.

The second row of the grid was all Lynx Racing with teammates Alex Keyes, #32 and Andrew Evans, #19 side by side in their Spectrum/Hondas. They will be followed by Alex Kirby, #81, Fast Forward Components, Piper DF5/Honda and Jim Stewart, switching to the #89, Mygale SJ04/Honda.

Ira Fierberg took his fourth straight pole, leading the Formula F2000 group in his #27, Pinnacle Performance, Sparco USA, DFR, Van Diemen. Starting on the front row with Fierberg will be Bob Negron, #9,Terri Negron Web Design, fengshuimebaby.com. Peter West, #99, Frank Monise Motors, Zombo.com, Kodenko Jeans, T.J. Martell Foundation Van Diemen heads the second row with Michael Murphy, #8 Mygale SJ04 starting alongside followed by Harindra DeSilva, #6, DFR Van Diemen, Tom Hope, #18, H&M Racing, Dart, Carbir and Les Phillips, #2, Swiss Implants, Porterfield Brakes, Van Diemen. Neither Hope nor Phillips posted a time in the session as repairs were being
completed, Hope replacing an input shaft and Phillips putting on the finishing touches after a practice crash on Friday.

With temperatures approaching the predicted 100 plus degrees, the field set off on the pace lap for the 11:15 start. Tom Hope made an excellent start from his third row starting position and by the end of the first lap was leading the Formula F2000 field. Hope was followed by Fierberg, Negron, West, Phillips, having moved up two positions, Murphy and DeSilva.

Negron passed Fierberg on lap two while Hope increased his advantage as drivers settled into their rhythms. Hope continued in the lead, lapping a second faster than his nearest rivals and was comfortably ahead when on lap 8, the pinion gear gave out and he was forced to retire leaving Negron and Fierberg to fight it out for the win.

Phillips got by West on lap 5 as the two set about in another spirited duel seeking the final step on the podium.

Negron managed to ease his way ahead of Fierberg when Ira bobbled, went off course and nearly lost his second place to the fast approaching Phillips/West struggle but managed to once again pull ahead as Negron was then able to cruise on to victory and with it the Master Class (50+) win with Fierberg in second.

Phillips held off West and finished third with West fourth followed by Murphy and DeSilva.
As the Formula F1600 group took the green flag both Andrew Evans and Alex Keyes made excellent starts and stormed to the front as the field headed to the first turn and by the end of the first lap it was Joey Bickers in the lead. Bickers was followed closely by Evans, Keyes, Herta, Kirby and Stewart.

By lap two Herta had moved past both Keyes and Evans and began his pursuit of Bickers.

The race developed into two two-car battles between teammates of the PR1 Motorsports and Lynx Racing teams with Bickers leading Herta and Keyes ahead of Evans. Herta had to chase down Bickers who had pulled out a gap while Herta was contending with the Lynx Racing duo while Keyes and Evans were circulating nose to tail. Herta and Bickers swapped positions three times in the late laps before Herta finally prevailed and won his sixth race of the season. Herta also claimed the fastest lap and with it two bonus points added to the two points for the pole leads Bickers by 40 points guaranteeing that when the teams leave Buttonwillow, whatever happens, Herta will continue to be the championship leader.

Evans made a strong move to pass teammate Keyes on lap 8 and from there build a lead and take a strong third place finish ahead of Keyes. The Lynx Racing pair of Alex Keyes and Andrew Evans are making advances with each race.

Fifth place went to Kirby followed by Stewart in sixth.

Sunday’s race will begin at 8:00am with grid positions set by finishing order of Saturday’s race.

The single-seat, open-wheel F2000 cars are powered by 2-liter Ford Zetec engines and run on Hankook tires supplied by Sierra Tire. The F1600 cars will be powered by either the 1500cc Honda Fit engine or the 1600cc Ford ‘Kent’ engine and will run on Hoosier tires.

F1600 Qualifying: 1. Colton Herta (Mygale/Honda), 1m51.670s; 2. Joey Bickers (Mygale/Honda), 1m51.823s; 3. Alex Keyes, (Spectrum/Honda), 1m53.089; 4. Andrew Evans (Spectrum/Honda), 1m53.823s; 5. Alex Kirby (Piper/Honda), 1m58.001s; 6. Jim Stewart (Mygale SJ04/Honda), 1m59.048s.

F1600 Round 9 (14 laps): 1. Herta; 2. Bickers +0.051s; 3. Evans, +1 lap; 4. Keyes, +1 lap; 5. Kirby, +1 lap; 6. Stewart, +1 laps.

F2000 Qualifying: 1. Ira Fierberg (Van Diemen), 1m46.512s; 2. Bob Negron (Van Diemen), 1m46.803s; 3. Peter West (Van Diemen), 1m47.755s; 4. Michael Murphy (Mygale), 1m52.051; 5. Harindra DeSilva (Van Diemen), 1m52.487s; 6. Tom Hope (Carbir), No Time; 7. Les Phillips (Van Diemen), No Time.

F2000 Round 9 (14 laps): 1. Negron; 2. Fierberg, +7.286s; 3. Phillips, +9.682s; 4. West, +12.002s; 5. Murphy, +1:06.695; 6. DeSilva, +1:10.496s; 7. Hope, +7 laps.

Fastest race lap: F1600 Herta, 1m52.177s. F2000 Hope, 1m47.497s.
Expert class winner (over 35): F1600 Stewart, F2000 None.
Master class winner (over 50): F2000 Negron.

The series can be followed at facebook.com/pacificformulafracing and twitter.com/PacificF2000.

For more details go to www.pacificf2000.com or contact Les Phillips at 661-764-5333, or by email, lesrace@aol.com.