Hyatt Wins Round 8 to Complete Weekend Sweep

Sonoma, CA. (June 28, 2009) – The soaring near 100 degree temperatures did not seem to affect Max Hyatt, a New Mexico native, as he won round 8 of the Pacific F2000 Series presented by Terminal Velocity Processing and Sierra Tire to complete a weekend sweep and take victory for the fourth time this year. Max driving the #23/Performance Drink/PR1 Van Diemen, having won the pole earlier in the day chose the outside position and was able to fend of fellow front row starter Robert Podlesni to take the lead at the outset and was never headed. Unlike Saturday when Podlesni clung to the rear of Hyatt’s Van Diemen like a bulldog, Max was able to eke out an advantage enabling him to establish a comfortable pace without having to consistently defend his position. “I could see Robert was using his tires pretty hard trying to keep up and felt confident I could hold him off if necessary.” He later related. The win gives Hyatt 204 points for second place in the standings and closes him to within 4 of Podlesni who despite winning only once this season maintains the lead in the championship with 208 points.

Podlesni, #84/Terminal Velocity Processing/Alpinestars/DFR Van Diemen could be seen throwing his car about as he did all he could to stay with Hyatt but never got close enough to challenge for that position and finally settled for second place which was all the car would give him today.

The next three places would go to the remaining PR1 Motorsports entries headed by Shaun Modisette whose #26/Carson Trailers/PR1/Van Diemen started third and remained in that position throughout but was unable to make any impression on the duo in front of him. Shaun was pleased with the result however as he added two podium finishes to his tally this weekend which is better than he had hoped for following his crash in the warm-up on Saturday morning and again credited his team with providing him the necessary equipment to mount his title challenge. He remains in fourth in the title chase with 178 points.

Behind Modisette came Scott Rarick in the #34/PR1/Van Diemen who drove consistently over the weekend but never quite found the balance in the car to keep the pace of his teammates. His fourth place finish netted him the Expert Class win but after his win at Buttonwillow and second in the championship entering the weekend he was hoping to consolidate his position in the title chase but slipped down to third within 14 points of the lead at 194.

The final PR1 Motorsports driver and fifth place finisher was newcomer David Cheng with his second stellar performance of the weekend. Cheng who is currently contending for the Skip Barber series title is now looking ahead to the event on the schedule to be held at his home track, Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca. David ran the Jim Russell series there last year and stated that he has more laps at that circuit than any he has yet raced on. Cheng was also looking forward to the possibility of running a full Pacific F2000 schedule next year and will be a welcome addition to the grid.

Sixth place and another Masters Class win went to Peter Hastrup in his #5/Western Building Materials/Nuttal & Coleman/Van Diemen. Peter leads the Masters Class and in fifth overall in the standings.

Seventh place and the Williams race Development Hard Charger award went to Les Phillips in his #89/Swiss Implants/Porterfield Brakes/Mygale.

Greg Pizzo #49/Van Diemen making a return appearance to the series after a two year hiatus finished eighth followed by Ira Fierberg #27 Barry I Goldstein/CPA/Sparco/DFR/Van Diemen; ninth, Pierre DeMartines #21/Quontcast/DFR/Van Diemen; tenth, Michael Murphy #18/Mygale; eleventh and Peter West #99/Terminal Velocity Processing/DFR/Van Diemen twelfth.

The series now heads to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on September 12 & 13.

Series Points: 1) Podlesni-208, 2) Hyatt-204, 3) Rarick-194, 4) Modisette-178, 5) Hastrup-143, 6) Murphy-87, 7) Fierberg-85, 8) West, Phillips-83, 10) Simpson-57, 11) Negron-33, 12) Cheng-32, 13) Hulse-29, 14) Pizzo-26, 15) DeMartines-23.

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