Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear Rounds 3 and 4
Large field, great weather, and more wheel-to-wheel racing in Wine Country





Sixteen racers took to Infineon Raceway this weekend for the third and fourth rounds of the series. The weather was great and the drivers were up to speed right away.

In Saturday's Pro Formula Mazda (PFM) class qualifying, Stan Kohls took the top spot. Claudio Cornali was close behind, and Andy Brown rounded out the top three. Cornali who made his return to the series after a brief hiatus, is now running under the Cameron Motorsports tent and was coached over the weekend by Steve and Rick Cameron. In the Formula Mazda (FM) class qualifying, Bill Weaver took the top slot and Jamie Slone and Stew Tabak rounded out the top three. Slone, who plans on doing a few of the West Coast Region events, pulled out all the punches by bringing FM expert Ron Roland for technical support and Indy Lights Infineon Raceway pole winner Mike Potekhen to the show.

Kohls got a great start from the head of the field and was able to keep that position until the checkered flag. The real battle in PFM was for the second position. Cornali and Brown were only feet apart turning comparable times. Cornali was able to keep Brown behind him for the majority of the race, but with a few laps to go Brown made a daring move in turn eleven to pass. Cornali worked hard to get it back, but in the end finished in third. The FM class had an equally exciting race as Slone got ahead of Weaver in the early laps. Slone was holding the position for a short time when his car started to slow down. An unusual mechanical issue took him out of the race, which opened up the second place spot to Derry O'Donovan. O'Donovan, who was this season's FM Winter Series champion, was turning times as fast as Weaver but was unable to get close enough to make a move for the top slot. The third spot on the FM podium was taken by Stew Tabak.

On Sunday the PFM qualifying session was exciting with the top 4 cars all in the mid 1:31 range. Kohls beat out Andy Brown by a tenth, and Dave House was behind Brown by only 2 hundredths. Weaver was on pole again for FM, followed by Jamie Slone and Derry O'Donovan. The race start on Sunday was clean and after lap one most of the drivers were actually still running in their starting positions. Stan Kohls had built a decent lead on Andy Brown, although Brown was turning slighly faster laps at this point. On lap 6 Derry O'Donovan's FM broke a suspension component under braking in turn 11 and a full course yellow came out. The incident was cleared just as the pace car was getting close to turn 12, and the last minute decision was made to go green that lap. The pace car pulled off quickly, and the green was thrown. Some drivers were caught off guard, but not Andy Brown. Brown got past Kohls on the restart and held that position until the end. Kohls had a late race incident and left the track with one lap to go. Sean Prewett who had been running a strong 3rd, now inherited 2nd place on the podium, and the third slot was taken by Dave House. Sunday's FM finishing order was Bill Weaver, Jamie Slone, and Stew Tabak.

"I have to thank my mechanic Ming," stated PFM driver Andy Brown. "Even when everyone thought we would go one more lap he kept his eye on the starter. Hearing him call the green gave me the advantage I needed to get a good restart."

With four races in the books, the 2010 season is now past the first quarter. Andy Brown is leading the Pro Formula Mazda class, and Bill Weaver is leading the FM class. The next event is a double-header at Thunderhill Raceway Park on April 24-25.

 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.

WEST COAST REGION DETAILS:
The west coast region travels to Mazda Raceway, Infineon Raceway, Portland International Raceway, and Miller Motorsports Park for 16 races in 2010. Series partners include Red Line Oil, Mazda USA, Mazdaspeed, Standing Start, Star Mazda, Molecule Labs, NASA Pro Racing, the all new FormulaSpeed2.0, and Goodyear Racing.