Lucian Pancea Takes a 1 Centimeter Victory in Thunderhill Op
[FONT=Times New Roman]Lucian Pancea Takes a 1 Centimeter Victory in Thunderhill Opener[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Thunderhill Raceway, Willows, California (March 11, 2012) - Lucian Pancea found himself the surprise winner in the season opening race of the 2012 F1000 Pro Series after first place finisher JR Osborne was penalized after the race when his front wing was found to be 1 centimeter too wide.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Osborne who started from pole and dominated the race throughout looked completely [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]untouchable as his nearest rivel Pancea suffered from a foggy visor which hamperer [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]his vision.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]The race started promptly at 8:05 as the F1000 field took a their split start 30 seconds [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]behind the main field of national competitors under cold temperatures with the early [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]morning sky threatening rain. The cold track surface meant the field had to take an [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]additional pace lap so the cars could get their tires up to operating temperature. [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]It was during the first pace car lap series newcomer Corey Smith found himself locked [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]up sideways as he approached the final turn before the pit straight as the cold track [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]surface caught him out. This dropped him back behind his third starting position. [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]During the second pace lap he would overtake Biner starting fourth to move back up [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]into his original starting position. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]As the race went green Osborne streaked out to a solid lead he was to maintain [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]throughout the race. Pancea who qualified less than a half a second back of Osborne [/FONT][FONT=Times New Roman]was unable to keep up as he struggled with his fogging visor.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Smith, once again found himself sideways on the opening lap on the back part of the circuit as he was forced to avoid contact with a spinning car from one of the other car groups. This dropped him back to fifth behind Herman Pahls and Terry Biner while John LaBrie nursed a rather sick sounding car back in sixth.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]The trio of Pahls, Biner, and Smith circulated together for about a lap before Smith moved past first Biner, then Pahls, to retake third and pursue Pancea and Osborne, leaving Pahls and Biner to continue their battle. Biner looking very racy at this point finally made his way past Pahls on entry to the fast left hand turn one. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]With the positions now once again settled down the drivers all finished in the respective positions. After pulling off track and into impound the fireworks soon started as first Smith was penalized by the SCCA stewards one position for overtaking Biner on the second pace lap and Osborne was penalized back to last position for his wing infraction. All this shuffled the positions around as Pancea moved into first and Biner into second with Smith falling back to fourth before moving back into third after Osborne’s penalty.[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]Results, Race 1, 2012 F1000 Pro Series:[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]1. Lucian Pancea[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]2. Terry Biner[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]3. Corey Smith[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]4. Herman Pahls[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]5. John LaBriie[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman]6. JR Osborne[/FONT]
I guess JR's big advantage is exposed!!
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