Series Tenth Season Opens with Debut at Thunderhill Raceway

Buttonwillow, Calif. (April 12, 2013) – The Pacific F2000/F1600 Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care opens its tenth season by holding its first ever event at Thunderhill Raceway Park in Willows California. This will be the first time the series will take on the 3.0 mile, 15 turn course in Northern California. There will be a pair of 30-minute races with the first race on Saturday (April 13, 2013) and the second on Sunday (April 14, 2013), and will be running with NASA as part of their weekend activities.

The series, for both F2000 and F1600 cars will, for the first time, provide fifteen races over six race weekends with triple even weekends scheduled for Buttonwillow Raceway Park in May, Auto Club Speedway in June, and the season finale at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. Competitors will count their top thirteen finishes toward the championship.

The series will be returning to the familiar Hankook tires this season for the F2000 runners and for the first time Hoosier will be used as the control tire for the F1600 group.

There will be a mixture of new and familiar faces on the F2000 grid led by Dave Freitas Racing from Santa Fe Springs, CA. fielding entries for series veteran Peter West and Pierre DeMartines who is returning to the series. West will be in his familiar #99, Frank Monise Motors, Zombo.com, Kodenko Jeans, T.J. Martell Foundation Van Diemen while DeMartines takes over the #62 Van Diemen.

Drivers returning to the series include former series Masters Class (drivers 51+) Champion Bob Negron who returns after a seasons sabbatical in his familiar #9, Terri Negron Web Design, fengshuimebaby.com, Van Diemen and Tom Hope, will be competing in the #18 H&M Racing, Dart, Carbir.

Also joining the series is newcomer and veteran of two-wheeled competition Jim Stewart in the #38, True Ventures, Van Diemen.

Defending Masters Class Champion Les Phillips has decided to switch to the F1600 group this year in his #89, Swiss Implants, Porterfield Brakes Mygale SJ04.

Another team is shifting its focus to the F1600 group is PR1 Motorsports, fielding cars for newcomer Colton Herta and veteran David Cheng. Both will be driving 2012 Mygale’s with Honda engines provided by HPD. Herta the son of Bryan Herta, the race-winning IndyCar driver and Indianapolis 500 winning team owner, brings a wealth of experience having competed since the tender age of six having moved up through the karting ranks to Skip Barber now hopes to continue his climb as he contests in his first season of F1600. Cheng, who came to the series in 2009, began in F2000 cars was runner up in 2010, his first full season and continued with PR1 competing in the Rolex and ALMS
series’ with races including the Daytona 24 hours and more recently winning the Sebring 12-hour in the LMPC class. Herta will be driving the #98 PR1 Motorsports w/BHA Curb-Agajanian entry sponsored by DVSshoeComp, CurbRecords, Mygale N.America, OMP, BellHelmets, PenskeShocks while Cheng will race the #23, Iskin, Mygale-Honda.

Lynx Racing will be returning to competition after nine years since last competing in the former Toyota Atlantic Series. The team is supporting a pair of fifteen-year olds Andrew Evans and Alex Keyes in a pair of new 2013 Spectrum chassis powered by Honda engines. Both Evans and Keyes have had successes during their karting days, having begun at the ages of 8 and 12 respectively, and are hoping their association with the successful Lynx team will further their careers.

Cameron Racing is providing support for the final entry of the weekend for Joey Bickers who will be driving the #77 Piper-Honda.

Qualifying for round 1 begins at 12:35pm with the race to follow at 4:00pm Saturday. Round 2 qualifying is scheduled for 9:15am with the race at 12:40pm Sunday.

The single-seat, open-wheel F2000 cars are powered by 2-liter Ford Zetec engines and are capable of speeds in excess of 140 mph. All cars run on Hankook tires supplied by Sierra Tire. The F1600 cars will be powered by either the 1500cc Honda Fit engine or the venerable 1600cc Ford ‘Kent’ engine and will run on Hoosier tires.

Series sponsors include VP Racing fuels, Sierra Tire, Corsa Car Care, Porterfield Brakes, Wine Country Motorsports, Aerocraft Fiberglass & Design, and Buttonwillow Raceway.

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