Herta, Negron Repeat Round One Success in Round Four

Buttonwillow, Calif. (May 19, 2013) – Colton Herta, Formula F1600, and Bob Negron, Formula F2000, returned to the top step of the podium for the first time since round one at Thunderhill Raceway with victories in round four of the Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Championship, Sunday morning at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. This is the first time the series has held a triple race weekend with round five to take place later this afternoon. This weekend the series is running with CalClub as they celebrate 50 years of Formula Vees.

Grid positions for the morning race are to be the result of taking the aggregate of Saturdays round three qualifying and Saturdays round three fastest race lap and determining an average one lap time.

The Formula F1600 group was led by Joey Bickers, #34, PR1 Motorsports Mygale/Honda edging out Colton Herta, #98, PR1 Motorsports w/BHA Curb-Agajanian entry sponsored by DVSshoeCompany, CurbRecords, Mygale N.America, OMP, BellHelmets, PenskeShocks, Mygale/Honda and claimed pole and the additional bonus points that go with it by a mere .00125 of a second. 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 Mike Miserendino, #89, Mygale SJ04/Honda and Alex Kirby, #17, Piper/Honda.

Ira Fierberg led the Formula F2000 group in his #27, Pinnacle Performance, Sparco USA, DFR, Van Diemen, having taken second place in round 3 managed to squeak b the #18, H&M Racing, Dart, Carbir of Tom Hope to take the pole by .00061 of a second. Next up were Bob Negron, #9,Terri Negron Web Design, fengshuimebaby.com, Van Diemen and Les Phillips, #2, Swiss Implants, Porterfield Brakes, Van Diemen followed by Peter West, #99, Frank Monise Motors, Zombo.com, Kodenko Jeans, T.J. Martell Foundation Van Diemen and Jim Stewart, #38, True Ventures, Van Diemen.

The 9:00am start time meant slightly cooler temperatures as the drivers set off on the pace lap. Just as he had on Saturday, Joey Bickers took and immediate lead in the Formula F1600 group fending off the challenge of teammate Colton Herta while Andrew Evans was induced into dropping two wheels off at the first turn and dropped to the rear of the field, so at the end of the first lap it was Bickers leading Herta, Kirby having moved up, Miserendino and Evans.

These positions remained the same with Bickers in front of Herta by inches, the two pulling away from the rest until lap 6 when Kirby spun moving up Evans, who got around Miserendino on lap 4, and Miserendino.

From here on it was the two Mygales stretching their lead both driving flawlessly until lap 13 when coming into the Mazda hairpin Bickers missed a downshift and spun the car handing the lead over to Herta who then preserved his lead to the finish crossing the line 6.839 seconds clear of Bickers who was able to continue and finish second. Herta also claimed the races’ fastest lap honors and the two points that go along with it.

Alex Keyes had another solid drive to finish third leading Miserendino, Evans and Kirby to the flag.

When the green flag fell for the Formula F2000 group, Ira Fierberg got a good start to lead a hard charging Phillips into turn one and the order at the end of the first lap Fierberg, Phillips, Hope, Negron, West and Stewart.

The complexion of the race changed on lap 2, as heading into Cotton Corners, there was contact between Phillips and Fierberg sending both cars off course and into immediate retirement. This handed the lead over to Hope, his Carbir beginning to ease away from Negron’s Van Diemen.

Once in the lead Hope continued to push to build his advantage during which he set the fastest lap of the race. This continued until while lapping a slower car there was contact damaging his front wing eventually allowing Negron to take the lead on lap 13.

Negron was able to continue on in the lead and three laps later took the checkered flag as the race victor. Negron was followed to the flag by Hope, who managed to keep the wing damage to a minimum and finish second, and elated West with his second podium of the weekend in third and Stewart having another consistent race in fourth.

The win by Negron also meant he was the Master Class(drivers +50) victor while Hope took the Expert Class(driver 35-49) win.

Round 5 is scheduled to take the flag at 1:35 pm as the teams will now scramble to prepare the cars for the final race of the weekend.
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. Joey Bickers (Mygale/Honda), 1m50.157s; 2. Colton Herta (Mygale/Honda), 1m50.282s; 3. 3. Alex Keyes, (Spectrum/Honda), 1m51.643; 4. Andrew Evans (Spectrum/Honda), 1m52.061s; 5. Mike Miserendino (Mygale SJ04/Honda), 1m53.408s; 6. Alex Kirby (Piper/Honda), 1m53.546s.

F1600 Round 4 (16 laps): 1. Herta; 2. Bickers +6.839s; 3. Keyes, +1 lap; 4. Miserendino, +1 lap; 5. Evans, +1 lap; 6. Kirby, +1 lap.

F2000 Qualifying: 1. Ira Fierberg (Van Diemen), 1m45.113s; 2. Tom Hope (06 Carbir), 1m45.174s; 3. Bob Negron (Van Diemen), 1m45.423s; 4. Les Phillips (Van Diemen), 1m45.960s; 5. Peter West (Van Diemen), 1m46.796s; 6. Jim Stewart (Van Diemen), 1m48.851s.

F2000 Round 4 (16 laps): 1. Negron; 2. Hope, +9.481s; 3. West, +45.105s; 4. Stewart, +1m21.250s; 5. Fierberg, +15 laps; 6. Phillips, +15 laps.

Fastest race lap: F1600 Herta, 1m50.177s. F2000 Hope, 1m45.188s.
Expert class winner (over 35): F2000 Hope.
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.