Miller Season Finale

[Thomas Copeland]

The season finale of the US Formula 1000 Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, LS Motorsports, Geartronics, and Neo Sport Camera is coming up on August 9-11 at Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah.

Currently Jose Gerado holds a slim 21 point lead over Lucian Pancea for the US Formula 1000 West driver's championship with both drivers still very much in contention for both the West and the overall US Formula 1000 Championship.

Current entries include:

1. Jose Gerado, Stohr
2. Lucian Pancea, Stohr
3. Jake Latham, Stohr
4. Brad Smith, Speads
5. John LaBrie, Phoenix
6. Terry Biner, Firman
7. Rob Adams, Astra
8. Gary Hickman, Phoenix

Yes, you heard right sports fans, Gary Hickman is actually coming to a race weekend and he's bringing the new 2013 Phoenix to Miller!

Registration link for the Great Salt Race is here:

http://www.motorsportreg.com/index.c...8#.UfXfpDbn_mF

Current plans call for the race to run on Miller's famous outer loop which will be a first for F1000 and from what I've heard may be the only time it will be run.

In addition to that the series is giving out more than $5000 in contingency prizes over the weekend from our various sponsors.


We are currently trying to get at least two more entries to show so we can finish the year on a high note with double digit entries. So if you've been sitting on the fence time to come out and race. Let's end the season with a bang!


See you all at Miller!

[Thomas Copeland]

Entries are now in double digits!

1. Jose Gerado, Stohr
2. Lucian Pancea, Stohr
3. Jake Latham, Stohr
4. Brad Smith, Speads
5. John LaBrie, Phoenix
6. Terry Biner, Firman
7. Rob Adams, Astra
8. Gary Hickman, Phoenix
9. Steve Ott, Astra
10. Christopher Ash, Astra


I spoke to Dave Kizerian today. The event schedule is not posted yet (should be later today he hopes) but he gave me these times for the F1000/FB group.

Saturday

Practice: 9:05am
Qual: 11:05am
Race: 3:00pm approximately

Sunday

Practice: 9:05am
Qual: 11:20am
Race: 3:15pm

[ghickman]

10 cars and five different builders.....shades of Atlantic in the 70's.

This is what makes this class so great.

[WFelch]

This is great guys, double digits! Going to be a fun weekend. Can't wait to see the new Phoenix car.

Wayne

[jaltaman]

Holy Rocky Mountain High, it's the Denver INVASION!

We have quite the posse of those Colorodo-based folk coming to the little town that could use a consonant (Tooele - actually pronounced "two-will-uh").

Anyway, we are looking forward to hosting them as well as our friends from the northwest and southern Cal!

Needless to say, this is going to be a fun race.

Safe travels, guys. See you soon.

[Thomas Copeland]

Qualifying Race 9:

1. Steve Ott, Astra 1:48.666
2. Jake Latham, Stohr, 1:50.638
3. Gary Hickman, Phoenix, 1:51.638
4. Lucian Pancea, Stohr, 1:51.698
5. Jose Gerado, Stohr, 1:51.710
6. Chris Ash, Astra, 1:54.022
7. Rod Morley, Firman, 1:54.180
8. John LaBrie, Phoenix, 1:54.490
9. Terry Biner, Firman, 1:54.902
10. Brad Smith, Astra, 2:01.866
11. Rob Adams, Astra, no time

[Thomas Copeland]

Top 3

1. Jake Latham
2. Lucian Pancea
3. Jose Gerado

Ott had 16 sec lead before stopping with mechanical on straight about 3 laps before the end.

[Mike B]

Provisional Results:
1. Jake Latham
2. Lucian Pancea
3. Jose Gerardo
4. Gary Hickman
5. John LaBrie
6. Terry Biner
7. Rod Morley
8. Chris Ash
9. Steve Ott
DNF-Brad Smith
DNS-Rob Adams

[Richard Dziak]

Any results from todays race (8/11/2013) at Miller? or updates?

[Gearslingr]

Just thinking that same thing Richard... Everyone must be celebrating too much...

Doug

[Thomas Copeland]

At airport waiting for flight home. Connection has been rotten all weekend so lack of updates. The race and the championship went right down to the last corner and was decided by 1 point.

Entering the race Jose Gerado had a 4 point lead over Lucian Pancea. Jose starting 3rd with Lucian further back. Jose spun on lap one went baçk to last plàce. Lucian worked his way up to first place after Ott retired. Jose manage to make his way back to 3rd with Lucian needing to win to clinch the title. The battle for first between Latham and Pancea went nose to tail and side by side for more than 5 laps. Pancea finally prevailed and took the West title by 1 point over Gerado.

Race report later.

[Gearslingr]

Sounds like to was a race to be at! My wife and I were trying to convince ourselfs to drive from Pueblo West to Tooele just to watch it but couldn't get things worked out in time.... Wow, sounds like those guys had a great race!

Doug

[ghickman]

Fun weekend. The new 2013 Phoenix showed good speed in qualifying both days but my race craft sucked.....I'm pretty rusty from having nearly a 2 year layoff while building cars.

The Miller 3 mile track is soooo much fun.

Thanks Thomas for putting on a great series.

[glenn cooper]

Sounds like a barn burner!!

[Thomas Copeland]

Still a little effected by lack of sleep but I went through this morning and re-calculated out the points for the West.

Here's how it was prior to Miller:

Jose Gerado: 17+22+15+16+19+19+24+24 = 156
Lucian Pancea: 14+15+17+22+24+24+0+19 = 135

Points from Miller:

Jose Gerado = 17+17 = 190
Lucian Pancea = 19+22 = 176

When you drop the worst 2 finishes and count the best 8 of 10 you get this:

Jose Gerado = -15-16 = 159
Lucian Pancea = -0-14 = 162

So Lucian won the West Championship by 3 points not 1.

Congrats to Lucian Pancea on winning the 2013 USF1000 Championship West.


.

[jaltaman]

Since I was out with a cracked engine block after qualifying, we got everything loaded up and meandered down to the T1 grandstands to watch the race. Once Jose spun in T5 and Ott pulled off with a mechanical it became a race between Jake and Lucian. Make no mistake about it, though - they were locked in a battle from the drop of the green flag. Jake had Lucian for the first several laps, but then Lucian got by and they were nose to tail (or side by side) for the rest of the race. It was fun to watch - some good, clean, hard racing.

So congrats to Lucian for the win and Championship!

And congrats to Jake for a great race as well.

Finally, many thanks to Thomas and Nicholas for putting on a great series once again. The racing this final weekend was as intense as ever, but the racing was good and clean, despite the close quarters at times. Well done, everyone. See you all at the runoffs!

PS Honorable mention to Jose for driving a great race after his spin on the first lap. He put on quite a show as well.

[Thomas Copeland]

Here are the contenders for the overall 2013 US Formula 1000 Championship.

Taking the best 8 out of 10 results for 2013 they are:

165 Points - Lawrence Loshak
162 Points - Lucian Pancea
159 Points - Jose Gerado
149 Points - Glenn Cooper
129 Points - Alex Mayer


With double points being awarded for the finale at the SCCA runoffs the maximum points total that can be awarded is 48 points (22 for win, 2 pole x 2 = 44+4= 48). This puts Alex Mayer into the equation (as a long-shot) as well.

The championship winning driver wins a Tire Program for 2014 from Hooiser Tire as well as cash and other prizes.

PS: Edit: Better perhaps to say best 8 results out of 10 possible, as the points are set up to count 8 results of of the 10 possible. Just wanted to clarify so there is no confusion (I hope)

[JerryH]

Well, that's the top three. How did the rest of the field end up?

Jerry

At airport waiting for flight home. Connection has been rotten all weekend so lack of updates. The race and the championship went right down to the last corner and was decided by 1 point.

Entering the race Jose Gerado had a 4 point lead over Lucian Pancea. Jose starting 3rd with Lucian further back. Jose spun on lap one went baçk to last plàce. Lucian worked his way up to first place after Ott retired. Jose manage to make his way back to 3rd with Lucian needing to win to clinch the title. The battle for first between Latham and Pancea went nose to tail and side by side for more than 5 laps. Pancea finally prevailed and took the West title by 1 point over Gerado.

Race report later.

[luciano pancea]

I will like to thank all of you who made it posibile for me to run this year and also to congratulate every driver that participated in this awsome series,See all at Road America and Good luck
Lucian

[Thomas Copeland]

If any of the guys that was at the race this weekend have results sheets Sunday's race please forward them to me. Mylaps is all messed up. Only shows the FF group I think.
'
Thanks

If I rememebr right the order was:

1. Lucian Pancea
2. Jake Latham
3. Jose Gerado
4. Gary Hickman
5. Terry Biner
6. Chris Ash
7. Brad Smith
8. Steve Ott

DNS John LaBrie - cracked motor
DNS Rod Morley - withdrew
DNS Rob Adams - broken spindle


I'm working on race reports. Should post later today.

[Peter Olivola]

See the attached.

[Thomas Copeland]

Jake Latham wins in Penultimate at Miller

Fremont Ca/Green Bay, WI (Aug 12, 2013) – Jake Latham took victory at Miller Motorsports Park in Race 9 of the US Formula 1000 West Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, LS Motorsports, Geartronics and Neo Sport Camera.

In qualifying Steve Ott in the Astra set a blistering time of 1:48.666, nearly two seconds faster than his nearest competitor Jake Latham who clocked in with a time of 1:50.638.

The morning practice session prior to qualifying saw Rob Adams in the Astra an early retirement with a broken spindle. With no spares on hand his weekend saw a quick ending. The remaining F1000's took the green flag for the afternoon race under sunny warm skies with pole sitter Steve Ott leading the field down the long main straight into the first turn for the challenging outer loop track.

Ott looked untouchable as he quickly drew out a lead from second place Latham, increasing that lead with every lap. With the wind blowing sand and dirt across the track surface from the infield motorcross construction site the drivers complained of a slippery track all weekend. With grip at a mimimum race positions didn't change much during the opening laps.

By two-thirds distance Ott's lead was 14 seconds over Latham but as he came onto the main straight on lap 11 the Astra begin slowing with a fuel pump issue, stopping mid-way down the straightway. This left Latham in the lead a few seconds in front of Pancea, with Gerado having made his way past Hickman rounding out the podium in third. Hickman followed in fourth with LaBrie fifth, Biner sixth, with Morley and Ash slipping back to seventh and eigth respectively.

With Pancea finishing second and Gerado third the two Championship contenders were separated by only 4 points (with Gerado in the lead) going into the next day's final race.

US Formula 1000 Championship West, Race 9
August 10, 2013, Official Results

1. Jake Latham, Broomfield, Colorado, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
2. Lucian Pancea, Bellevue, Washington, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
3. Jose Gerado, El Paso, Texas, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
4. Gary Hickman, Santee, California, Phoenix, 08 Suzuki
5. John LaBrie, Draper, Utah, Phoenix Raceworks, 08 Suzuki
6. Terry Biner, Sandy, Utah, Firman, 09 Suzuki
7. Rod Morley, Orem, Utah, Firman, 08 Suzuki
8. Christopher Ash, Centennial, Colorado, Astra, 08 Suzuki
9. Steve Ott, Houston, Texas, Astra, 08 Suzuki
10. Brad Smith, Golden, Colorado, Speads, 08 Suzuki

DNS Rob Adams,

Race 9, Qualifying Times

1. Steve Ott, Astra, 08 Suzuki, 1:48.666
2. Jake Latham, Stohr, Suzuki, 1:50.638
3. Gary Hickman, Phoenix, 1:51.698
4. Lucian Pancea, Stohr, Suzuki 1:51.710
5. Jose Gerardo, Stohr, Suzuki 1:51.936
6. Chris Ash, Astra, Suzuki, 1:54.022
7. Rod Morley, Firman, Suzuki, 1:54.180
8. John LaBrie, Phoenix, Suzuki 1:54.490
9. Terry Biner, Firman, Suzuki, 1:54.902
10. Brad Smith, Speads, Suzuki, 2:01.866

[WFelch]

Great to see everyone at the track. Good car count and some great racing! Can't wait to get to RA for the Runoffs.

Wayne

[Alex Pate]

So does anyone else wonder how Chris Farrell's dsr with a fully built motor at 205hp had trouble passing Steve ott's Astra FB with a stock motor? Impressive driving aside the dsr weighs in at least 100lbs lighter with a significantly more streamlined aero package. Rumors at the track suggest there was around 5 built motors at the track in FB cars. If this is the case and I'm not saying it is, then it will destroy this class.
Food for thought.

[Wren]

The allegations of cheating don't do the class any good either. People need to get over the stigma associated with protesting someone. If you think someone is cheating, protest them. If you are protested, don't get butthurt about it.

Steve Ott is a very good driver. It's not crazy to think that he would be hard to pass.

[Alex Pate]

His driving was very impressive I agree.

[Thomas Copeland]

Thngs have been real hectic since I got back from SLC. I'm going to try and find time to write the second (much more lenghty) race report today and post some photos from the weekend.

[WFelch]

Ok, so let's say we are over the stigma. Now let's see, we have to find a tech guy from the Utah region that is first willing, and second able to help tear into the 13000 rpm bike motor. Hopefully they will know what they are looking for. Not a perfect system, pretty much keeps the honest people honest at least. Hopefully we can have some sort of engine tech at the Runoffs like we have had in the past. Really doesn't make much sense to have any engine rules that are not enforced.

[Alex Pate]

Not to mention to protest you have to know exactly what your protesting and then put up a bond of around 2000$ to have the motor torn apart. So said the tech inspector at pacific raceways

[RussMcB]

<snip> Food for thought.

Bad form, insinuating on a public forum that someone is cheating, without evidence.

[rickb99]

George Dean used to attend a lot of the "Western Areas" F1000 championship races not only to support his work but also to be the "TECH EXPERT". Is he not doing that any more now that the class is more stable??

[Wren]

Ok, so let's say we are over the stigma. Now let's see, we have to find a tech guy from the Utah region that is first willing, and second able to help tear into the 13000 rpm bike motor. Hopefully they will know what they are looking for. Not a perfect system, pretty much keeps the honest people honest at least. Hopefully we can have some sort of engine tech at the Runoffs like we have had in the past. Really doesn't make much sense to have any engine rules that are not enforced.

Not to mention to protest you have to know exactly what your protesting and then put up a bond of around 2000$ to have the motor torn apart. So said the tech inspector at pacific raceways

If I were going to protest someone's engine, I would start with the cranking pressure. The specs are in the Suzuki manual and any tech inspector can handle it. If someone is worried about the cranking pressure being reduced by a low or small battery, mention it in your protest and see if they will hook up a jump battery.

The next easy thing from there would be to have the tech inspector look at the pistons with a scope and look for the little ring in the middle that indicates a stock piston. Bring a stock example with you.

I would expect to not have to pay more than the bare minimum for that protest. The disassembly is nothing more than taking out the spark plugs. All of this should not take more than an hour.

A full tear down could easily be $2k or more, but that is completely unnecessary to determine if an engine is legal.

If you do want to go further, remember that we do have an official pub from SCCA that covers a few basic GSXR-1000 critical specs:

http://scca.cdn.racersites.com/prod/...%208_22_11.pdf

Obviously, none of this applies if the engine is not an 07-08 GSXR-1000.

[WFelch]

George has done an amazing job nationally since the start of FB. He cannot continue to spend his own time and money to help police everything. He mentioned to me that he has shown the Runoff's tech guys the basics and stepped back to let them do their work. All we can hope at this point is that we have some sort of engine tech done at Road America.

This is going to be an awesome Runoffs for FB! See you all there.

Wayne

[Zcurves]

I have to admit that I don't know every competitor personally, so I can't speculate what he or she would or wouldn't do. However, I would feel much better knowing that I got out raced legally (by several seconds a lap at times). When there are no checks and balances during impound it opens up the possibility of foul play. My car and I are not fully developed, so unless I know for sure I'm not going to risk accusing anyone. I'd bet that we don't have 100% compliance, but I'd be surprised if it were below 90%.

[ghickman]

I'd like to believe that everyone in this race group is being honest. Until someone proves otherwise that's the way I feel.

As a Senior Citizen I felt pretty good that I was able to hang with these guys. Maybe next time they'll let me win.

Oh and I followed Ott around several laps...dude is way fast.....he could most likely put a skate board on the front row.

[Alex Pate]

I watched him braking at the 1 marker when everyone else was at the 1.5 or further back. Sorry Gary but you were braking at the two. The question of ott's Astra was more does anyone know how an FB can keep up in a straight line with a dsr more than an out right implication of cheating. And the rumor swirling around was that several people had a motor and not just ott. If that were the case then his excellent driving would indicate why he was faster than the rest of the supposed built motors. Only pointing out that there is no way a top FB should be able to hang with a top dsr.

[ghickman]

Alex better be nice to us senior drivers.....or next time I see you going to give you a good thrashing.

I was braking at 2 so I could wave as I went by you

[Alex Pate]

Alex better be nice to us senior drivers.....or next time I see you going to give you a good thrashing.

I was braking at 2 so I could wave as I went by you

I'm very sorry sir, didn't mean anything by it sir....

Now that's respect for your elders.

[Richard Dziak]

On the subject of cheating or fixed engines within the FB class.....Steve Ott is one hell of a racer. His background and family go way back in Colorado motorsports. Many months ago within this forum, I personally predicted that Steve Ott would be a podium finisher in most of the FB races that he enters. Steve Ott has gone from SCCA track racing in Colorado to the The Champ Car Atlantic Championship series with fantastic showings at Cleveland, Toronto and other venues. Ott is fast, very fast. The only problem with his racing, is the cars. If you track his history there have been way to many DNF's. He drives a car hard, with a winning attitude in mind. If Steve Ott could have had a car that did not have mechancal problems there is a very strong liklihood that his name would be at the top of the leader boards. His brother Jason and father Dave are also terrific racers and have lots of racing blood in the family history. I seriously doubt that any cheating would ever take place with Steve Ott or by Steve Ott. It's not the nature of the racing family. Google "Steve Ott racer" and do some research on his racing. He is a force to be reckened with, not only in open wheel cars but closed wheel car classes also. Hopefully he has a good solid mechancal run at RA, and don't be surprised that he is in the top three of the podium finishers if his car can hold up. He is driving the Astra because he is good, very good. In fact give him a solid car from any of the major constructor that can really finish the entire race, and you might be surprised what results you see with this young man.

Hopefully other racers from the SCCA RMD Division will chime in on Ott's family history of racing within the Colorado division and regions and their integrity of the sport.

Get the cheating or fixed engines out of your mind with this racer. For one thing he doesn't deserve any controversary over an amatuer SCCA race. He is so much better than that.

[johnspranger]

Just a comment about the straightway speeds.

I have personally watched Jake and Ryan (aerodynamicist) work hard all year trimming out the Stohr F1000. Jake's car has undergone a complete transformation since COTA. It is ridiculous how much speed they have been able to find with CFD and tons of testing. Also, talking with Wayne they have found 10mph in Lucian's car with the new aero upgrades from Stohr.

I have a lot of trimming to do for next year.