Championship Contenders Take Challenge to Las Vegas for Season Ending Triple Race Weekend

Buttonwillow, Calif. (October 4, 2013) – The Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Championship heads to the ten turn, 1.940 mile road course outside Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the third triple header weekend for the season finale, October 6 & 7. Five drivers will vie for the two championships available this weekend.

Leading the way in the Formula F1600 group, as he has since the first race of the season, is Colton Herta, the son of Bryan Herta, the race-winning IndyCar driver and Indianapolis 500 winning team owner. Herta, driving the #98 PR1 Motorsports w/BHA Curb-Agajanian entry sponsored by DVSshoeCompany, CurbRecords, Mygale N.America, OMP, BellHelmets, PenskeShocks, Mygale/Honda has won seven of the twelve races held, has not finished worse than second and leads the championship by 35 points.

Challenging Herta with four victories of his own is teammate Joey Bickers in an identically prepared #34, Mygale/Honda for PR1 Motorsports. Bickers, selected for the 2013 Team USA Scholarship, needs to win all three races and take the available bonus points to have a chance at the title.

The pair of Herta and Bickers have had ten consecutive one-two finishes and had some of the closest, cleanest and exciting races, rarely finishing more than a second apart.

The Lynx Racing duo of Alex Keyes and Andrew Evans in their Spectrum/Hondas currently lie third and fourth in the championship respectively will each be competing for third place. Both Evans and Keyes building on their successes during their karting days are showing tremendous progress this season and have benefitted from their association with Lynx Racing.

Tazio Ottis will be making his series debut in his Cameron Racing, #17 Piper DF5/Honda.

Les Phillips will finish the season where he started in his #89, Swiss Motorsports, Mygale
SJ04/Honda. Phillips opened the season in the Mygale in rounds one and two then switched to his more familiar Van Diemen in the Formula F2000 group.

The F2000 field has four competitors within 38 points of each other, each hoping to claim the championship. Bob Negron in the #9, Terri Negron Web Design, fengshuimebaby.com Van Diemen leads Ira Fierberg in the #27 Sparco, Pinnacle Performance, LDF, Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen by a mere point with Tom Hope, #18 H&M Racing, Dart, Carbir a further 15 points behind followed by Peter West in a second Dave Freitas Racing entry, the #99 Frank Monise Motors, Zombo.com, Kodenko Jeans, T.J. Martell Foundation Van Diemen.

Negron led the championship early with three wins in the first four races, two at Thunderhill and one at Buttonwillow, then surrendered the lead to Hope at mid season only to regain it in the latest event. Negron has a total of four victories thus far.

Fierberg, in second place, skipped the first two races of the season then came on strong with three wins at the Fontana triple header and followed up by taking his fourth victory at Buttonwillow. Fierberg is in the best position as he is able to count all the remaining points he collects.

Hope, who led much the championship for much of the season only to suffer from mechanical issues in the last four rounds, is looking forward to better reliability and a strong finish to the season.

West has the most difficult task, having had several podium finishes this season, one of the best of his career, hopes to claim his first victory this weekend.

Dave Freitas Racing from Santa Fe Springs, CA. in addition to Fierberg and West is also fielding an entry for series veteran Peter Hastrup with a fourth entry for Patricio O’Ward. Hastrup will be in his familiar #5 Western Building Materials, Van Diemen, while O’Ward will be in the #6 POW Motorsports, Pequeneces, DFR Van Diemen.

Hastrup makes his second appearance this season after several years running under the DFR banner and for O’Ward, he looks to continue the success of his debut weekend when he swept the weekend with two victories, two pole positions and two fastest race laps.

James Stewart, #38 True Ventures, Van Diemen will round out the field.

Qualifying for round 13 begins at 10:30am with the race to follow at 2:10am Saturday. Rounds 14 and 15 are scheduled for 8:40am and 12:50pm 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.

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.