Pacific Formula F1600 Round 4
Round Four Sees Lastochkin Take Second Series Victory and Increase Points Lead
Buttonwillow, Calif. (April 27, 2014) – Nikita Lastochkin put the events of yesterday behind him driving his Mygale/Honda flawlessly around the 3.020 mile, 25A road course at Buttonwillow Raceway Park in Buttonwillow, CA to claim victory in round four of the Pacific Formula F1600/F2000 Championship.
Having had the fastest qualifying time yesterday and also the fastest race lap, there was no doubt who would start from the pole and Nikita Lastochkin dly took up his position at the head of the field driving the #2 Russkaya Mekhanika, PR1 Motorsports Mygale/ Honda followed by Thomas Merrill in the #51, Fast Forward, Piper Race Cars, NOCO2, Speedbourne,NoBozoRacing, Hoosier Tire, Thomas Merrill Motorsports, Piper/Honda. Row two consisted of Alex Kirby in the #15 LA Prep Inc. Piper/Honda and Chuck Horn, #54 Isys engineering, Porter Racing Swift DB6/Honda followed by Ed Erlandson in his #8, Artwork by Eli, Porter Racing, Swift DB6/Honda and James Stewart in the #89,
True Ventures, Mygale/Honda.
Sunny skies and mid seventies temperatures greeted the drivers as they lined up on the grid for the late afternoon (4:00pm) start.
After an uneventful pace lap, the field took the green flag and when they arrived at the first corner it was Alex Kirby who went for the brakes and the pedal went straight to the floor and Alex not wanting to create a greater incident drove straight off at the first turn, twenty yards into the dirt slowed got the car turned around and waited for the FV field to pass before re-entering the track to begin his charge to an eventual fifth place finish.
Lastochkin leapt into the lead at the start, his Mygale a bit too quick for Merrill’s Piper, and proceeded to slowly inch ahead of Merrill until he had a comfortable margin between them. From this point on Lastochkin was able to control the race and it seemed as though there were nothing that Merrill could do. Lastochkin raced on leading every lap and setting the fastest race lap to claim the two bonus points that go along with it and win by nearly ten second.
Merrill for his part drew on all of his previous F2000 experience to try to close the gap to Lastochkin but in the end had to settle for the second step on the podium, still a fine result for not having competed in the series since 2007.
Ed Erlandson starting third drove steadily to claim an uneventful third place, his Swift not quite able to match the pace of the leaders. Erlandson’s third place also earned him the Expert Class win.
Chuck Horn had an early spin trying to stay ahead of another competitor and dropped to the back of the field and steadily worked his way back up to third at one point only to spin again at the Mazda hairpin and go on to a fourth place finishing position.
Sixth place went to James Stewart who is re-familiarizing himself with the Mygale/Honda after having driven in the F2000 class at the opening round of the series.
The series now move on the Portland International Raceway for rounds 5 and 6 on July 4-6.
F1600 Qualifying: 1. Nikita Lastochkin, (Mygale/Honda-A), 1m53.205s; 2. Thomas Merrill, (Piper/Honda-H), 1m54.179s; 3. Alex Kirby, (Piper/Honda-A), 1m54.756s; 4. Chuck Horn, (Swift DB6/Honda), 1m54.727s; 5. Ed Erlandson, (Swift DB6/Honda-A), 1m57.397s; 6. James Stewart, (Mygale/Honda-A), 1m58.746s. Tires: A-Avon, G-Goodyear, H-Hoosier.
F1600 Round 4 (16 laps): 1. Lastochkin; 2. Merrill, +9.843s; 3. Erlandson, +1m29.323s; 4. Horn, +1m32.857s; 5. Kirby, +1m33.192s; 6. Stewart, +2m03.214s.
Fastest race lap: Lastochkin, 1m53.052s.
Expert class winner (over 35): Erlandson.
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.
