For Immediate Release
Hope Claims Victory in Round 10, Evens Up Title Chase
Buttonwillow, Calif. (September 6, 2015) – Tom Hope followed up his performance on Saturday with another dominant performance in Round 10 of the Pacific Formula F2000 Championship Series presented by Primus Racing Parts and Pirelli Tires held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park on Sunday, claiming his fourth victory of the season and evening the points championship.
The Vintage Auto Racing Association was the host this weekend with its annual Oktoberfest event, providing the series with their own stand alone run group on the 2.920 mile course, run in the counter clockwise direction.
Once again the morning qualifying session was run in near perfect weather, clear, sunny and in the mid-seventies. Tom Hope in the #18, H+M Racing, Dart Van Diemen established himself as the driver to beat leading the session, setting the fastest time, claiming pole position, however this time by a very slim margin of only 0.182 seconds. Taking up the other front row starting position was Connor Funk in the #97, Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen. The second row of the grid was made up of Dave Freitas Racing teammates Peter West in the #99, Racing Optics, Kodenko Jeans, Malibu Health, Frank Monise Motors, DFR Van Diemen and Ira Fierberg in the #27, Sparco, LDF, DFR Van Diemen. They were followed by Dave Freitas, #96, Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen, Nick Kodenko, #31, Kodenko Automotive, Associated Tire, Kodenko Jeans, Van Diemen, and Thomas Browne, #2, Van Diemen.
The green flag fell and the tightly knit field raced off to turn one on the first of the fifteen tours of the track and by the end of the lap it was Tom Hope in the lead closely pursued by Connor Funk, Peter West, Dave Freitas, Ira Fierberg, Nick Kodenko a small gap and Thomas Browne.
Lap 2 saw Ira Fierberg edge past Dave Freitas for fourth place, while at the head of the pack Hope was inching away from the rest of the field.
The order remained constant throughout the race which is not to say the race was not exciting as behind Hope there was a three car tussle for second place between Funk, West and Fierberg followed by the two cars of Freitas and Kodenko also running nose to tail.
The only casualty of the race was Tommy Browne who unfortunately had his engine expire in a huge cloud of smoke just past half distance. Browne continued to improve all weekend as he settled in, running his first series event.
Tom Hope’s victory never seemed in doubt as he was able to manage 5 to 6 second gap throughout and eventually finish 7.166 second ahead of the second place finisher. His near perfect points weekend was only marred by the fact that he lost the two bonus points by not claiming the fastest lap on Sunday. He has now drawn even in the title chase as the series heads to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California for the series finale.
Second place was finally claimed by Connor Funk, the Glendale resident spent his race fending off the challenges of teammate Peter West who in turn was having to hold back the hard charging Ira Fierberg. Funk’s strong performance enabled him to make up for the points lost by Saturday’s retirement.
Third place went to Peter West, unable to get past Funk, still claimed the Master Class win and is even on points with Hope entering the final round of the championship.
Fourth place went to Ira Fierberg who raced hard all weekend losing second place on Saturday to a broken gearbox was rewarded on Sunday with the fastest race lap and keeping Hope from taking away maximum points for the weekend.
The Freitas/Kodenko contest continued with Kodenko unable to get by the crafty Freitas who managed to put the car in Kodenko’s way at every turn and it was not until lap 12 that Kodenko finally seized the opportunity to get by settling fifth position once and for all.
Sixth place went to Team Owner Dave Freitas who drove a steady consistent race in his first competitive outing in several years. Dave was substituting for Harin De Silva who was unable to compete this weekend.
This was the first series event since the recent announcement of the series inclusion in the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200k Scholarship Shootout in 2016. The shootout, now in its fourth year, will be expanded to include the champions of junior open-wheel and karting series both nationally and internationally. The winner of the knockout style shootout will be provided with a $200k Scholarship to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2017 – the first rung in the Mazda Road to Indy ladder sanctioned by INDYCAR.
The series now moves back where the season began at Auto Club Speedway, October 17th and 18th.
F2000 Qualifying: 1. Tom Hope, (Van Diemen-P), 1m44.619s; 2. Connor Funk, (Van Diemen-P), 1m44.801s; 3. Peter West, (Van Diemen-P), 1m44.821s; 4. Ira Fierberg, (Van Diemen-P), 1m45.145s; 5. Dave Freitas, (Van Diemen-P), 1m45.389s; 6. Nick Kodenko, (Van Diemen-P), 1m45.903s; 7. Thomas Browne, (Van Diemen-P), 1m50.112s. Tires: A-Avon, C-Cooper, G-Goodyear, H-Hoosier, P-Pirelli.
F2000 Round 10 (15 laps): 1. Hope; 2. Funk, +7.166s; 3. West, +8.337s; 4. Fierberg, +8.602s; 5. Kodenko, +26.803s; 6. Freitas, +28.348s; 7. Browne, +7 laps.

Fastest race lap: Fierberg, 1m44.327s.
Master class winner (over 50): West.
Points: 1. West, 180; 2. Hope, 180; 3. Funk, 151; 4. Kodenko, 83; 5. T. de Silva, 68; 6. Armington, 51; 7. H de Silva, 41; 8. Fierberg, 36; 9. Kirby, 34; 10. Freitas, 34; 11. Browne, 31; 12. Rozenboom, 20.
The series can be followed at https://www.facebook.com/pacificf2000racing and https://www.twitter.com/PacificF2000.
For more details go to http://www.pacificf2000.com or contact Peter West at 310-363-9444, or by email, pacificf2000@hotmail.com.



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