Pacific F2000 thus far....
I have not been keeping the community updated om the Pacific F2000 Series in 2019 and for that I apologize. In my defense this year has been very busy and I have ad no one to write race reports. Here is a brief recap of our season thus far:
Rounds 1 &2 took place Feb. 2nd and 3rd at Auto Club Speedway, What began as a healthy field of cars was shrunken by a forecast for heavy rain. Only 9 car showed up. Saturday morning Peter West snagged pole in the only qualifying session. The Saturday race was held in monsoon conditions, with the drivers needing to negotiate through deep standing water in several places on the track. At the checker it was Jason Reichert ahead of West an Harin deSilva for a Dave Freitas Racing sweep of the podium. Sunday the rain had let up a bit, but conditions were still pretty awful. At the checker it was Reichert winning again followed by HM Racing's Tom Hope in his new RFR in 2nd and Gary Peterson 3rd.
Willow Springs hosted rounds 3 & 4 March 2nd and 3rd. An ugly weather forecast again caused some drivers to not show with 11 cars showing up. Saturday saw Jason Reichert on pole by a wide margin. During the Saturday afternoon race the rain materialized about 4 laps into the race. At first it was just a light shower, but then I started raining hard. Due to the high sustained speeds and high speed corners at this track, racing in the rain on slick tires can be very intimidating. After 2or 3 more laps the rain abated and the race continued. At the stripe it was Reichert in 1st again, followed by Paul Marino and Ira "I Man" Fierberg. Sunday remained dry, and the race, although a good one was less eventful. Reichert won again with Sicheng Li gaining 2nd and Paul Marino in 3rd.
Buttonwillow was the site of rounds 5 & 6 April 27 & 28. Instead of rain, this event saw sunny skies and temperatures in the high 90's. Saturday found Jason Reichert on pole. After a spirited race the to three were Sicheng LI in the China car, Reichert and Tom Hope. The Sunday race got off to an ugly start wit front row starters Li and Reichert having contact on the first lap. Tom Hope got collected in the resultant mess and all three were out on the spot. Paul Marino inherited the lead which h was able to hold for a number of laps. until he pulled off with a shifter problem. Peter West was next to take over the top spot, and like Marino held it down for quite few laps. With only three laps remaining Harin deSilva took advantage of a mistake by West to go to the front. When the checkers flew it was deSilva followed by West and Nick Kodenko in 3rd. One odd thing was that the top three were the only cars to finish the race. Aside from the three that crashed at the start, every other car failed to finish due to mechanical failures.
For more info an fullpoints standings please go to www.pacificf000.com.
Next up is Laguna Seca June 1& 2!
