Laguna Seca Finale

[Thomas Copeland]

The final race for the US 2014 Hoosier Racing Tires US Formula 1000 Championship West presented by Sunoco Race Fuels, Replay XD, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, Hurley Race Products and Taylor Engineering and Sprocket Specialists. is coming up at Laguna Seca on Sept 12-14, 2014.

Larry Vollum has already secured the Drivers Championship and is in leading contention for the overall US 2014 Hoosier Racing Tires US Formula 1000 Championship with a chance to increase his lead over his nearest competitor Jeremy Hill.

Drivers currently registered for the season final are:

1. Larry Vollum
2. John LaBrie
3. Duane Eital
4. Remington Hudson
5. Gary Hickman
6. Randy Cook
7. Tyler Thielmann
8. Rod Rice
9. Jose Gerardo

One additional entry will be 10 entries and will see full Hoosier prize contingency given out. It would be great to see a double digit entry for this warm-up to the Runoffs.

[Mike B]

The grid is now set for round 9 and Jose Gerardo has taken the pole!
1. Jose Gerardo (1:27.209)
2. Tyler Thielmann (1:27.702)
3. Larry Vollum (1:28.936)
4. Gary Hickman (1:29.465)
5. Rod Rice (1:31.570)
6. John LaBrie (1:31.621)
7. Randy Cook (1:31.754)
8. Ross Wolf (1:33.289)
9. Remington Hudson (1:36.804)
10. Duane Eitel (1:42.817)

Round 9 is tomorrow at 10:30 am Pacific time.

[Thomas Copeland]

Some notes from qualifying: Cook was off at Turn 6. I heard he had Minor damage but should make race tomorrow.

Remi Hudson had a blown motor. Luckily the team found a 05 Suzuki for sale in nearby Salinas and the owner is currently driving it to the track so Remi might be ready by race time tomorrow.

Will post photos later.

[glenn cooper]

"AIRrrrrrr - ARrrrrr - Doh" ... Dude is rapido!

[Mike B]

Gary Hickman has won round 9 at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca!
P2-Larry Vollum
P3-Rod Rice
P4-Randy Cook
P5-Ross Wolf
P6-Duane Eitel
DNF-Tyler Thielmann
DNF-John LaBrie
DNF-Jose Gerardo
DNS-Remington Hudson

Race report coming soon!

[Thomas Copeland]

Sorry no photos last night. Got home late a little bit wiped out.

This was an awesome race. Larry and Gàry had a great duel. I just saw Larry on board video and I can't figure out how Gary kept that car on the track.

Race report later.

Updates on drivers: LaBrie has a blown motor. Tyler has some kind of electric gremlin. Looks like the guys at PM Performance have pull off a miracle and found low time 05 Suzuki and Remi looks set to go now.

Jose gas his bent suspension fixed and will be ready.

Qual 2 coming up at 2:30

[Cliff22]

Is that video going to get posted!

[Malfred]

I got these guys as top 7 for qualifying

1. - Larry Vollum ----- 1:26.646
2. - Jose Gerardo ---- 1:27.292
3. - Gary Hickman --- 1:28.596
4. - Randy Cook ------1:28.671
5. - Ross Wolf ---------1:29.527
6. - Rod Rice ----------1:29.809
7. - Remi Hudson -----1:37.027

fast field.

[JerryH]

Is sundays grid set by fastest time in either qualier and/or race.....or just sat afternoon qualifier?

[DanW]

Is sundays grid set by fastest time in either qualier and/or race.....or just sat afternoon qualifier?

Saturday afternoon qualy.

[Malfred]

I heard from a few of the compettitors that the Berms are much bigger & less forgiving that they used to be.

Any one have any input on that ?

m.

[teamwisconsin]

By berms do you mean the kerbing? The kerbs are really very low from the Moto GP revision 6-7 years ago and you can drive over almost all of them without much issue. The only real hangup is at the apex of all the corners, INSIDE of the kerbing (like if you have your wheel on the very inner edge) there are red concrete blocks that will bend any wishbone, turn your fancy 3 piece wheel into a fancy aluminum taco, and generally make a bummer out of your session. They're easy to avoid: just don't hang a wheel off at the apex.

[JakeL]

Times seem a little off from last year, what's the word on track and conditions?

[Mike B]

Round 9 Race Report:
Sunny skies and 74 degree temperatures greeted the 56 cars gridded for the multi-class Group 2 field, among them ten drivers competing in the US Formula 1000 West Championship.

Intermixed among P1, P2 and FA card (the 19 FMs were having a split start behind the main group) was the Formula 1000 field, virtually guaranteeing exciting racing from the drop of the green flag as the competitors would have to not only battle each other but the other classes as well.

As expected, the start did not disappoint, with Jose Gerado leading Gary Hickman through Turn 2 followed by Larry Vollum and the rest of the field. Amazingly enough, all 59 cars made it through Turn 2 without incident. The pack was tightly bunched, however, and as they exited the corkscrew Gerado was forced to pull off track with bent suspension and Hickman assumed the lead with Vollum on his rear wing. Rod Rice was a few cars back in third followed by John LaBrie with Randy Cook right on his tail.

The race saw some attrition, with Tyler Thielman dropping out in the early going with a timing chain failure in the first two laps followed by another engine failure, this time for LaBrie, who saw his race end on the sixth lap as his engine detonated just past the exit of Turn 5. This allowed Cook to assume 4th, which was the way the race would finish.

Hickman and Vollum put on an epic battle for the entire race, with Hickman using the traffic to his advantage and Vollum doing everything he could to stay on his wing and wait for a mistake to occur. They battled for all 15 laps but Gary never put a foot wrong and at the checker it was Hickman with Vollum a few seconds behind followed by Rod Rice taking the final podium spot.

Round 10 is coming up in about 4 hours!

[JerryH]

Actually Jose and Tyler in that order for the first two laps. They had a decent gap back to third. Jose went out after 2, leaving Tyler in the lead for a couple more laps till his timing chain failed, which left the battle to Hickman and Vollum.
Jerry

[Mike B]

Jose Gerardo has won round 10 of the Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship West!
1. Jose Gerardo
2. Gary Hickman
3. Rod Rice
4. Randy Cook
5. Larry Vollum
6. John LaBrie
DNF Remington Hudson
DNF Tyler Thielmann
DNF Ross Wolf
DNS Duane Eitel


Full report soon.

[Malfred]

1. - Jose Gerardo ----- 1:26.320 --- 18 laps
2. - Gary Hickman ---- 1:27.180 --- 18 laps
3. - Rod Rice ---------- 1:27.358 --- 18 laps
4. - Randy Cook ------ 1:27.208 --- 18 laps
5. - Larry Vollum ----- 1:26.472 --- 18 laps
6. - John La Brie ------ 1:31.878 --- 17 laps
7. - Remi Hudson ----- 1:34.332 --- 6 laps
8. - Tyler Thielmann -- 1:31.928 --- 4 laps
9. - Ross Wolff -------- 1:30.504 --- 3 laps
10. Duane Eitel ------- DNS ---------0 laps

[JerryH]

Watching race monitor is cool....except you have no clue what really happens. I do know Tyler ran a little hot and pulled off. ...probably due to not getting all the air out of the cooling system after the engine change yesterday. He was not part of the west championship battle.....just learning the track for the runoffs.....but it would have been good to get in some more laps....even starting from the back with no qual time.

Looking forward ot the race report to see the rest of the story.

[Thomas Copeland]

Jose Gerardo Wins West Coast Season Finale

Jose Gerardo took victory in the season finale of the 2014 Hoosier Racing Tires US Formula 1000 Championship West presented by Sunoco Race Fuels, Replay XD, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, Hurley Race Products and Taylor Engineering and Sprocket Specialists.

The weather for the race was clear and sunny with temperatures in the mid 70's. 2014 West Driver's Champion Larry Vollum started on pole with Jose Gerardo alongside in the mixed group field. As the cars came up to the starter's stand Vollum got a little to eager and nearly jumped the start. As he slowed to move back into position the green flag fell and Gerardo went flying past into turn one. By the end of the first lap Gerardo had pulled out a 2 second lead over Vollum with Hickman a further 5 seconds back having overtaken Cook under braking for turn 11. Rod Rice was fourth with Ross Wolf in fifth, John LaBrie sixth, Tyler Thielman seventh and Remington Hudson following further back. Duane Eital was in the pits after the first lap returning to the race on lap four before retiring on the next lap.

The duel between Hickman and Cook heated up with some close racing as the two swapped positions throughout the race with Cook getting by Hickman in turn 2. As these two fought it out Rice began closing up on the back of Hickman. Sometime around lap 3 saw Thielman disappear with mechanical issues. Up front Gerardo continued to pull out from Vollum increasing his lead ever so slightly until a double yellow flag with pace car came out on lap seven.

On lap 9 restart Vollum made contact with a car from another class losing his front wing causing him to fall back through the field. Hickman took over second having gotten past Cook at the restart. Cook was close behind followed by Rice. Far behind this trio LaBrie began to falter with mechanical issues of his own. He soldered on despite them and managed to bring the car across the line in sixth.

Amongst the DNF's series newcomer Remington Hudson ran well until being forced off track in the downhill high speed turn 9, retiring on the spot. The car, while dirty and covered in gravel was otherwise undamaged. Ross Wolf had plenty on his hands all race having been struck twice by the same Formula Mazda during the race with the second thumping causing him to spin off track. A less than friendly hand gesture by the Formula Mazda driver as he went past completed the insult. The entire episode caught in living color on video by the in car camera.

At the checkered flag it was Jose Gerardo taking the win with Gary Hickman second and Rod Rice coming from back in the field to finish third. Cook took fourth with the wounded Vollum crossing the line in fifth.

[Thomas Copeland]

Photos from Weekend

[Thomas Copeland]

More

[Thomas Copeland]

try again

[jaltaman]

I feel sorry for Remington, Ross, Larry and myself, as we all had contact with the FMs. Not sure about Ross and Remington's ordeals, but I know Larry and I both got tagged by FMs who just weren't paying attention to what was going on around them.

My race was already shot as I had to drive around short shifting to keep the oil temps down (temporary oil cooler we put in with the engine swap was not up to par) but even so the car was much quicker than the FMs. However, between turn 2 and turn 3, as I was passing the #51 red FM, he just kept coming left and finally pushed me off the track, damaging the right rear wheel in the process. I was able to limp home and finish the race, but the wheel outer is toast, unfortunately.

So even though we were all trying to be cautious among the numerous FMs on track, it was not enough.

By the way, it was nice to meet Tyler and his dad this weekend. Thanks to them for making the trip out. Looking forward to seeing everyone next month for the runoffs, where we will have our own run group!

[ghickman]

Congrats Larry for winning the West Coast F1000 Championship, you earned it.

I had a decent weekend considering the last time I was at Laguna Regan was in his first term as president.

Met some really nice folks this weekend. Tyler and his dad, super nice folks. Remington Hudson, a new young up and coming driver I hope we see more of.

Got to sit and talk one on one with Jeff Andretti and talk Atlantic cars from the 80's, very cool.

Thanks to all you FM drivers that ran blocker for me, I owe you cats big time.

Sadly my Saturday in car did not record the epic battle with Larry Vollum, it was pretty crazy. Maybe Larry will share it with us. I'll post my Sunday in car video tomorrow, restart inside move I put on Cook, thanks to my crew for that green flag call.

[rsf8]

Hey guys, does anyone have the left side water radiator, steering rod or lower left a-arm for a Stohr?

The Mazda racers appeared to think they had the track to themselves!

This driver, #38 Pro FM made sure to tell me who he thought was #1 after he spun me for the 2nd time in the same race!!!!!!

[Wren]

That driver also appears to think that you are #1

[Tyler Thielmann]

While this weekend did not go as planned we just want to say thanks to all of the West Coast Drivers for their help during this weekend and it was very nice to meet all of you! This is definitely a great group of drivers who make sure to race you cleanly and they are also not shy to lend a helping hand if you have problems.

I have to say that it was a very interesting weekend being on the track with 55 other cars with varying levels of speed differential!

Hopefully we have sorted out a majority of our gremlins for Laguna as we hope to have a problem free weekend for the runoffs!

Looking forward to seeing everyone again in a couple of weeks!

[Tyler Thielmann]

Watching race monitor is cool....except you have no clue what really happens. I do know Tyler ran a little hot and pulled off. ...probably due to not getting all the air out of the cooling system after the engine change yesterday. He was not part of the west championship battle.....just learning the track for the runoffs.....but it would have been good to get in some more laps....even starting from the back with no qual time.

Looking forward ot the race report to see the rest of the story.

The water system was fine as far as I can tell. We think we might have kinked an oil line during the engine change and therefore restricted its flow which is why it was starting to run warm. We were a little bit bummed as we would have liked to get more laps but this was still just a test weekend for us.

[racerweav]

I don't really have a dog in this fight; However, as someone who has been racing and winning at Laguna for the last 20 years, the comment made by jaltaman "between turn 2 and turn 3, as I was passing the #51 red FM, he just kept coming left and finally pushed me off the track, damaging the right rear wheel in the process" is very telling.

Attempting to pass anyone on the left side going into turn three (a right hand corner) is a big mistake. The natural line coming out of 2 and heading into three is to move to the drivers left. Unless you had a significant run on this driver exiting turn 2, which I doubt, there just isn't enough time or room to pull off an outside pass going into turn three. In addition to that, most drivers are not looking in their left mirror at this point as anyone with experience at Laguna knows that the correct passing line is on the right, not the left.

In Saturday's race, one of the twin Stohr's attempted the same thing on me and ended up with his left wheels off in the dirt before he realized it just wasn't going to work.

Bill Weaver
FM #67

[bojali]

Hey guys, does anyone have the left side water radiator, steering rod or lower left a-arm for a Stohr?

The Mazda racers appeared to think they had the track to themselves!

This driver, #38 Pro FM made sure to tell me who he thought was #1 after he spun me for the 2nd time in the same race!!!!!!

The race start contact was due to you being moved over by the P1 and you being pinched over. I was unable to move over quickly. The exit of turn 2 narrows down and the outside guy is out of track, or as we experienced, contact. Luckily for us we were not collected by anyone else, and were able to drive away.. but with some damage.

The second incident you had some issues with the car or handling? In turn 2 we almost hit each other. but I now believe that you did not know I was there. then you missed both apexes at 3 and 4. then when I drove Along side you into turn 5, I clearly thought you saw me.. but that was not the case. I am Sorry for thinking you saw me, that seemed to be the case with all of the new drivers to the track. And your still #`1 in my book.. ;^D

[Remi Hudson]

I feel sorry for Remington, Ross, Larry and myself, as we all had contact with the FMs. Not sure about Ross and Remington's ordeals, but I know Larry and I both got tagged by FMs who just weren't paying attention to what was going on around them.

My race was already shot as I had to drive around short shifting to keep the oil temps down (temporary oil cooler we put in with the engine swap was not up to par) but even so the car was much quicker than the FMs. However, between turn 2 and turn 3, as I was passing the #51 red FM, he just kept coming left and finally pushed me off the track, damaging the right rear wheel in the process. I was able to limp home and finish the race, but the wheel outer is toast, unfortunately.

So even though we were all trying to be cautious among the numerous FMs on track, it was not enough.

By the way, it was nice to meet Tyler and his dad this weekend. Thanks to them for making the trip out. Looking forward to seeing everyone next month for the runoffs, where we will have our own run group!

Ya I was taking out by a FM I pretty much had no where to go

[Remi Hudson]

Congrats Larry for winning the West Coast F1000 Championship, you earned it.

I had a decent weekend considering the last time I was at Laguna Regan was in his first term as president.

Met some really nice folks this weekend. Tyler and his dad, super nice folks. Remington Hudson, a new young up and coming driver I hope we see more of.

Got to sit and talk one on one with Jeff Andretti and talk Atlantic cars from the 80's, very cool.

Thanks to all you FM drivers that ran blocker for me, I owe you cats big time.

Sadly my Saturday in car did not record the epic battle with Larry Vollum, it was pretty crazy. Maybe Larry will share it with us. I'll post my Sunday in car video tomorrow, restart inside move I put on Cook, thanks to my crew for that green flag call.

Thank you for all the insight and making me feel welcomed. I'm definitely ready for next year.

[rsf8]

see below

[rsf8]

The race start contact was due to you being moved over by the P1 and you being pinched over. I was unable to move over quickly. The exit of turn 2 narrows down and the outside guy is out of track, or as we experienced, contact. Luckily for us we were not collected by anyone else, and were able to drive away.. but with some damage.

The second incident you had some issues with the car or handling? In turn 2 we almost hit each other. but I now believe that you did not know I was there. then you missed both apexes at 3 and 4. then when I drove Along side you into turn 5, I clearly thought you saw me.. but that was not the case. I am Sorry for thinking you saw me, that seemed to be the case with all of the new drivers to the track. And your still #`1 in my book.. ;^D

It was very difficult to turn the car either way but much harder to the left after bending my steering rod and A-arm. I couldn't hit an apex if I wanted after the turn 2 incident. I did see you coming but never thought you would try to pass me in the middle of a corner especially when there were much better places to pass such as 15 feet further up the road!

[jaltaman]

Attempting to pass anyone on the left side going into turn three (a right hand corner) is a big mistake. The natural line coming out of 2 and heading into three is to move to the drivers left. Unless you had a significant run on this driver exiting turn 2, which I doubt, there just isn't enough time or room to pull off an outside pass going into turn three. In addition to that, most drivers are not looking in their left mirror at this point as anyone with experience at Laguna knows that the correct passing line is on the right, not the left.

In Saturday's race, one of the twin Stohr's attempted the same thing on me and ended up with his left wheels off in the dirt before he realized it just wasn't going to work.

Bill Weaver
FM #67

Hey Bill, I agree with you - the left side is definitely not preferred, but I had a seriously good run on him exiting 2 although now I know I should have backed off in spite of how good it was.

At the exit of 2 he got on the outer edge of the right rumble strip and had a wiggle which compounded my run on him; I was literally beside him when he punted me. The good thing was it was wheel to wheel contact so it didn't damage anything but the right rear wheel.

In hindsight backing off and passing a little later would have been a better choice, as contrary to what I believed he clearly didn't see me. By the way, no malice from this end, just a little frustration which I have gotten over.

Lesson learned.

[Darryl Wills]

You'll get the horns

[Thomas Copeland]

I have updated the series Wikipedia page. Anyone interested can find it under US F1000 Championship. Hopefully without too many errors.

Website updates coming as well.

[bojali]

It was very difficult to turn the car either way but much harder to the left after bending my steering rod and A-arm. I couldn't hit an apex if I wanted after the turn 2 incident. I did see you coming but never thought you would try to pass me in the middle of a corner especially when there were much better places to pass such as 15 feet further up the road!

yeap, waiting is sooo hard to do..

[Mike B]

A brief highlight video from Saturday's race:
http://youtu.be/0U_LejXoUfs

Footage courtesy of ReplayXD!

[ghickman]

Mike
Thanks for taking the time to edit the video.

I guess Vollum didn't turn in his in car video, that would have been fun to see.