Cheng Wins for PR1 and Ford Continues FF Mastery in round 6 at Buttonwillow Raceway Park
Buttonwillow, Calif. (May 20, 2012) – Buttonwillow Raceway Park was the site of the Pacific F2000/Formula F Super Series Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care round 6. Again using the 2.640 mile 14CW track the event was run as part of the Cal Club Region of the SCCA Double Regional weekend and was the first race of the day with an 11:15 start.
An 8:30 qualifying session meant cooler temperatures but that didn’t keep the battle for the pole from heating up as again Bobby Kelley in his #21, A & B Equipment, Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen and David Cheng, #4 C.J. Wilson’s Children’s Charities, PR1 Van Diemen picked up right where they left off on Saturday trading fast laps. Again it was Kelley who finally prevailed to wrest the pole away from Cheng with a lap of 1m40.277s.
The second row of the grid was made up of Camren Kaminsky in the #34 PR1 Van Diemen and Bob Negron, #9 Terri Negron Web Design Negron Racing Van Diemen with Les Phillips, #2 Swiss Implants, Porterfield Brakes Van Diemen and Camden Geise, #6, DFR Van Diemen in row three, Peter West , #99 Frank Monise Motors Van Diemen and Peter Thomas, #7 Refrigeration Control Co., PR1 Van Diemen in row four and Chris Hundley in the #62 Limousine Connection, DFR Van Diemen and Nick Kodenko, #31 Kodenko Automotive, Kodenko Jeans, Redline Oil, Associated Tire Van Diemen taking up the final row of the grid.
In the Formula F group Conner Ford in the #77 JF Excavating & Grading, Western Nevada Supply, Sparco USA, PR1 Motorsports, Mygale/Honda with over a second and a half advantage over Ed Erlandson in the #8 Artwork by Eli, Porter Racing, Loyning, Goodyear Swift DB6/Ford. Al Salvo, #23 Miracle Sealants, Corsa Care, PR1 Mygale/ Honda was again third followed by Sage Marie in the #17 Honda Performance Development Piper/Honda and Neil Roberts, #12 Keenan Honda, Think Fast
Engineering, ThinkFastBook.com, Swift DB6/Honda.
Kelley took the lead at the green flag and was followed by Cheng, Kaminsky and Geise as the field set off on the first lap. Kelley led lap one followed by Cheng, Kaminsky, Geise, Negron, Phillips, Thomas, Hundley and Kodenko with West having called at the pits to retire with a misfiring engine.
The Formula F group was led by Ford, with Salvo, Roberts, Marie, Erlandson, and Andersen.
Lap 2 saw Cheng pass Kelley for the lead, a position he would hold for the next several laps and this was also the lap Geise wrested third place away from Kaminsky as the pair fought for third place and Negron dropped from fifth to ninth.
Cheng led until lap seven when Kelley was able to take a short lived lead as Cheng was back in the lead on the next lap and held on to the end scoring a seventh win in the series for the Sammamish, Washington resident by a comfortable 5.817 seconds over Kelley.
Geise and Kaminsky managed to break away from the field in the battle to claim the final step of the podium. After a brief exchange of positions on lap eleven, Geise regained the spot on the next lap and held on to take a fine third place finish with Kaminsky fourth.
Fifth place went to Negron, who after dropping to ninth worked his way back to fifth by getting by Thomas, who spun on lap three, and Kodenko. He trailed Hundley for three laps before passing him and got his final spot when Phillips spun and got high centered with four laps to go. Negron again claimed the Master Class (drivers 51 and over) honors.
Sixth and seventh went to Hundley, hoping to enjoy more series events, and Kodenko with Thomas claiming eight spot and the Expert Class (drivers 35-50) win.
Formula F honors again went to Conner Ford who was un-harried in his cruise to victory, claiming his fifth win and a commanding lead in the title chase.
Behind Ford in the race for second it was Salvo who prevailed but not without fending off the challenges first of Marie and then Roberts as the Honda powered cars fought it out to see which would stand on the podium as Honda swept the first four places. Salvo held on for second followed by Roberts, who took his first podium after a sixteen year layoff and Marie.
Erlandson would up fifth on three cylinders and Andersen was sixth.
The series is at the mid-way point and now moves on to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California as it begins the final run for the championship on June 9th and 10th.
F2000 Qualifying: 1. Bobby Kelley (Van Diemen), 1m40.277s; 2. David Cheng (Van Diemen), 1m40.463; 3. Camren Kaminsky (Van Diemen), 1m40.935s, 4. Bob Negron (Van Diemen), 1m41.418s; 5. Les Phillips (Van Diemen), 1m41.598s; 6. Camden Geise (Van Diemen), 1m42.062s; 7. Peter West (Van Diemen), 1m42.998s; 8. Peter Thomas (Van Diemen), 1m43.670s; 9. Chris Hundley (Van Diemen), 1m43.994s; 10. Nick Kodenko (Van Diemen), 1m44.961. (All use Zetec/Quicksilver engines unless otherwise noted.)
F2000 Round 1 (16 laps): 1. Cheng; 2. Kelley +5.817; 3. Geise, +20.488s; 4. Kaminsky, +24.730s; 5. Negron, +34.327; 6. Hundley, +41.852s.; 7. Kodenko, +1m22.413s; 8. Thomas, +1m34.947s; 9. Phillips, +4 laps; 10. West, +15 laps.
FF Qualifying: 1. Conner Ford (Mygale/Honda), 1m46.508s; 2. Ed Erlandson (Swift/ Ford), 1m48.270s; 3. Al Salvo (Mygale/Honda), 1m48.509s; Sage Marie (Piper/Honda), 1m50.751s; Neil Roberts (Swift/Honda), 1m50.866s.
FF Round 5 (16 laps): 1. Ford; 2. Salvo; 3. Roberts; 4. Marie; 5. Erlandson; 6. Andersen.
Margin of victory: .5.817s.
Winner’s average speed: 92.337 mph.
Fastest race lap: Cheng, 1m41.658s, 93.490 mph.
Expert class winner (35-50): F2000; Thomas.
Sierra Tire Masters class winner (over 50): F2000; Negron.
Wine Country Motorsports Hard Charger Award: None.
For more details go to
www.pacificf2000.com or contact Les Phillips at 661-764-5333, or by email,
lesrace@aol.com. Follow us on twitter @PacificF2000.
Pacific F2000/FF Super Series - Round 6
