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West Coast
Club Racers Complete BFG Super Tour at Buttonwillow
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BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. (May 1, 2011) –
SCCA Club Racing’s best drivers from
the west coast had their day in the spotlight Sunday, racing for class
wins and bragging rights at Round Four of the BFGoodrich Tires Sopac
SCCA Super Tour, held at Buttonwillow Raceway Park.
Nearly 130 drivers competed for wins in 24
classes, broken out into five race groups. Of those 24 classes, half of
them broke the existing track record at the 3.1-mile circuit.
Reigning National Champion and Super Tour
winner in the GT-1 class, Michael Lewis, of Poway, Calif., dominated
race group one in his Jaguar XKR, setting the fastest lap ever
officially turned at Buttonwillow’s 25A CCW configuration at 1:42.399
(108.985 mph). After setting the time early in the 16-lap, 49.6-mile
race, Lewis went into cruise mode, but still nearly lapped the entire
field.
While E Production, F Production and Super
Touring U winners Aaron Downey (Corona Del Mar, Calif.), Brian Linn
(Hermosa Beach, Calif.) and Marc Hoover (Shingle Springs, Calif.) ran to
dominating wins, GT-3 and GT-Lite both saw lead changes.
Mike Henderson, of El Cajon, Calif., was on
the GT-3 pole in his Mazda RX-7, but it was the similar car of Jose
Rodriguez, of San Leandro, Calif., who jumped to the lead at the start.
Henderson, the 2010 GT-3 National Championship runner-up, was able to
move back to the lead entering Grapevine Corner and then sped away to a
10-second victory.
Bill Gilcrease, of Costa Mesa, Calif., moved
past GT-Lite polesitter John Bower’s Nissan Sentra early in the race and
worked up to nearly a five-second lead. Bower’s late-race charge
resulted in a new track record of 2:06.212 (88.423 mph) and allowed him
to take the lead in traffic on the final lap. Gilcrease was not finished
though, and used his Austin Mini Cooper’s brakes to dive underneath the
Nissan in the Grapevine corner to reclaim the lead and take the win.
Track records also went to Downey’s Mazda RX-3
in E Production, with a 2:00.412 (92.682 mph) and Linn’s Mazda Miata in
F Production, with a 2:04.779 (89.438 mph).
The record book will show that Lewis has the
GT-1 track record, but his time as the overall course record holder was
short lived, as Group Two winner Lee Alexander dropped the D Sports
Racing track record to a 1:41.159 (110.321 mph). Alexander, of Las
Vegas, Nev., recently acquired his Stohr WF-Zero from previous record
holder Michael Scully, and went flag-to-flag for the win for the
second-straight day.
Formula 1000 looked to be a great battle
between polesitter and two-time SCCA National Champion J.R. Osbourne, of
Greenwood Village, Colo., and Saturday’s winner and track record holder
Canadian Nicholas Belling. While Belling took the lead early in his RFR
F1000, he tangled with another car and fell out on lap four, giving the
lead to Osbourne. He went on to victory, setting a new track record of
1:44.395 (106.902 mph) in the process, but admitted that Belling was the
“class of the field” while on the podium.
C Sports Racing and Formula Atlantic featured
tight battles and new track records as well. Don Simons, of Las Vegas,
Nev., edged Dave Tweedie, of Riverside, Calif., for the CSR win by
0.484-second. Simons set a new record of 1:46.435 (104.853 mph) in his
Radical PR06. Chris Emanuel, of Huntington Beach, Calif., won Formula
Atlantic over Randy Cook, of Palo Alto, Calif., but it was Cook that got
the track record of 1:47.698 (103.623 mph). Emanuel drove his Pro Star
Mazda to a 0.832-second win.
Les Philips, of Bakersfield, Calif., Steve
Brown, of Ontario, Calif., and Edward Guenther, of Paradise Valley,
Ariz., each scored class wins in Formula Continental, Formula Mazda and
Sports 2000, respectively. Philips set the FC track record with a
1:49.861 (101.583 mph).
As expected, Group Three for Spec Miatas
featured a tight battle at the front between Saturday’s race winner, 16
year-old Tyler Vance, of Ladera Ranch, Calif., and Sammy Valafar, of Las
Vegas, Nev. Polesitter Valafar took the lead early, but Vance was
through to the point halfway through the race. Valafar watched Vance
work his tires and was able to get back to the front on lap 11. Unlike
Saturday, there would be no last-lap pass for Vance into the lead and
Valafar took the 0.819-second win.
Roy Benedetti, of Laguna Niguel, Calif., took
the overall and Touring 1 win in Group Four, driving his Chevrolet
Corvette to a 2.242-second victory. Benedetti was locked in a battle
with Oli Thordarson, of Trabuco Canyon, Calif., for much of the event
until Thordarson encountered mechanical problems in his Chevrolet
Corvette.
The expected battle between the Honda S2000s
of Sage Marie and Tom Wickersham for Touring 3 never materialized, as
Wickersham pitted as the green came out with a brake problem and Marie,
of Huntington Beach, Calif., was able to cruise to victory.
Other Group Four winners included Aaron
Bailey, of Shasta Lake, Calif., in American Sedan; Brian Husting, of
Irvine, Calif., in Showroom Stock C and Tom Brecht, of Escondido,
Calif., in Touring 2.
Jason Isley, of Coto deCaza, Calif., set a new
H Production track record en route to victory in his Toyota Yaris with a
2:10.683 (85.397 mph). Likewise, Lee Niffenegger, of Santa Clarita,
Calif., set a new Showroom Stock B mark of 2:10.079 (85.794 mph) in his
Honda Civic Si.
In the final race of the weekend, Jeff
Sakowicz, of Sonoma, Calif., consistently clicked off laps at the front
of the field to win Formula F by 5.631 seconds over Ed Erlandson in his
Van Diemen Ford.
T.J. Acker, of Saugus, Calif., started first
in Spec Racer Ford and went flag-to-flag for the win, unlike Saturday’s
race, where he spun early and had to run through the field for the
victory. Acker topped multi-time National Champion Mike Miserendino, a
late arrival, who missed qualifying and started from the back of the
11-car pack, by 8.160 seconds.
The Formula Vee race looked to be one of the
best of the weekend, until leaders Ron Wake, Dennis Andrade and Brian
McCarthy encountered traffic that broke off the lead battle. Wake, of
Lafayette, Calif., took the win in his Mysterian, over Andrade by 13.316
seconds.
Jeff Jorgenson, of San Francisco, Calif., was
the lone Formula 500 entry, but that didn’t deter him from being
motivated enough to set a new track record of 1:57.855 (94.693 mph) in
his Novakar JJ10.
The BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour next
travels across the country for the Great Lakes Super Tour, June 10-12,
at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Image: Aaron Bailey en route to the American
Sedan victory over Chris Qualls at Buttonwillow. D E Baer Photo.
BUTTONWILLOW, Calif. – Class winning drivers
from Sunday’s BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Super Tour event from Buttonwillow
Raceway Park, with class, driver, hometown and car. All races were 16
laps, 49.6 miles in length.
American Sedan, Aaron Bailey, Shasta Lake,
Calif., Pontiac Firebird
H Production, Jason Isley, Coto deCaza,
Calif., Toyota Yaris
Showroom Stock B, Lee Niffenegger, Santa
Clarita, Calif., Honda Civic Si
Showroom Stock C, Brian Husting, Irvine,
Calif., Chevrolet Cobalt
Touring 1, Roy Benedetti, Laguna Niguel,
Calif., Chevrolet Corvette
Touring 2, Tom Brecht, Escondido, Calif., BMW
Z4 M Coupe
Touring 3, Sage Marie, Huntington Beach,
Calif., Honda S2000
Spec Miata, Sammy Valafar, Las Vegas, Nev.,
Mazda Miata
C Sports Racing, Don Simons, Las Vegas, Nev.,
Radical PR06
D Sports Racing, Lee Alexander, Las Vegas,
Nev., Stohr WF-Zero
Formula Atlantic, Chris Emanuel, Huntington
Beach, Calif., Star Pro Formula Mazda
Formula 1000, J.R. Osbourne, Greenwood
Village, Colo., Stohr F1000
Formula Continental, Les Phillips,
Bakersfield, Calif., Mygale SJ04
Formula Mazda, Steve Brown, Ontario, Calif.,
Star Mazda
Sports 2000, Edward Guenther, Paradise Valley,
Ariz., Swift DB-5
E Production, Aaron Downey, Corona Del Mar,
Calif., Mazda RX-3
F Production, Brian Linn, Hermosa Beach,
Calif., Mazda Miata
GT-1, Michael Lewis, Poway, Calif., Jaguar XKR
GT-3, Mike Henderson, El Cajon, Calif., Mazda
RX-7
GT-L, Bill Gilcrease, Costa Mesa, Calif.,
Austin Mini Cooper
Super Touring U, Marc Hoover, Shingle Springs,
Calif., Mazda Miata
Formula 500, Jeff Jorgenson, San Francisco,
Calif., Novakar JJ10
Formula F, Jeff Sakowicz, Sonoma, Calif., Van
Diemen
Formula Vee, Ron Wake, Lafayette, Calif.,
Mysterian
Spec Racer Ford, T.J. Acker, Saugus, Calif.,
Spec Racer Ford
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