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March 6, 2002
American Iron Series Race Report- Round 2
March 2-3, 2002, Buttonwillow Raceway Park
The paddock was filled with excitement and American Iron (AI) and
American Iron Extreme (AIX) cars for the second round of races for the 2002 season. The drivers to beat were
Vageli Karas in AI and Ross Murray in AIX after both secured 2 wins at the first round of races at California
Speedway in February.
Saturday’s warm up saw the AIX cars of Murray and John Lindsey looking
fast but not posting times due to a lack of transponders. In AI, Ryan Flaherty turned the fastest practice
lap, with Rob Ainscough and Vageli Karas close behind. After qualifying, the grid saw Murray posting a 2:03.7
followed by Lindsey with a 2:05.3 filling the first row. The top 3 cars in American Iron were very close with Flaherty
setting the top time of 2:05.9, followed by Ainscough at 2:06.4, and Karas at 2:06.5. The race itself was a wild
one with multiple spins and amazing battles taking place all over the track. Ross Murray stayed out front to
take the AIX crown with Lindsey and
Michael Arnheiter taking the next two spots. The AI field was thinned
out when pole sitter and race leader Ryan Flaherty was hit by Guy Cunningham’s car, which put Flaherty out of
the race with a caved in right front quarter.
Cunningham later expired with mechanical problems and Ainscough moved up
to take the 1st place position. The finishing order for AI ended up being Ainscough taking the win followed
by Tony Guaglione, Vageli Karas, Tim
Gilpin, Ed Varon, and Per Helldin. Ernesto Roco managed to take the 7th
spot after he retired past the halfway mark due to a mechanical problem.
Sunday’s practice saw Saturday’s pole sitter Ryan Flaherty post the
fastest American Iron lap time for the weekend with a 2:04.6 after his crew
managed pull off a midnight thrash
session to replace the front suspension
and do some bodywork to get the car back out on the grid. Ainscough (AI)
followed Flaherty at 2:06.5 and Guaglione (AI) was next with a 2:10.1. Qualifying was cut short due to
some track debris and the grid order saw
Murray (AIX) on pole with an impressive 2:02.9 followed by Ainscough
(AI) with a 2:05.8, Lindsey (AIX) at 2:05.94 and Flaherty (AI) with a 2:05.95. The rest of the grid was made
up of Vageli Karas, Ernesto Roco, Tim Gilpin, Tony Guaglione, Arnheiter, Brian Murphy, and Per
Helldin.
In the race, the AIX cars of Murray and Lindsey pulled away on the start
and Flaherty managed to pass pole sitter Rob Ainscough into Turn 1. After 3 laps, Flaherty had managed to
put a sizeable lead on the filed and the battle for second was raging between Ainscough and Karas. As luck would
have it, Flaherty’s clutch started slipping and he had to point the field by on the straight dropping him
to 6th place. Ainscough was the new leader followed closely by Karas until a fuel problem surfaced which took Karas
out of competition. Ernesto Roco experienced some bad luck in the warm up lap when his steering wheel
came off in his hands and he was forced to pit to tighten the wheel. However once back out on track, he made up
time with a vengeance and managed to post the quickest race lap of the group but ended up a few laps down at the
checker. Tony Guaglione turned consistent
laps and stayed out of trouble to take the second place position again.
The finishing order of the Sunday race was Murray in first and Lindsey in second for AIX and Ainscough, Guaglione,
Gilpin, Flaherty, Helldin, Murphy, and Roco rounding out the AI order.
The next round of the series will be held April 6-7th at Buttonwillow
Raceway, so come out and watch the battle. Given the excitement and drama of this weekend’s show, it should be
epic. For more information on the American Iron Series, please visit www.nasaproracing.com/ai. |
