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| May 22, 2012 News |
| Pacific F2000/FF: Cheng Returns to Victory Lane |
 | David Cheng captured his seventh Pacific F2000 win with the Round Six victory at Buttonwillow
(Photo: Jerry Andersen - jerryandersen-world.com) |
Buttonwillow Raceway Park was the site of Round Six of the Pacific F2000/Formula F Super Series Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care on Sunday (May 20). Using the 2.640-mile 14CW track, the event was run as part of the Cal Club Region of the SCCA Double Regional weekend.
An 8:30 am qualifying session meant cooler temperatures, but that didn’t keep the battle for the pole from heating up again, as Bobby Kelley in his No. 21 A & B Equipment/Dave Freitas Racing Van Diemen and David Cheng in the No. 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 1:40.277.
The second row of the grid was made up of Camren Kaminsky in the No. 34 PR1 Van Diemen and Bob Negron's No. 9 Terri Negron Web Design/Negron Racing Van Diemen, with Les Phillips' No. 2 Swiss Implant/Porterfield Brakes Van Diemen and Camden Geise's No. 6 DFR Van Diemen in row three. Peter West, No. 99 Frank Monise Motors Van Diemen, and Peter Thomas, No. 7 Refrigeration Control Co./PR1 Van Diemen were in row four, and Chris Hundley in the No. 62 Limousine Connection/DFR Van Diemen and Nick Kodenko, No. 31 Kodenko Automotive/Kodenko Jeans/Redline Oil/Associated Tire Van Diemen took up the final row of the grid.
In the Formula F group, Conner Ford in the No. 77 JF Excavating & Grading/Western Nevada Supply/Sparco USA/PR1 Motorsports, Mygale/Honda had over a second and a half advantage over Ed Erlandson in the No. 8 Artwork by Eli, Porter Racing/ Loyning, Goodyear Swift DB6/Ford. Al Salvo, No. 23 Miracle Sealants/Corsa Care/ PR1 Mygale/Honda, was third, followed by Sage Marie in the No. 17 Honda Performance Development Piper/Honda and Neil Roberts, No. 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 been called to the pits to retire with a misfiring engine.
The Formula F group was led by Ford, with Salvo, Roberts, Marie, Erlandson, and Andersen.
Lap two saw Cheng pass Kelley for the lead, a position he held for the next several laps. 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 score a seventh win in the series 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 11, 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, ahead of Kodenko, with Thomas claiming eight spot and the Expert Class (drivers 35-50) win.
Formula F honors went to 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 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 16-year layoff, and Marie. Erlandson would up fifth on three cylinders, and Andersen was sixth.
The Pacific F2000/Formula F Super Series Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care is now at the mid-way point, and moves on to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., when it begins the final run for the championship on June 9-10.
Pacific Formula F2000/Formula F Super Series
Round Six - Race Results
May 20, 2012
Buttonwillow Raceway Park - Buttonwillow, California
F2000
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | David Cheng | PR1 Motorsports | - | 1:41.721 | | 2. | Bobby Kelley | Dave Freitas Racing | 5.817 | 1:41.658 | | 3. | Camden Geise | Dave Freitas Racing | 20.488 | 1:42.818 | | 4. | Camren Kaminsky | PR1 Motorsports | 24.730 | 1:42.647 | | 5. | Bob Negron | Negron Racing | 34.327 | 1:43.000 | | 6. | Chris Hundley | Dave Freitas Racing | 41.852 | 1:44.490 | | 7. | Nick Kodenko | Kodenko Racing | 1:22.413 | 1:46.307 | | 8. | Peter Thomas | PR1 Motorsports | 1:34.947 | 1:44.682 | | 9. | Les Phillips | Phillips Racing | 4 Laps | 1:43.691 | | 10. | Peter West | Dave Freitas Racing | 15 Laps | No-time | |
Formula F
| Pos. | Drier | Team | Fast Time| 1. | Conner Ford | PR1 Motorsports | 1:46.955 | | 2. | Al Salvo | PR1 Motorsports | 1:49.783 | | 3. | Neil Roberts | Roberts Racing | 1:49.166 | | 4. | Sage Marie | Marie Racing | 1:50.459 | | 5. | Ed Erlandson | Porter Racing | 1:50.594 | | 6. | Jerry Andersen | Andersen Racing | 1:56.685 | |
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