PSRS Champions Crowned for 2006

The inaugural season of the Pacific Sports Racer Series concluded its 4 race schedule at Portland International Raceway yesterday. Renny Damon and his Hayabusa powered Stohr claimed the CSR Champion for the 2006 Pacific Sports Racer Series. John Hill was awarded the DSR Championship in his Stohr WF1 after dominating yet another PSRS weekend.

Running every race, Renny Damon's third place in Race #4 was good enough to take the CSR Championship trophy, beating out Wade Carter by just 3 points. Ken Davis was just 2 points behind Carter in third.

Sig Knapstad took second in the DSR points in his first generation Stohr. Kevin Mitz was third in his Suzuki powered Cheetah SR1 in a close points grab with Mark Bakhit trailing Mitz by only one point.

Final PSRS points for the 4 race series were:

CSR Championship (Points/Driver)
27 Renny Damon
24 Wade Carter
22 Ken Davis
15 Rick Lee
12 Don Simons
12 Roger Nutall
09 Paul Marciano
07 Renny Clayton
05 Richard Cottrill
03 Michael Vellone

DSR Championship (Points/Driver)
36 John Hill
21 Sig Knapstad
17 Kevin Mitz
16 Mark Bakhit
10 Ellen Ferguson
09 Frank Lattuca
09 Fabian Okonski
09 Larry Vollum
07 Rod Morley
06 Harvey Goldman
06 Bill Lomenick
05 Andy Juner
05 Matt Conrad
04 Bob Fox
03 John Howarth
02 James Kuhns

A specail thanks go out to the 2006 PSRS sponsors including:

[ Read more ] ::

PSRS 2: Hill Dominates All, Nuttall Takes CSR

John Hill dominated the seond race of the Pacific SPorts Racer Series with his Stohr WF1, winning DSR and easily estalishing a new DSR track record for Thunderhill Raceway, California. Roger Nuttall in his converted Carbir S2000 car took the top spot in CSR.

John Hill used his Stohr WF1/Yamaha R1 to claim the overall pole for the combined formula and sports racer group by half a second faster than the top Formula Atlantic car. Hill then rocketed away from the start and both of the subsequent pace car restarts. Near the end he end of the race, he backed off his pace after hearing noices. John let two formula Atlantic car by and finished third overall.

Kevin Mitz qualified his Cheetah/Suzuki GSXR second in DSR, 5 seconds behind Hill's single lap flyier, but wanted to make the race interesting. After focusing on making sure his customer RennWorks cars were ready, Kevin got to the grid after the other cars had already started leaving. So, he started the race at the back. A great start and two pace car periods helped Kevin move to the front, where he regained his second place for the finish.

Frank Lattuca Jr. qualified and finished thrid in his Beasley/Honda. Following in DSR were Ellen Ferguson (Stohr/Yamaha R1), Andy Juner (A-mac/Suzuki), Robert Fox (Fox/Suzuki), John Howarth (Maloy/Yamaha), and Rod Morley (Stohr/Suzuki).

Roger Nuttall qualified first in CSR and 18th overall, and went on to win CSR in the 10th overall position. Following in CSR at the finish were Renny Damon (Stohr), Rennie Clayton (Zink), Lance Watkins (Swift), and Charlie Kulmann (Ralt).

[ Read more ] ::

PSRS 1: Hill claims DSR, Carter win CSR

Report and photo by Lee Stohr

The 2004 National Championship winning cars in CSR & DSR were piloted to easy wins at the first race of the Double National at Phoenix, AZ. The race was also the first event in the 2006 Pacific Sports Racer Series. Rick Lee and Wade Carter battled together in their Swift Vikings for most of the race for the CSR and overall win. Rick had a problem and lost a couple laps in the pits. Wade won by 7 seconds ahead of John Hill in the new Stohr WF1 DSR. John and Wade lapped the entire field.

Kevin Mitz moved into second early on in his Cheetah. Kevin was flying today, he turned a 59.5. Unfortunately, some fuel pickup problems dropped him back later. A big battle ensued between Mark Bakhit and Larry Vollum. Larry is from Portland, and has a first generation Stohr updated with the latest WF1 tunnels. Mark did a good job of making his car 'wide' and Larry didn't quite make it past. They finished second and third in DSR. Paul Marciano of PM Motorsports in Phoenix, took 2nd in CSR in a Phoenix chassis. Ken Davis took 3rd in CSR in a Zetec engined Lola S2.

Provisional Race Results

2006 Pacific Sports Racer Series Round 1


CSR Podium photo


DSR Podium photo

1st CSR Wade Carter 56.8
2nd DSR John Hill 57.7
3rd DSR Mark Bakhit 1:00.3
4th DSR Larry Vollum 58.99
5th CSR Paul Marciano 1:01
6th CSR Ken Davis 1:03
7th DSR Harvey Goldman 1:02
8th DSR Kevin Mitz 59.5
9th CSR Rick Lee 56.8
10th CSR Richard Cottrill 1:05
11th CSR Michael Vellone 1:11

Qualifying Results

CSR Rick Lee Viking 55.999
CSR Wade Carter Viking 56.176
DSR John Hill 2005 Stohr WF1 56.5
DSR Mark Bakhit Stohr 58.6
CSR Paul Marciano Phoenix 1:00.8
DSR Kevin Mitz Cheetah 1:01.0
DSR Harvey Goldman Stohr 1:01.9
CSR Ken Davis Lola 1:02.1
CSR Richard Cottrill Speads 1:03
CSR Don Simons 1:09
CSR Michael Vellone Ralt 1:12
CSR Renny Damon 1:14
DSR Larry Vollum, no transponder, start at back

Read more details in this topic on the sports racer forum.

Photos from the event here and here.

The weekend started badly when Matt Conrad crashed his Phoenix coming off the banking. It was reported that his brake pedal went to the floor. It was also reported that an a-arm barely missed his legs. Matt was taken to the hospital but was fine. Matt put in a lot of effort organizing the first race of the 2006 Pacific Sports Racer Series.

Matt later reported,

"2nd session of the day and just getting a few warm-up laps in before I start to click some good one's off. Down the front straightaway in sixth gear, probably 135mph and find no brake pedal.....and I mean pedal on the floor....not good.

I know I have the oval off to my right to work with but I need to be smooth getting across the grass strip between the infield course and the main track, but a white Stohr is in front of me and he has brakes so he's slowing. I clip his right rear with my left front and it's "blue sky" time. Corner workers say many flips in the air before coming down wheels down. I only thought I went up and then came right back down on my wheels...don't know.

Once I did come down I saw blue again....the unfriendly baby blue PIR wall....and I slammed into it very hard. I even thought before the hit that it was going to hurt bad. I hit at about a 45 degree angle and then the rear slapped the wall very hard as well. I did hit in an area where the SAFER barrier was installed.

The safety workers needed about 20 minutes to get me out of the car because one of the right front a-arms penetrated the cockpit and pierced both of my pant legs, my right shoe and my right sock.....but miraculously not my legs.

I do have two minor cracks in my ankle, but otherwise feel great. I was wearing a Hans and I firmly believe that it saved me from serious injury as I hit the wall brutally hard. I'm going to try to pull the data today to find out how many g's.

The corner workers brought a pile of debris and said there were some carbon parts still imbedded in the wall.

The body, floor, wing, chassis, engine, entire right side suspension, front crush box are gone and the car is literally destroyed."

Postscipt after the weekend, Matt reports,

"Just got the data off of the car and unfortunately it looks like the power got cut off .101 seconds after impact. The highest g-force reading recorded was a -4.76. The speed at impact with the Stohr was 129.7 mph and the wall came calling 4.3 seconds later at 117 mph. The impact and the short flight didn't slow me much!

After many discussions with witnesses it appears that I was correct in that the car did not flip in the air....I was airborne (hoorah for all of us ex-paratroopers), but a PIR employee (the guy who fixes the walls) witnessed the whole thing and he said I came right back down on the wheels. He also said the impact was heavy enough to dent the SAFER barrier but not break any of the welds or displace the foam.

Another thing I learned is that the driver in the Stohr was trying to move over as he saw me coming up fast behind him. I couldn't figure out how I hit him because I thought I was clear of him. I don't hold him responsible in the least, he was trying to give me the low line into the corner....he didn't know I was in trouble.

I really look forward to getting back out there as soon as I can. Hopefully the Double National at Firebird in March. Thanks to all of you who e-mailed and called with your concerns...I truly appreciate it!

Matt Conrad
Phoenix Race Cars, Inc."

[ Read more ] ::

Pacific Nationals Series Announced

A collection of industry sponsors are offering some encouragement for C & D Sports Racers to attend key National races on the West Coast in 2006. The Pacific Sports Car Series will include five SCCA National events from Phoenix, Arizona to Portland, Oregon, covering seven races in the Southern and Northern Pacific Divisions. For each class, trophies will be given to the top 3 finishers at the first race of each event, and there will be a traveling Championship Trophy for each class.

Tow Fund
Tow money will be paid to increase the car count at each event, by assisting out of area drivers suppliment their travel costs. The tow fund will pay $200 to competitiors who tow more than 200 miles from the location where the vehicle is normally stored. The tow fund will be $300 if the distance is greater than 300 miles.

Tentative 2006 Schedule
January 12-15 > Phoenix Double National
March > Thunderhill Double National
April > Buttonwillow National
June 9-11 > Portland Rose Cup National
August > Laguna Seca National

Points
The Series is structured to keep administrative issues to an absolute minimum. Therefore, as many rules as possible will be deferred to the SCCA Club Racing General Regulations (GCR) and Supplemental Regulations for the races.

The Series consists of a set of specially designated SCCA Club races, determined at the start of the calendar year. Points earned at each race are applied to the Pacific Sports Racer Series Championship. The SCCA points system will be used (GCR 16.2.3). Twelve points will be awarded for first place, 9 for second place, 7 for third place, continuing to 1 point for ninth place.

Sponsors
Loynimgs Race Engines
Veracity Racing Data
The Shock Shop
Phoenix Race Cars
Stohr Cars
Racing Concepts
Longbloed Racing Wheels

For further details on the program, email the Series Administrator
or check the Pacific Sports Car Series web site.

Read forum discussion on this topic.

[ Read more ] ::