After a relaxed morning of open practice, a few short warm up sessions around lunchtime, and an afternoon of heat races to determine the grids for the main events, it was showtime in the high desert. The peapick format employed by F100 at Round #3 provided great racing action throughout the day. Anticipation and excitement filled the air as the racers prepared for their final on track event of the day. Many racers in each class had proven their speed and shown they were contenders for the top step of the podium.
First up was the F100 Cadet class. F100 Cadet is a newcomer to the F100 class structure. A few racers took to the high desert to do battle in the Cadet class, and although the field was small, the action on track was exciting to watch. Congratulations to both Alex Siragusa and Brandon Siragusa for their strong performances throughout the day! F100 looks forward to seeing both of these fast racers at Round #4!
The F100 Senior Novice hosted a full field of racers, eager for competition. Series newcomers came to do battle with experienced Novice class racers, all fighting for the chance to hoist the green colored trophy at the end of the day. When the dust had settled it was Patrick Lonnee claiming his first victory of the season. Lonnee, who has proven his speed at prior F100 events in 2013, was able to seal the deal and take home the win. Not far behind Lonnee was Ryan Shearer. Shearer has performed well this season and is quickly becoming a formidable racer. It is only a matter of time before he takes home the checkered flag and stands atop the podium. Vincent Lefevre snagged 3rd place, piloting his new Birel machine to the front of the field. Lefevre is developing into a very fast racer very quickly, and with more work he will soon be moving up to the top step of the podium in the Novice class and beyond. Alejandro Cruz, in his first race with F100, came home in 4th place. Cruz proved to be a fast racer, and with more seat time will definitely become a top contender in the Novice class and beyond. Not far behind Cruz was his father, Alex Cruz, racing for the 2nd time this season with F100. Like his son, Alex Cruz also proved to be a fast and capable racer and he will definitely challenge for podium finishes as the season progresses. The 00 of Rich Johnson came home in 6th position. Johnson showed great speed all day. His progression as a racer has been exciting to watch! With more seat time, Johnson will continue to climb in the results column and he has a great shot at bagging some podium finishes in 2013. Greg Hoffman, Roger Griffith, Chad Hawkins and Brian Walters all performed well throughout the day, but unfortunately all of their days would end prior to the checkered flag dropping in the main event. All 4 drivers showed great potential on track and with more seat time they will all be racers to watch as the season progresses. An excellent and exciting day of racing in the Novice class. It was great to see all the smiles on the faces of the Novice class racers at the end of day! The Novice class truly embodies the core F100 values of competitiveness, fun and affordability! Congratulations to all of the Novice class racers for an excellent day of racing!
Next up was the F100 Junior class. The Junior class is another newcomer onto the F100 scene, and although the field was only comprised of a few hearty racers, the action on track was filled with speed and excitement. Congratulations to Nolan Ohnemus and Jared Patterson for their excellent performances at Round #3! Both racers showed great speed and great promise and F100 looks forward to seeing them race at Round #4!
F100 Senior Intermediate was the largest class of the day. The Intermediate class is always exciting to watch as the group is filled with many fast racers all with a shot at claiming victory. The heat races proved this fact, as throughout both heats there were multiple passes and positional changes. The anticipation for the main event was high. Starting on pole was David Schall. Schall had an excellent day at Grange, running fast laps in both heat races and recording solid finishes that proved good enough to put him on the point. The CRG driver looked fast as he paced the field, leading every lap of the main event and taking the victory by a healthy margin. Schall benefitted from the battle raging behind him between Adrian Yong, John Shepherd and James Hayner. All of the top four ran almost identical lap times and the competition between racers was fierce. Yong backed up his victory at Round #2 with a strong showing at Round #3, posting a 2nd place finish. His battle with John Shepherd and James Hayner for the 2nd position was exciting to watch, and all three racers looked like they had the speed to compete with Schall. Hayner raced an excellent race, following just behind the lead group for most of the race until he found a late lap opportunity to pounce. After making a great move on Shepherd, Hayner held the advantage and was able to capture a 3rd place finish. An excellent result for a hard days work. Shepherd, who has displayed excellent speed over the last few rounds, put on another great show at Round #3. Shepherd would set the fastest lap of the race and earn himself a 4th place finish. The field behind the lead four was a little more spread out, as contact in turn one and a spin in turn two proved troublesome for many of the Intermediate class racers. Although the ruckus only knocked one racer, Steve Muehler, out for the day, it certainly put a damper on the podium aspriations of many of the Intermediate class racers. With the leaders running such fast and consistent times, there was little that could be done to catch the lead pack, as Ivan Urueta can attest to. Urueta ran lap times on pace with the leaders, but because of the midpack trouble early in the race, his strong efforts were only able to garner a 5th place finish. A good result, and certainly an indicator that Ureuta is back on track in 2013. Behind Urueta was Jeremy Specht. Specht put in another strong performance, running fast lap times and racing very well throughout the day en route to a 6th place performance. Gregorio Urueta would finish behind Specht. Gregorio is steadily improving his 2013 pace as he looks to recapture the speed he had in 2012. Were it not for early lap trouble, Urueta would have challenged for a higher finishing position. Urueta drove well all day and will look for more of the same heading into Round #4. Mike Heron would finish behind Urueta. Heron looked very fast in the heat races but that speed was not able to translate into a podium finish in the main. Heron has raced well all year and will look for another strong performance at Round #4. As mentioned earlier, Steve Muehler was knocked out of contention early in the race. Muehler looked to have the speed to contend for a top finish all day, and although his day ended early, Muehler will look to translate that speed into a solid finish at Round #4. Like Muehler, Alex Bacon's day was ended via contact, although his contact occured in the 2nd heat. Bacon looked fast in the 1st heat, recording a strong 2nd place performance, and although contact ultimately took him out of contention at Round #3, Round #4 looks promising for the FA Kart pilot. The Intermediate class provided great excitement all day! Congratulations to all the Intermediate class racers for their outstanding performances! F100 looks forward to more of the same at Round #4!
The last group to hit the track was F100 Senior Advanced. Advanced is the highest level of F100 competition, and the drivers in this class really know how to make 100cc karts fly. Running sub 1:00 lap times, Kalvin Chen claimed his first victory in a points race with F100. Chen raced hard, clean and fast, minimizing his mistakes and taking advantage of excellent kart setup en route to the victory. Chen grabbed the holeshot over the pole sitter Sebastian Bacon and never looked back, leading every lap of the race and claiming victory by a little less than .5 seconds. Bacon would finish behind Chen, recording his best finish of the season after struggling during the first two rounds of 2013. Although Chen's speed would eventually prove too much for the Tony Kart racer, Bacon would put up a valiant effort, running lap times on par with Chen and making a strong charge towards the end of the race that would fall just a little short. Behind Bacon, Tom Ricketts and Stu Hayner battled back and forth all race with Ricketts eventually taking the position and the podium finish. Both drivers raced hard and fast all day, and after several top finishes so far in 2013, both racers will look for the top step of the podium at Round #4. Onboard footage of the Advanced class race is available below. The footage was taken from the #8d kart of Sebastian Bacon.
Round #3 provided some great racing action! F100 has a great group of racers and the action on track is always exciting and fun to watch. Round #4 is coming up fast and the Fast 100 Karting Blog is looking forward to another exciting event! Congratulations to all the racers at Round #3 for their strong performances! See you at Round #4, July 27th at Adams Motorsports Park. For more information on The Formula 100 Karting Series please visit their website, F100karters.com.
F100 Senior Advanced Onboard
