2002 Season Race #6
Laguna Seca 8/3/2002

Sports Racers really like racing at Laguna Seca Raceways near Monterey, California and it showed when more than 34 Sports Racers showed up for the SCCA National/Regional races August 2-4, 2002. Included were 14 Sports 2000s competing in the 4 Flight S2 cup series. The field was full of serious competitors including Michael Scully and Chris Tryon in immaculate Lolas, and Spencer Trennery, David Ferguson, Jeff Littrell and Doug Ota in Swifts. Jeff Anderson, Greg Clark, Gary Holcomb, Bob Lovenson and Joe Moran traveled from Southern California while Northern California was represented by Rob Conrad and Fred Michael.

National Race

The Sports Racers were assigned their own group for the National qualifying and the race. There were 15 CSRs (including many from UK manufacturer Radical), and 6 DSRs. Practice was held in conjunction with the open wheel FA/FC/FM classes and saw more than 60 cars on the track at once.

In his first outing with the S2 Cup series, Michael Scully took the pole with a new SCCA qualifying record 1:32.5. He was followed by Ota, Tryon, Trennery and Ferguson who were all within 2 seconds. Ferguson only made three laps in qualifying as a brake fitting broke on his third lap, letting the brake pedal hit the bulkhead and sending him off the track at turn 11. Thanks to parts from Bill Margraf, he would be ready for the Saturday race. Fast guy Jeff Littrell, would miss qualifying and start from the rear of the field on Saturday.

At the start, Spencer Trennery banged with the Cosworth-Lola CSR of Dave Jansen, but he and Chris Tryon got around Doug Ota as they braked for turn 2. With Scully under the back of a DSR as they exit T3, Spencer looks inside at T4, but can’t make it stick. Ferguson would go inside of Ota in the braking zone for the corkscrew.

On the second lap, Scully & Trennery got around one of the Radical DSRs, and Scully began to pull out a gap. Scully is flying, reportedly in the high 1:32s. Ferguson passes Tryon on the outside of Turn 9, but is separated from the leaders by the Radical. Tryon stays close, and they touch as Ferguson heads for the apex at turn 2.

Scully pulls out a few more seconds as Trennery drops back. In a few laps, Ferguson over slows for Turn 6, and Tryon takes advantage on the run up the hill and passes him before the corkscrew.

Through the mid-part of the race, the leaders catch and pass slower lapped traffic. These non-position passes become critical since any delay in passing will allow the drivers behind to close up. One of the Radicals ends up in the wall at the inside exit of turn 11, and the pace car is dispatched.

All but the top 10 or so cars have been passed by overall leader Michael Vergers in his CSR Radical. Littrell has worked up to 6th spot but is slotted 3rd behind the pace car so his race is ruined. He takes the opportunity to duck into the pits to tape on the nose that is almost falling off his car after a hard hit with a slower Radical DSR. While Littrell pits, the front-running S2s continue to circulate until they catch the tail end of the field.

On the restart, there is now tightly packed slower traffic right in front of the leaders. Informed over his radio when the green flag waves, Trennery shoots in front of Scully and separates himself by a couple of slower cars. One of the Radical CSRs moves up through the S2 field as Ferguson gets caught up in a traffic jam for turn 11, and Ota squeezes by to move into 4th place. The order is Trennery, Scully, Tryon, and Ota. Ferguson dogs Ota, but traffic interferes preventing a good passing opportunity.

Scully and Trennery swap paint via mutual contact for almost two laps until Scully gets past between T5 and T6. Now Scully is the spearhead of an S2 freight train plowing through back-markers. This process is significantly hindered by a very erratically wielded Radical CSR which Scully passes numerous times with heavy contact. Finally, heading through the corkscrew with Trenery, Tryon, Ota, and Ferg in tow, Scully passes the CSR again, this time on the inside at the top of the hill, again with heavy rubbing, and the CSR turns into Scully and nails the throttle, pirouetting Scully down the corkscrew, handing the lead to Trennery.

With two laps to go, Ota spins in traffic at the exit of T11. As he rolls backwards across the track, his tail just scrapes Ferguson as he swerves in an attempt to avoid contact.

The order is now Trennery, Tryon and Ferguson. On the last lap, Ferguson gets a good run through turn 4, and is along side Tryon in the turn 5 braking zone. Chris carries it deep, causing David to go a bit too deep and have a slow exit. Chris then pulls along side, and they go side-by-side into T6. David drops two wheels off the outside, but never lifts, and is leading has they approach the Corkscrew.

In impound, there is lots of evidence of cars that have been leaning on each other. Most contact was absolutely incidental, and drivers felt it was one of the best races they have ever had!

Trenery wins his second S2 Cup race (he won the inaugural event in 2001), Ferguson felt he had a lucky second place, and Tryon a hard-fought third.

The drawing for the extra tow money was one by Bob Lovenson, and Michael Scully won the random drawing.

Saturday night Rob Conrad and the Fergusons hosted a Fajita Dinner that was a great success, with virtually all the S2 drivers and family and friends attending. A hearty "Thank You" to Rob Conrad and Ellen and Dave Ferguson who amazingly had the time to plan and pull this dinner off even while fielding their racecars!

Regional Race

David Ferguson was running his wife Ellen in her DSR for the Regional race so he let the other S2s duke it out. Jeff Littrell was available for Regional qualifying and stepped in to take pole position over Trenery and Ota. National pole sitter Michael Scully had a throttle cable failure, putting him back in 6th spot.

Littrell led Sunday's Race from the start and was able to put some other sports racers between him and the other S2s. But running up front would take its toll when Littrell was the first S2 to come on a big oil spill in turns 4, 5, and 6. With Littrell spun off into the tire wall in T4, Tryon would prevail over Trennery, Ota, and Moran.

Check out the Full Gallery of Photos from this race.