2002 Season Race #7
Buttonwillow Raceway Park 10/26/2002

Perfect weather conditions blessed the 7th race of the 2002 4 Flight S2 Cup. Even with the Championship already sewn up "Schumacher Style" by Chris Tryon, a decent field of 13 cars showed up to compete for table scraps and bragging rights. The points standings coming into this race showed Tryon with an insurmountable lead but the next 5 drivers were covered by only 9 points so second spot was up for grabs. All five of those drivers (Doug Ota, Jeff Littrell, Joe Moran, Rob Conrad, and David Ferguson) would compete this weekend.

The configuration, 14 Counter-Clockwise, was a new one for everyone -- having never been run in competition previously. Some drivers took advantage of the ACRL race a few weekends prior that ran a similar configuration in the right (wrong) direction and others came out for an S2 press test day or the SCCA open test day Friday to learn the intricacies of the layout. Ferguson was one who did and it showed in his qualifying lap on Saturday where he was able to put together an admittedly almost perfect lap of 1:44.933.

Unfortunately, some of those who didn't test found out the hard way that the esses didn't leave much time to slow down for the sweeper hairpin. Greg Clark, Rob Conrad, and Doug Ota all went off course immediately in Saturday's practice session, with some dramatic ramifications.

Ota had a "cold tire off" in the esses and hit the flag station tire barrier. He scared the poop out of the workers (and presumably himself too) while destroying the tail and right-rear suspension of his Swift. The good news is that the tub and all castings seemed OK, and that Joe Moran let Doug use his "spare" DB2 the rest of the weekend (talk about a spares package!).

Clark's foray into the dirt separated the floor of his car from the rest of the tub, promptly ending his weekend. The only good news for Greg was that Carl Correll's new Buttonwillow shop was only about 50 yards away and the car will be staying there for "a while."

Larry Payton debuted his beautiful, fresh DB-2 and introduced his bad self to the rest of the S2 crew. He was admittedly slow, but improved each session as he got used to his new ride. A couple fast Tiga's showed up and fit right into the show. Jeff Holladay was so fast in his Tiga that he bumped himself up from CS2000 to "real" S2000 and hung it out there with the "new" iron.

Saturday's qualifying was dominated by Ferg's aforementioned uncatchable 1:44.9. He was so fast that he out qualified every other car in the run group, including a Formula Atlantic and a bevy of FCs and FMs, not to mention C and D sports racers! Littrell and Moran rounded out the top three but Holladay and his Tiga were not far behind in 4th spot. One of the real story lines of the weekend was Bob "slimfast" Lovenson who raised eyebrows all around the paddock. He qualified 5th on Saturday and only got better as the weekend progressed.

Ferg's fast lap gave the sports racers the unusual honor of being the first group in the split-start regional race. The start was clean and predictable, with most drivers slotting in close to where they qualified. Littrell lost a little momentum in turn 1, trying an outside pass on Ferg but was able to keep Moran behind him while Freg opened up a 3 car length lead. The top three stayed close together for the first lap but Moran thought that his Hossiers might have an opening lap advantage over Littrell's cold Goodyears so he tried to flat out the last turn before the front straight, hoping to capitalize. Unfortunately the ensuing spin into the dirt (and almost the pit wall) ended what was probably the closest battle on the track.

Moran gathered it back up and started working through the field, including a little love tap for John "piņata" Page along the way, while Littrell tried in vain to catch Ferg. In the first few laps they stayed close together but Ferg was particularly good at picking off traffic and managed to lengthen his lead a little bit with each lap. In the end, Ferg won with a 14 second lead and Moran was able to work back up to 3rd spot, ahead of Holladay who was stuck behind a gaggle of open wheel cars. Lovenson took 5th spot.

The BBQ/party on Saturday night was very appreciated by all. Thank you Joe Moran, Bob Lovenson and Gary Holcomb! Kudos to Greg Clark for a nicely organized 4 Flight driver meeting, and actually keeping a completely pained expression from his face when ACRL was mentioned. Despite the free beer and wine provided by 4 Flight Industries, the drivers accomplished the following Saturday night:

1. Reelected Greg Clark as series administrator
2. Agreed upon a simpler points system, with best 9 (or 10 if we run with CART) race finishes counting towards the 2003 Championship, regardless of whether they're Saturday or Sunday races
3. Confirmed that the 4 Flight Industries Tow Fund will continue in 2003
4. Discussed an exciting "appearance money" idea that 4 Flight is considering for next year. Details to follow from 4 Flight.
5. Agreed upon a tentative schedule. See the 2003 Schedule Page for details.

Sunday

David Ferguson gave the other S2 drivers a break by running his wife Ellen in her gorgeous DSR instead of driving himself on Sunday. This left the door open for S2 pole and Joe Moran stepped up to snag it by less than 2/10ths of a second from Jeff Littrell. Bob Lovenson was not only 3rd fastest, he was right on the pace, within a second of pole! Folks we have a new contendaaa!

Track Manager Les Phillips ran a 1:42 in his FC to take fastest time of the session (the only car ahead of Moran and Littrell) so S2 resumed its normal rearward position for the split start. Moran got on the gas early but Littrell wasn't caught out by much. With Moran on the dirtier inside line into the first turn, Littrell attempted to out brake him and succeeded, pulling off an outside pass to take the lead. They ran nose to tail through the esses, around the sweeper, over Magic Mountain, through Talledega, and onto the back straight. Then Littrell's car began violently shaking up front, ripping the nose partially off and causing him to slow. Everyone went by as Littrell pitted for a quick tape job, only to have it happen again on his next lap out. The nose flew completely off as he pulled into impound after only two frustrating half laps.

Moran was never challenged but there was a great battle for 2nd spot. Jeff Holladay had a sizable lead over Bob Lovenson in the early laps but Lovenson put the hammer down, running a full half second faster than his qualifying time and only 2/100ths of a second slower than Moran. He caught up to Holladay and pulled off a clean pass down the back straight. John "piņata" Page took another love tap from Ota (in Moran's spare car), causing him to adopt some sort of USC-inferiority-complex conspiracy theory. He eventually lost his diffuser, making him the second retirement of the day. Ota soldiered on with a large hole in the nose of his borrowed car (expensive weekend, Ota) and he was able to hold Holcomb (in an identical liveried car) at bay to finish 4th. Rob Conrad, Bruce Allison, and Larry Payton all continued to improve. Larry crushed his stated goal of 2 minutes by almost 4 seconds and Allison claimed his own conspiracy theory over how his improvement in time was always matched by his competitors.

The final race of the season, the Cal Club Enduro, is coming up in November and we hope to see you there!