2003 Season Races #10 and #11
Infineon Raceway 7/13/2003

Beautiful Northern California weather greeted the largest field of the 2003 4 Flight S2 Cup season. Fifteen S2 drivers were there, ready to attack the challenging first-class facility at Infineon Raceway (Sears Point to most of us). Among those was Nik Johnson, factory driver for Van Diemen in the UK, anxious to prove the new Van Diemen S2 and sell some more cars. David Ferguson already bought one and was there to give his new Lamborgini-purple Van Diemen its maiden voyage.

Series nice-guy and shoe-in for the annual hard-luck award (if we had one) Fred Michael continued to struggle with his one-off Reynard. The good news is that with lengthened shocks and improved rear suspension geometry the car was working better than in the past. The bad news is that the shocks didn't have enough travel and bottomed out in the dip at turn 3, bending the rear rocker arms. Fred was out before the day even began on Friday but, being a great sport, he stuck around all weekend with a smile on his face.

Saturday qualifying was crowded, with a large group of Formula cars fighting for clear track with the 4 Flight racers. Nik Johnson took pole with a 1:39.5. Ferguson ran a series of slow 1:44s and everyone assumed he was having teething troubles with his new car, including Jeff Littrell, who came in after only 4 laps with a low 1:40 in the books, but Ferg pulled one blazing 1:39.6 right before the end of the session to take 2nd spot on the grid.

Joe Moran rounded out the top four. Local San Francisco driver Rob Conrad pipped Bob Lovenson. John Bachofner came all the way from Portland, fresh from Victory in the Rose Cup, but was having some difficulty sorting out his Swift at the hilly course and qualified behind Lovenson.

Jeff Read had an unfortunate incident in qualifying, losing the new tail from the rear of his Swift. Despite flying 30 feet into the air and coming down upside-down, the tail survived. The same couldn't be said for the sidepods but Read was able to get it repaired in time to contest the race on Saturday.

Having a good fields of cars, the S2 drivers petitioned for a split start and got it. Nik Johnson got a good start and was followed, incident free, into turn 2 by Ferguson, Littrell, and Moran. Ferguson was having trouble finding 3rd gear and the extra RPMs from the missed shifts caused his motor to spit a rocker before the end of the first lap.

Ferguson's miscues allowed Johnson to open a gap but Littrell sprinted off in chase and caught him up in two laps. They circulated nose to tail for a bit but Littrell got a good run on him out of turn 10. Johnson saw Littrell coming and made a defensive move towards the inside of the approach to turn 11 but he left enough room for Littrell to get inside. Determined not to let him past, Johnson squeezed Littrell off further to the inside. With the first stack of tires looming eminently ahead, Littrell was forced to lock the brakes, causing him to slide sideways, hard, into the 16 tire stack. The tires flew 100 feet or so, directly onto the racing line in turn 11 but somehow Littrell's Lola remained intact enough for him to continue without losing a place.

Through a veil of red mist Littrell shot off after Johnson and caught up to him by the time a full course yellow was thrown to rescue a FM from the top of turn 2 and allow a truck to push the errant tire stack back into position. With the field bunched up, Johnson, Littrell, and Moran were in close battle at the drop of the green flag. Bachofner was off near turn 9 with mechanical difficulties so Moran was followed by Lovenson and Conrad. Littrell tried to put the power down too hard in 11 and incurred a slow, lazy spin for his transgression. Moran and Conrad were past before he was able to gather it up again.

Meanwhile, Lovenson spun at the top of turn 4, allowing the entire field to get past. With some mist of his own, Lovenson proceeded to claw his way back up, picking off Schroeder, Holcomb, Nelson, and Choulochas. Littrell got past Conrad in turn 2 and set off for Moran but another full course yellow bunched the field up again. Unfortunately, with about four Formula cars between Johnson and Moran.

There were still double yellows in turn 11 as the green flag fell for the leading Atlantics on the front straight. The ensuing confusion caught Littrell unaware and caused Moran and a DSR to tangle up in 11. Littrell and Conrad slid past a spinning Moran but not before a few more Formula cars got past. With only two laps there wasn't enough time for Littrell to dispatch with traffic. Johnson won, followed by Littrell and Conrad. Moran held on for 4th and Lovenson took a well earned 5th spot, and top honors in Emerald Flight (don't ask).

Car No	Driver		Make	Qual Time	Qual Pos	Finish
99	Nik	Johnson	Van Diemen	1:39.624	1	1
1	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1:40.427	3	2
40	Rob	Conrad	Lola	1:42.869	5	3
71	Joe	Moran	Carbir	1:41.590	4	4
11	Bob	Lovenson	Swift	1:43.083	6	5
29	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	1:49.784	11	6
20	Tom	Nelson	Swift	1:49.499	10	7
82	Gary	Holcomb	Swift	1:47.107	9	8
53	Paul	Schroeder	Swift	1:46.728	8	9
18	Jeff	Read	Swift	1:55.376	12	10
57	David	Ferguson	Van Diemen	1:39.789	2	DNF
37	John	Bachofner	Swift	1:43.179	7	DNF

The Regional race on Sunday had a significantly reduced field. Ferguson, with a single-minded determination to get to the Run-Offs, is only doing Nationals. Littrell's Lola had suffered un repairable radiator damage from its contact with the tires on Saturday. Jeff Read and John Bachofner also succumbed to mechanical gremlins. Tom Nelson did not run on Sunday either.

Johnson took pole and the Van Diemen factory team was able to tune his car to take the win again and set a new track record with a 1:39.390. Moran followed in 2nd spot while Conrad rounded off the podium again.

Car No	Driver		Make	Qual Time	Qual Pos	Finish
99	Nik	Johnson	Van Diemen	1:39.780	1	1
71	Joe	Moran	Carbir	1:42.465	3	2
40	Rob	Conrad	Lola	1:44.115	5	3
11	Bob	Lovenson	Swift	1:44.529	6	4
82	Gary	Holcomb	Swift	1:47.912	8	5
29	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	1:46.809	7	6
53	Paul	Schroeder	Swift		DNQ	7
1	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1:41.324	2	DNS
37	John	Bachofner	Swift	1:43.976	4	DNS

The points battle is shaping up interestingly. Moran has a commanding lead, with a string of strong finishes but Lovenson, racing fast and consistently, has bumped Littrell, who has suffered a number of mechanical ills this year, down to 3rd. Mr. Consistency, Gary Holcomb, is only four points behind in 4th spot. Check out the Standings.