2004 Season Races #4 and #5
Thunderhill Raceway Park 3/22/2004
Finally, the rain was gone. Perfect weather graced the Double National weekend at Thunderhill in Willows California.
Ten 4 Flight drivers make the trek to the middle of nowhere for the races.
John Bachofner and Mark Schue came down to race from the Portland area, proving that they support 4 Flight even when it isn't only in
their backyard -- thanks guys!
Interestingly, Cal Club usually provides the bulk of
the racers for 4 Flight but only two Cal Clubbers, Joe Moran and Jeff Littrell, towed from Southern California. Part of this was a result
car issues and the length of the tow but the double regionals at Buttonwillow on the same weekend kept a few of the drivers close to home also.
Bruce Allison was again busy playing crew chief for S2 newbies Chris Masterson and Sterling Ellsworth, as well as soon-to-be National
license holder Wayne Smith as they duked it out at Buttonwillow.
The Thunderhill schedule had a single practice session on Friday afternoon that was uneventful. Thunderhill is a challenging track and everyone was
getting used to the layout. Saturday morning's qualifying was interrupted by some non-S2 oiling down part of the track but by that time
everyone except Joe Moran had already recorded their best times. David Ferguson was fastest, running a 1:51.5, followed by Jeff Littrell with
1:52.5. Joe Moran managed to put in one last best effort in the 1:55s when the session restarted. Mike Pettibone and John Bachofner
were close together in the mid 1:56s.
Saturday's race started badly for Ferguson. Well, actually it started great but quickly went bad. Ferg got a good jump at the green flag
and had to go around a less-attentive Atlantic, making Ferguson's purple Van Diemen the meat in an Atlantic and concrete wall sandwich when the
FA driver ignorantly drifted to the right. The Atlantic's right-rear tire eventually caught on some part of the S2's bodywork, spinning it in
front of the Van Diemen, which pushed the open wheeled car off into the dirt like a snowplow.
Video available here.
Fortunately for everyone else, the incident
went straight off course to the right, leaving clear track for the rest of the field to get through. Littrell took the point and opened up
an immediate lead that was nullified when a full course yellow was thrown to clean up the wreckage from the start.
At the restart Littrell took off and was never challenged. Moran opened up a similar gap for 2nd place, leaving Bachofner and Pettibone
to fight it out for 3rd spot, which Pettibone eventually captured. Other skirmishes in the field kept the racing interesting.
| Car No |
Driver |
|
Make |
Qual Time |
Qual Pos |
Finish |
| 1 |
Jeff |
Littrell |
Lola |
1:52.503 |
2 |
1 |
| 71 |
Joe |
Moran |
Carbir |
1:55.382 |
3 |
2 |
| 94 |
Mike |
Pettibone |
Swift |
1:56.672 |
4 |
3 |
| 98 |
John |
Bachofner |
Swift |
1:56.753 |
5 |
4 |
| 24 |
Jason |
Choulochas |
Swift |
1:59.891 |
9 |
5 |
| 4 |
Rob |
Conrad |
Lola |
1:57.723 |
6 |
6 |
| 55 |
Mark |
Schue |
Swift |
1:58.459 |
7 |
7 |
| 56 |
Fred |
Michael |
Reynard |
2:02.777 |
10 |
8 |
| 87 |
Tom |
Nelson |
Swift |
1:59.337 |
8 |
9 |
| 57 |
David |
Ferguson |
Van Diemen |
1:51.593 |
1 |
DNF |
|
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Ferguson's car was too damaged to continue the weekend so Littrell took pole on Sunday by a couple tenths over Bachofner. Pettibone
nipped Moran for third. Again, the qualifying session was red flagged. Jason Choulochas had a caliper ear fail, causing his right
front wheel to practically explode. After being towed in, he saw that damage wasn't actually all that bad but it was enough to keep
him out of Sunday's race. A shame, since he had already qualified as high as 5th spot and was getting faster all weekend.
At the start of Sunday's race Littrell was able to hold onto the lead, with Bachofner giving chase. Eventually they strung out, and when
Bachofner had a small incident with an over-slowed formula car, Littrell was able to cruise home for his second win of the weekend.
Pettibone was fighting a violent tire imbalance with his new Avon slicks so he wasn't able to fully battle Moran for 3rd position.
| Car No |
Driver |
|
Make |
Qual Time |
Qual Pos |
Finish |
| 1 |
Jeff |
Littrell |
Lola |
1:54.132 |
1 |
1 |
| 98 |
John |
Bachofner |
Swift |
1:54.316 |
2 |
2 |
| 71 |
Joe |
Moran |
Carbir |
1:55.546 |
4 |
3 |
| 94 |
Mike |
Pettibone |
Swift |
1:54.453 |
3 |
4 |
| 55 |
Mark |
Schue |
Swift |
1:57.367 |
6 |
5 |
| 4 |
Rob |
Conrad |
Lola |
1:58.540 |
7 |
6 |
| 56 |
Fred |
Michael |
Reynard |
1:59.616 |
8 |
7 |
| 24 |
Jason |
Choulochas |
Swift |
1:56.822 |
5 |
DNS |
| 57 |
David |
Ferguson |
Van Diemen |
|
DNQ |
DNS |
| 87 |
Tom |
Nelson |
Swift |
|
DNQ |
DNS |
|
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With his string of three National wins Littrell has now overcome his poor season opener in Fontana to take the lead in the S2 Cup Championship
by one point over Joe Moran. See the Standings Page for the full stats.
The next race, at Phoenix International Raceway, looks to be a super-special one. All proceeds benefit
the Phoenix Children's Hospital, 4 Flight is paying for all S2 entry fees, and there will be two Sports-2000-only races! Mike Pettibone
is working on posters and driver photos to sign for the kids. Don't miss it!
For more photos from this event, check out the Photo Gallery
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