2005 Season Races 1 and 2
California Speedway 2/5/2005

Thirteen drivers came out for the first race of the 2005 4 Flight S2 Cup season. Friday's testing was hard on a couple front-runners. 135 MPH air got under the tail of David Ferguson's Van Diemen, peeling it off like a sardine can. Jeff Littrell also experienced tail problems, although his were self-inflicted with a spin into a tire stack. Ferguson immediately went to work with the cloth, epoxy and tape to put his nine pieces back together while Bruce Allison came to Littrell's rescue with a Lola bodywork loan. In the meantime, other drivers like Joe Moran and Scott Brink were dialing in their cars and technique.

Saturday's qualifying was a crowded affair, with formula alphabet, including Fords and Vees joining the bevy of Sports Racers. Unfortunately, Ferguson's track side repairs were not strong enough to prevent his tail from touching hot engine components and the resulting smoke kept him sidelined. The rest of the drivers were faced with trying to get a clean lap before the formula cars crashed and brought the abbreviated session to a stop. Littrell put in the fastest time, with a 1:45.4, followed by Moran, etc. (need sheet).

Cal Club did their best to address speed discrepancies in the group by having a three-way split start for the race, with Sports Racers getting the middle. It was a clean start. Moran got a jump on Littrell and led him around the oval but Littrell was better under braking and took the lead when they entered the infield. From there he opened up a good sized lead over the next half dozen laps until a pace car situation was created by some errant cars and tires on the track. Unfortunately there was no pace car and the leader didn't seem to realize that he had to slow the pace down in order to allow the Vees and others to catch up. Many drivers were left way back, stuck behind slow cars when the green finally dropped.

John Ostlund was not one of them. He used the double yellow situation to eliminate Littrell's lead. Littrell held on, as they raced from incident to yellow flag to incident to yellow flag. Unfortunately, Leslie Clark ended up head-on into a stack of tires and as Littrell glanced over to make sure she was OK, Ostlund hammered the gas and got a better jump onto the oval. Ostlund pulled ahead into the banking but Littrell was faster through the banking and caught up on the outside. Ostlund out braked himself into the infield but Scott Brink was even worse, flying past both Littrell and Ostlund on the inside as Littrell slotted back into the lead again.

In the pack, Moran had missed a shift, damaging his engine. Ferguson's tail collapsed under the aerodynamic load again. The rest of the drivers were thwarted by the strung out pace laps.

Littrell held on for the win, followed by Jeff Anderson and John Ostlund. These three were the first to receive new-for-2005 4 Flight S2 Cup hats.

Car No	Driver		Make	Finish
1	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1
24	Jeff	Anderson	Swift	2
59	John	Ostlund	Carbir	3
94	Mike	Pettibone	Swift	4
3	Scott	Brink	Swift	5
91	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	6
98	Wayne	Smith	Swift	7
22	Sterling	Ellsworth	Swift	8
15	Daniel	Scully	Swift	9
84	Gary	Holcomb	Swift	10
71	Joe	Moran	Carbir	11
41	Leslie	Clark	Swift	12
57	David	Ferguson	Van Diemen	13

Using Home Depot's finest tail repair materials (aluminum angle extrusions), Ferguson reinforced his tail enough for Sunday. Scott Brink showed that his new diffuser works by taking fast lap in Saturday's race and pole on Sunday. A tight pack followed Brink with Ferguson on the outside pole, followed by Moran, Littrell, and Mike Pettibone.

About an hour before the race was scheduled to start, it began raining. It began fairly lightly and then cleared but then began again and got worse, and then cleared, and then rained again, etc. The tire companies only had one set of rain tires and Moran was the first to snag them. When the cars gridded for the race it was wet on the track but not in the air. Full rain tires seemed a bit excessive. Moran was shooting for "hero or zero" and encouraging his entire crew to do some ancient rain dance ritual.

The start was clean. Littrell and Moran lifted some for the oval, feeling out the grip but Pettibone just drove down low and passed them both. Brink misjudged the lack of grip in the braking zone for the infield and spun, allowing Ferguson clear but wet track ahead.

Ferguson then did his best possible disappearing act. Pettibone put up chase for a while. Littrell dogged Moran for a couple laps until he had a quick spin under Moran's tail. Moran's rain tires allowed him to catch up to Pettibone, who pulled a quick 360 right in front of him. Moran eventually got by and from there it was pretty much a parade of cars tiptoeing around changing, damp conditions. Ferguson finished second overall, with the quickest race lap and about a 30 second margin of victory over Moran. Pettibone took 3rd, Littrell 4th, and Brink 5th.

As soon as the cars got to impound, the skies opened up and it poured down hard for the next hour! Another 10 minutes, and Moran would have easily won. As it was, this was a new 4 Flight record: six different drivers on the podium during a double weekend. Maximum hattage.

Car No	Driver		Make	Qual Time	Qual Pos	Finish
57	David	Ferguson	Van Diemen	1:45.019	2	1
71	Joe	Moran	Carbir	1:45.377	3	2
94	Mike	Pettibone	Swift	1:45.601	5	3
1	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1:45.427	4	4
3	Scott	Brink	Swift	1:44.455	1	5
24	Jeff	Anderson	Swift	1:46.033	6	6
91	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	1:48.041	7	7
84	Gary	Holcomb	Swift	1:49.190	9	8
15	Daniel	Scully	Swift	2:00.897	13	9
22	Sterling	Ellsworth	Swift	1:49.802	10	10
59	John	Ostlund	Carbir	1:49.962	11	11
98	Wayne	Smith	Swift	1:48.905	8	DNS

See the Standings Page for the current points situation. With only three weeks until Willow Springs everyone is sure to be frantically preparing. See you there.

For more photos from this event, check out the Photo Gallery