2005 Season Races 10 and 11
Laguna Seca 8/7/2005

Fifteen 4 Flight S2 Cup drivers traveled to the beautiful Monterey peninsula to race at the famous Laguna Seca Raceway. This event was the annual National/Regional combination with an added extra non-points Regional race thrown in for good measure, making it a triple weekend and well worth the trip.

Besides slow Formula Mazdas and C-Sports Racers, the biggest story of the weekend was the return of Michael Scully. Scully, racecar designer and ace driver used to race Sports 2000 with SCCA and the ACRL Pro Series but took a hiatus to design the Formula BMW Race Car and BMW Hydrogen Racer H2R (which set world speed records for hydrogen propulsion). The H2R took design queues from Scully's Sports 2000 background and his time in the wind tunnels of Munich must have had some effect on his latest modified Swift Sports 2000 because it was fast all weekend.

The weather was gorgeous but the traffic was horrendous. No one could get a clean lap in qualifying, with over 60 cars of various speeds fighting around the 2.2 mile circuit. Scully took pole in National qualifying with a 1:33.727, followed by David Ferguson and Jeff Littrell. Bruce Allison didn't make it out for qualifying, Jeff Read was having ignition problems, and Michael's father, Daniel Scully suffered some body damage negotiating traffic. There was some debate about whether a split start would improve or hurt the racing but in the end a lack of initiative resulted in the default of a single-start race. Everyone feared turn one at the start.

As it turned out, the race started cleanly. Ferguson got his usual great start but Scully took top position back before the end of the first lap. Those two were quick right out of the gate, leaving a smattering of formula cars between themselves, Littrell and the others. Eventually the inevitable full-course caution came out for a high-centered CSR at the bottom of the corkscrew. Everyone was caught off guard when the green flag flew while the tow truck was still working on extricating the hapless Carbir. Ferguson took advantage of good radio work to get a jump on an unaware (and radioless) Scully but again, Scully took the position back before the double yellows were re-thrown half a lap later.

As the race progressed it became apparent that Scully had some problems. Ferguson closed right up on him and Littrell was gaining on the pair as Scully held Ferguson at bay. In the meantime, Frank Arnold, John Ostlund, and Joe Moran were closing in on Littrell now that all the riff-raff had been disposed of. Another full course caution came out and it looked like there might be a great six-car shoot out at the end but unfortunately (for everyone but Scully, who had no brakes) time ran out and the race finished under caution.

Final results where Scully, Ferguson, and Littrell on the podium. Jason Choulochas fell out with a thrown water pump belt. Jeff Read cracked a header, and George Dellinger had a terrible weekend, spinning on a pace lap and then getting tagged hard by a Formula Atlantic.

Car No	Driver		Make	Qual Time	Qual Pos	Finish
44	Mike	Scully	Swift	1:33.727	1	1
75	David	Ferguson	Van Diemen	1:33.834	2	2
14	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1:34.355	3	3
58	Frank	Arnold	Swift	1:35.089	4	4
7	Joe	Moran	Carbir	1:35.813	6	5
59	John	Ostund	Carbir	1:35.349	5	6
19	Tim	Moore	Swift	1:37.656	8	7
29	Tom	Nelson	Swift	1:37.742	9	8
94	Mike	Pettibone	Swift	1:41.491	10	9
22	Sterling	Ellsworth	Swift	1:45.272	12	10
87	Bruce	Allison	Lola		15	11
91	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	1:37.220	7	12
45	Daniel	Scully	Swift	1:56.768	14	13
55	George	Dellinger	Swift	1:45.503	13	14
18	Jeff	Read	Lola	1:43.667	11	15

Regional qualifying was held Friday after National qualifying and it was no less crowded. Ferguson got a clean lap in early but Scully eventually found his way through traffic to pole, with Ferguson in 2nd spot again. Littrell tried a different setup and fell back to 5th spot with Arnold and Ostlund ahead of him.

Jason Choulochas took the initiative to get an S2-only split start for the Regional races. It was remarkable how quickly the fast S2s caught the slow cars in the first pack (by the end of first lap). Even so, everyone seemed to agree that the split start was an improvement.

Ferguson got a good start again, got ahead of Scully, and was great in traffic, opening a good initial gap. Arnold and Ostlund leaned on each other at the start but Arnold got away. Littrell worked on Ostlund and got past. Littrell and Arnold swapped back and forth many times, allowing Tim Moore and others to catch up.

As the race progressed Scully set fast lap and closed in on Ferguson, pressuring him into a quick spin in turn 9. This allowed Scully past but Ferguson recovered quickly and lost no additional positions. The Arnold/Littrell battle ended when Littrell made a ill-fated passing attempt at Arnold and ended up off the outside of turn 6. He rejoined without a spin, only to have his engine shutoff later that lap. He was able to get restarted but was in 9th position. Many full course cautions and pace laps came along the way. Ferguson pushed too hard trying to catch Scully toward the end of the race and went off at turn 9 again, ending up in 6th. Littrell worked up to 8th in the one final green lap. Scully won, followed by Arnold and Ostlund.

Car No	Driver		Make	Qual Time	Qual Pos	Finish
44	Mike	Scully	Swift	1:33.284	1	1
58	Frank	Arnold	Swift	1:34.524	3	2
59	John	Ostund	Carbir	1:35.445	4	3
19	Tim	Moore	Swift	1:37.741	7	4
91	Jason	Choulochas	Swift	1:38.223	8	5
75	David	Ferguson	Van Diemen	1:34.096	2	6
94	Mike	Pettibone	Swift	1:42.757	10	7
14	Jeff	Littrell	Lola	1:35.955	5	8
29	Tom	Nelson	Swift	1:38.779	9	9
18	Jeff	Read	Lola			10
87	Bruce	Allison	Lola			11
22	Sterling	Ellsworth	Swift			12
45	Daniel	Scully	Swift			13
7	Joe	Moran	Carbir	1:36.610	6	DNS
55	George	Dellinger	Swift	1:46.936	11	DNS

With a 2nd and a 6th to Littrell's 3rd and 8th, David Ferguson gained 4 points in the Championship standings. Frank Arnold had a good weekend and moved ahead of Jason Choulochas to take 4th spot, despite having missed the first 5 races of the season. Mike Pettibone is the only driver in the series who has not missed a race this year and he is holding onto 3rd spot -- but... given the best 10 out of 15 format, he has begun to give up his worst finishes already while everyone else is still piling on fresh points. Overall, the battle at the top is very close.