Team Juicy Racing's Racing School and Race Series Forums
  #1  
Old 04-03-2005
Gerardo's Avatar
Gerardo Gerardo is offline
Irrational National
Testing Mid-Corner Speed / Advanced Member (500+ Posts)
 
Join Date: May 2004
Posts: 640

Gallery Images: 815
The BOBO Report - Daytona Regional Finale

The BOBO Report
April 3, 2005

Daytona Beach, FL – The final rounds of the Skip Barber Southern Regional Race Series took place this weekend under sunny skies and mild temperatures at the Daytona International Speedway. The competition was anything but mild as Sportsman, Championship, and Masters National racers brought out their drafting and low grip playbooks for laps around the 3.56-mile road course.

Sadly, our moods were dampened before a green flag was thrown. During Thursday lapping, everybody’s buddy Jonathan Miller crashed hard at the Turn 7 Bus Stop Chicane. The 19-year old Championship category contender suffered a broken left leg. It won’t be an easy recovery for him, but your warm thoughts and well-wishes will be gladly welcomed by Jon and his family.

Saturday morning we finally threw the first green flag. In Group 1 Sportsman we were expecting a team charge from the back to the front by Henry Zogaib and Bob Ward. Both had qualified with fast lap times near the front, but both were relegated to start at the back after spinning in qualifying. Almost comically, the two ran into each other twice in one lap as they were making their charge up the field and both had to pit for contact checks.

As the Zogaib/Ward show faded from the spotlight, Andre Villarreal, 4th place starter, quickly put his karting skills to the test. The 17-year old driver went from 4th to 1st by the end of lap 1 with a solid move into the Bus Stop Chicane over Tony Mugnolo. He would not look back and win by a margin of 7.2 seconds. New guy Richard Evans would go from 11th to 3rd, while new guy Damon Petty went from 9th to 5th in their debuts.

In Group 2 Masters National Championship, it took only one lap for polesitter John Peterson to lose the lead to two-time defending Masters National Champion Chris Wilcox. As Peterson settled into 2nd, 3rd place starter Jimmy Locke would spin early on. He fought back to go from last to 3rd by the finish. On lap three, John Greist, making his run at 4th place, dropped a wheel in the chicane and found his sight picture to include the unforgiving concrete wall at track out head-on. The impact ended the life of his R/T 2000, but thanks to the strength of the car and the HANS Device, John hopped right out of the car and gave a thumbs up to his fellow drivers as they slowly rolled by behind the pace car under yellow.

The race resumed with its usual passing and Masters riff-raff. The action culminated on the last lap at the Bus Stop with huge smoke, dirt, and an unlucky John Peterson dropping from 3rd to 12th. Oh, yeah, Chris Wilcox won the race by 4.4 seconds.

For Group 3 Championship, Polesitter Matt Varsha thought it would be fun to start from last place. With the points championship already clinched, he had nothing to lose, and many positions to gain. By lap four, Matt was leading. Behind him, David Libby got Daytona Draft Shuffled from 2nd to 7th. The biggest ouch came from Chris Hill. Almost impersonating the John Greist crash, Chris found himself aimed at the outside concrete wall exiting the Bus Stop Chicane after dropping a tire in the grass. The impact wasn’t as forgiving to Chris, as he would be unable to race the rest of the weekend after injuring his right ankle.

As the race resumed, Jeff Relic asserted his speed to finish 0.05 seconds behind Matt Varsha. John Greist, fresh off his big wreck in the previous group, would finish this race in 4th.

In Group 4 Sportsman, we had anticipated a battle royale between Murray Marden and Mike Gomez for the lead in the race, and the lead in the Sportsman Points standings. Fought they did, but for 3rd and 4th for most of the race behind Carlos Llano and Kevin Scott. As the race between Kevin and Carlos came to side-by-side fighting, Mike and Murray found themselves right back with the top two as they entered Turn 1 and 2 side-by-side. They were all so tight to the inside, the four of them came to an almost standstill at the apex. Murray got balked the most and lost his close gap to finish 4th. That left Kevin, Mike, and Carlos to roll the dice and do the Daytona Draft Shuffle exiting NASCAR Turn 4. At the finish line, it was Kevin Scott 1st, Mike Gomez 2nd, and Carlos Llano 3rd, the three of them separated by 0.23 seconds!

On Sunday we began again with Group 1 Sportsman. Andre Villarreal started from pole and completely decimated the field, winning by 8.6 seconds ahead of P2 Tony Mugnolo, and 26.7 seconds ahead of P3 Henry Zogaib. Henry Zogaib??! Yes, after a disappointing Saturday race, Henry redeemed himself by staying clean and fast enough to rule best-of-the-rest from a 12th place starting position. Mark Jensen went 11th to 6th.

In Group 2 Masters National Championship Chris Wilcox put on another clinic to win by 3.3 seconds. The show came from John Greist, Dario Cioti, John Mayes, Jimmy Locke, Dick Lippert, and Chris Oliver. These six would battle lap to lap, changing position so often, interrupted only by John Mayes spin and crash out of Turn 4 on lap 4. The rest found themselves nose to tail on the final lap led by Dick Lippert. Poor Dick, you can’t lead a group at Daytona and expect to lead at the finish line. As the Daytona Draft Shuffle emerged out of NASCAR Turn 4, Dick was shuffled from 2nd to 5th, John Greist from 3rd to 2nd, Dario “I’m too sick to race” Cioti from 4th to 3rd, and Jimmy Locke from 5th to 4th at the line.

In Group 3 Championship Matt Varsha thought it would be great fun to once again start from the back. His adrenaline ran a little high on lap 1 however, as he went to pass three cars going into the Bus Stop Chicane. “I can get ‘em!” said Matt. Two tenths of a second later, “No I can’t!!!” as he flew through the grass, necessitating a 4-off pit stop. With Matt a little far behind, Jeff Relic would dominate to win by 9 seconds. Lucas McConnell would hold off David Libby for P2 despite several laps at very close quarters. Laura Rowe and David Harris would enjoy a tight battle for the duration of the race to finish 0.05 seconds apart.

In Group 4 Sportsman, the race was black flagged after the start when three cars made contact in Turn 2, and two other cars crashed together at Turn 3. After a complete restart, Mike Gomez still had a chance to overtake Murray Marden for the Sportsman Points lead. Mike thought it was all in hand early in the race when Murray slipped off the road at the Chicane and had to pit for the 4-off. But the racing gods would not be so kind to Mike. Late in the race, Brandon Huff while running 2nd spun at the exit of the fast Turn 4 kink. Mike was running right behind Brandon’s gearbox at that same moment. Gomez had no choice but to veer right and fly off the road to avoid certain car contact. After Mike Gomez’s pit stop, he re-entered the track right behind Murray Marden who had already pitted once. It felt like a Formula 1 race! Mike passed Murray a few laps later, but having a single position advantage was not enough points to overtake Murray for the points championship.

After catching our breath with the Sportsman points drama, we noticed Kevin Scott had won the Group 4 race by 10 seconds. Rhonda Hill had run as high as 4th place before spinning off. Carlos Llano drove to a steady 2nd place, while Northeast driver Jim Lowe got his first podium finish in 3rd place from an 11th place starting position. Nice job!

Stay tuned, as the Skip Barber Regional Series begins two new seasons of drivers racing in the East and Midwest Championships. Keep an eye out for those crazy guys in the Masters National Championship, and the absolutely Irrational National drivers competing for the Skip Barber National Championship at VIR in a few weeks.

---Gerardo Bonilla

###
__________________
Gerardo Bonilla

Professor of Comedic Slip Angle Use
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 04-03-2005
MJAmok's Avatar
MJAmok MJAmok is offline
Thumb-alina
Mid-Corner Speed Master / Advanced Member (1,000+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Apr 2004
Posts: 1,000
Re: The BOBO Report - Daytona Regional Finale

Thanks Bobo... great recap.


Look out Roso... you got competition!

Todd... what are you going to post on the Skippy site? "For a great race recap, visit Team Juicy Racing.com".
__________________
Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to get into this thing called life...
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 04-03-2005
cdh's Avatar
cdh cdh is offline
administrationistperson
Carbon Fiber Keyboard (3,000+ Posts)

TJR Forums Contributor / Supporter
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Stamford, CT
Posts: 5,546

Gallery Images: 795
Re: The BOBO Report - Daytona Regional Finale


For Group 3 Championship, Polesitter Matt Varsha thought it would be fun to start from last place. With the points championship already clinched, he had nothing to lose, and many positions to gain. By lap four, Matt was leading.


thanks for the excellent recap GB!



.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 04-05-2005
5&counting's Avatar
5&counting 5&counting is offline
Selfish Bastard
Entry Speed Demon / Advanced Member (100+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Annandale NJ
Age: 55
Posts: 166
Re: The BOBO Report - Daytona Regional Finale

Bobo, Once again you did a great job. TODD, he is the man for the job, no disrespect for the marketing dept... but you need to be at the weekend to know what is actually happening. Cliff notes just do not cut it. Get BoBo up and running....

PS: BoBo if you get a shot at the putting your artices on the Web, the fun police may not want you to let the masses (all 6 Billion who read SB.com) know that you can get hurt in a Skippy Race Car. Other then that .... GREAT ARTICE.

Hopefully see you all in VIR. Not racing but coming for the show! Anyone got a bed for me?

Tight Budget.....
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 04-05-2005
OLDMAN's Avatar
OLDMAN OLDMAN is offline
GrandMasterB
Winning Races / Advanced Member (250+ Posts)
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: Southern Connecticut
Age: 77
Posts: 466

Gallery Images: 57
Re: The BOBO Report - Daytona Regional Finale

Although I did not race at the finale I did get to practice with the boys and girls last Friday. I cannot tell you what a great time I had. The infield part of the "24 Hour Course" has very little grip (especially turn 6) as I found out on the first recon lap, while the Nascar section can be driven almost anywhere with little trouble. Had I known what a fun track Daytona can be combined with the group that showed up I think I would have traded LRP for a run in the sun.

At this point I'll thank RB for the track info on Thursday and Jim Pace for taking the wife around the banking before race #4 on Sunday. As usual, the feedback from the rest of the staff was very helpful. Thanks also to Dom B. and son Marc who generously provided dinner and great conversation Saturday night. I would have loved to do the Memorial on Sunday but did not have the time since I had foolishly booked a 6:00 return flight (which left at 8:00 by the way).


Maybe next year.

OLDMAN


Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmark This Thread

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
SBRS well represented cdh F1, IndyCar, Grand-Am, Karting etc Discussions 2 01-05-2006 11:16 PM
Regional Masters is Hot! - Championship Finale Preview Pork Chop Willie Race Series Discussions 0 09-28-2004 04:52 PM


All times are GMT -4. The time now is 01:25 AM.


TeamJuicyRacing.com's fast new hosting service has been generously provided by ZeroLag Communications :: 1-877-ZERO-LAG

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004 - 2017 - Team Juicy Racing / Team Juicy, LLC