Episode 98
March 20, 2016
Bite the Bullet & Battle Big Rock Hillclimb Results
My junior reporter Jere Humphrey organized last Saturday’s hillclimb and provided me with results and photos of some of the race winners. His report follows:
Women’s Open Class–
1st Serena Collins Portage, Maine
2nd Jessica Currier Mapleton, Maine
3rd Ashley Case Blaine, Maine
Teen’s Open Class– {ages 11-15 yrs.}
1st Tyler Brewer Blaine, Maine
500cc Class==
1st Joe Pelletier Ft Kent, Maine
2nd Brandon Ouellette Ft Kent, Maine
3rd Tadia Jobin Centerville, NB
4th Ross Grass Mars Hill, Maine
600cc Class–
1st Joe Pelletier Ft Kent, Maine
2nd Erik St Peter Mapleton, Maine
3rd Casey Savage Sherman, Maine
4th Tadia Jobin Centerville, NB
5th Mickey Savage Sherman, Maine
700cc Class —
1st Casey Savage Sherman, Maine
2nd Mickey Savage Sherman, Maine
3rd Sam Heckman Plaistow, NH
4th Chris Piper Centerville, NB
5th Matthew Simonson Greenville, NB
800cc Class–
1st Casey Savage Sherman, Maine
2nd Matt Reynolds Presque Isle, Maine
3rd Joe Pelletier Ft Kent, Maine
4th Tom Smith New Canada, Maine
5th Brent Grass Blaine, Maine
Open Class–
1st Joe Pelletier Ft Kent, Maine
2nd Matt Reynolds Presque Isle, Maine
3rd Matt Simonson Greenville, NB
4th Dylan Pelletier St John, Maine
5th Sam Heckman Plaistow, NH
The #66 Ford GT wrecked out early just before the red flag which lasted 2 hours and 45 minutes in mid-afternoon due to thunderstorms and lightning during the 12 Hours of Sebring. Despite all the crash damage the team was able to put the car back together and finish nine laps down. Photo courtesy Marshall Pruett RACER.com
Honda HPD Ligier and Corvette Win 36 Hours of Florida
Earlier this year I had the opportunity to cover the 24 Hours of Daytona and enjoyed it. It gave me insight into some of the teams that raced in the 12 Hours of Sebring Saturday.
I noticed the effort of the Ford team with it’s legions of support personnel. That team will be successful despite their Daytona debut and Sebring loss. The team was able to do remarkable things in the garage to repair race damage, however, they finished 15th overall.
According to Honda Racing’s report: “The star of the Daytona race, 22-year-old Pipo Derani, again delivered in the final hours Saturday night at Sebring. Emerging in fifth place following the final round of pit stops, and with just over 40 minutes of racing remaining, Derani took his Ligier JSP2 Honda past the similar Michael Shank Racing Ligier Honda of Olivier Pla, then moved into third ahead of the DragonSpeed racing machine of Nicolas Lapierre.”
“A final, brief caution period then set up a 12-minute dash to the checkers, with Derani getting a strong restart to pass first the Action Express car of Felipe Albuquerque, then Dane Cameron’s race-leading Action Express machine. Derani then opened up a narrow, but solid 2.92-second lead to take the victory, which he shared with co-drivers Scott Sharp, Johannes van Overbeek and Ed Brown.”
“The win saw Honda and ESM go back-to-back in the opening two races of the 2016 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – Daytona and Sebring – giving Honda its first overall race victories at both classic sports car endurance racing events.”
Race winner Derani said, “When I saw I was in fifth place [after the last round of pit stops], it was tough. I had to make some really big moves, in a very short period of time. But I thought to myself, ‘You have to go for it. Who knows when you will be in this position [able to win the race] again?’ In the end, it all worked out. The other guys fought hard, but with respect, and that was really nice. To have a race like that, at the end of a very long day and night, was very special.”
Deja Vue with Alex Barron
I was thinking just last week “I wonder what become of Alex Barron?’ I still have a poster of a much younger Barron from when he raced in Formula Atlantic several moons ago.
He surfaced at the Sports Car Club of America’s Southwest Conference U.S. Majors Tour race at Road Atlanta. He was there to coach Formula Atlantic driver Keith Grant who won his race race.
Barron had not pre-registered, was not on the entry list, had no practice laps, and had not qualified when he decided to enter the Formula F race.
He had to start at the back of the field, which in Formula F is tightly packed in relation to speed differential. Barron raced his Van Diemen RF 00 to the lead and held it.
He must still have some of that talent that propelled him to the top in the Championship Auto Racing Team (CART) and Indy Racing League (IRL). I remember him racing the Indy 500 as well as all the tracks that CART and IRL raced in those days.
I am a huge Dan Gurney fan and remember Barron racing for the relatively non-competitive All American racer team owned by Gurney in the mid to late 1990’s. One memory in particular was of Barron upside down in the Gurney Eagle Toyota Indy Car at Long Beach during the Long Beach Grand Prix. Fortunately he emerged from that incident unscathed.
Safety of Formula One Cars Proven In Australian Grand Prix
McLaren Honda’s Fernando Alonso walked away from a very hard crash with Haas F1’s Estebon Gutierrez on lap 19 in the inaugural Formula 1 race of the 2016 season in Melbourne, Australia.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQhyHuWLJMI
The other Haas F1 car driven by Romain Grosjean remarkably finished its first race in the points with a sixth place. The race was won by Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg
Wanted
I want to remind everyone of a couple opportunities to get involved in racing in 2016. I still need a couple of pit crew members to help out with my kart racing team this summer. Need someone with an enthusiastic attitude and prefer some mechanical skills although you will learn as we progress through the season.
I also have room for another sponsor. Send me an email at thale@reagan.com for details. I would like to discuss how we can work together to help your business in 2016. I hope to have all sponsorships in place before the Northern Maine Karting Association display on April 2nd at the Aroostook Center Mall from 10:00 am to 2 pm. I hope to see you there.
Take the time to reflect on Holy Week and what it means.
Let’s go racing (after Easter),
Tom Hale
Soli Deo Gloria