Miller - August 2013 (Race 9 & 10)

Jake Latham wins in Penultimate at Miller

Jake Latham took victory at Miller Motorsports Park in Race 9 of the US Formula 1000 West Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, LS Motorsports, Geartronics and Neo Sport Camera.

Saturday's Race

Jake Latham took victory at Miller Motorsports Park in Race 9 of the US Formula 1000 West Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, LS Motorsports, Geartronics and Neo Sport Camera.

In qualifying Steve Ott in the Astra set a blistering time of 1:48.666, nearly two seconds faster than his nearest competitor Jake Latham who clocked in with a time of 1:50.638.

The morning practice session prior to qualifying saw Rob Adams in the Astra an early retirement with a broken spindle. With no spares on hand his weekend saw a quick ending. The remaining F1000's took the green flag for the afternoon race under sunny warm skies with pole sitter Steve Ott leading the field down the long main straight into the first turn for the challenging outer loop track.

Ott looked untouchable as he quickly drew out a lead from second place Latham, increasing that lead with every lap. With the wind blowing sand and dirt across the track surface from the infield motorcross construction site the drivers complained of a slippery track all weekend. With grip at a mimimum race positions didn't change much during the opening laps.

By two-thirds distance Ott's lead was 14 seconds over Latham but as he came onto the main straight on lap 11 the Astra begin slowing with a fuel pump issue, stopping mid-way down the straightway. This left Latham in the lead a few seconds in front of Pancea, with Gerado having made his way past Hickman rounding out the podium in third. Hickman followed in fourth with LaBrie fifth, Biner sixth, with Morley and Ash slipping back to seventh and eigth respectively.

With Pancea finishing second and Gerado third the two Championship contenders were separated by only 4 points (with Gerado in the lead) going into the next day's final race.

US Formula 1000 Championship West, Race 9
August 10, 2013, Official Results

1. Jake Latham, Broomfield, Colorado, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
2. Lucian Pancea, Bellevue, Washington, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
3. Jose Gerado, El Paso, Texas, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
4. Gary Hickman, Santee, California, Phoenix, 08 Suzuki
5. John LaBrie, Draper, Utah, Phoenix Raceworks, 08 Suzuki
6. Terry Biner, Sandy, Utah, Firman, 09 Suzuki
7. Rod Morley, Orem, Utah, Firman, 08 Suzuki
8. Christopher Ash, Centennial, Colorado, Astra, 08 Suzuki
9. Steve Ott, Houston, Texas, Astra, 08 Suzuki
10. Brad Smith, Golden, Colorado, Speads, 08 Suzuki

DNS Rob Adams

Lucian Pancea wrapped up the first ever US Formula 1000 West Driver’s Championship with a thrilling win at Miller Motorsports Park in the final race of the 2013 US Formula 1000 West Championship presented by Hoosier Racing Tires, Sunoco Race Fuels, George Dean Racing Engines, Jongbloed Racing Wheels, Hyperco, LS Motorsports, Geartronics and Neo Sport Camera.

Trailing rival Jose Gerardo by four points going into the season finale Pancea needed either to win or finish in a position five points higher than Gerardo to have any chance at the title.

Morning qualifying saw a repeat from Saturday with Steve Ott in the Astra setting the pace with a fast 1:47.908 with Jose Gerardo in the Stohr clocking in with a 1:49.700 rounding out the front row. Gary Hickman had another impressive qualifying in the brand new Phoenix grabbing third with a 1:50.626 with Jake Latham joining him on the second row. Lucian Pancea’s Championship hopes looked bleak as he could do no better than fifth on the grid with a 1:51.066, nearly 2 seconds off Gerardo’s qualifying time. Chris Ash in the second Astra joined Pancea on third row with Terry Biner in the Ralph Firman designed RFR-09 qualifying just behind, John LaBrie qualified eighth but would find himself a non-starter with a broken engine case, leaving Brad Smith to fill his vacated spot on the fourth row. Additional non-starters included Rod Morley(withdrew) and Rob Adams (broken spindle).

The afternoon race started hot with skies clouding over from a forest fire that burned off in the distant mountain range, the wind blowing the brown ash towards the race track. An occasional dust devil blew across the track making the race surface slippery and challenging to drive on.

As Ott lead the field down to the start Pancea from fifth immediately sprung out from behind Latham, making it three wide along with Hickman down the straight towards the first corner. As the cars entered turn five Gerardo suddenly found himself sideways and spinning off track, with the field including Championship rival Pancea racing past. He eventually managed to get restarted and rejoined the race, dead last, a full 10 seconds behind the field.

At the end of the first lap it was Ott out front and already starting to open up a lead over Latham who had managed to hold off the charging Pancea. Hickman who had damaged his rear wing in testing accident two days prior followed in fourth, but suddenly found his repairs to be coming undone mid-race, the rear wing flexing badly. This foursome were followed closely by Ash, Biner, and Smith, with Gerardo still a ways back giving it everything he had to catch back up.

As Ott continue to extend his lead Pancea closed in on Latham and soon the two were nose to tail fighting it out for second. Gerardo, driving hard, started to improve his position, first making his way past Smith, then Biner, and soon began to chase down Ash, finally getting around several laps later. Now there was only Hickman in the limping Phoenix between himself and Pancea who was locked in battle with Latham for second.

Coming around to start lap ten Ott suddenly dived into the pits with mechanical woes. This left Latham in the lead with Pancea less than a car length behind in second. As Gerado took over third from Hickman, Pancea now needed to win to take the driver’s championship. Anything less than first and the driver’s title would go to Gerardo.

The very same lap with just five laps to go, Pancea finally managed to push his way around Latham on the back side of the track. But the battle was still far from over as the two remained just inches apart only now with the roles reversed with Latham trying everything he could to get past Pancea. As the laps wound down each time the two came onto the straight they would be locked together in a high speed single file run down to the first corner, with Latham desperately trying everything to gain that little extra ground to make his way past. With one lap to go Latham pulled out from Pancea’s slipstream and the two sped down the straight side-by-side as they entered turn one. Pancea, holding the inside line into turn one was able to fight off Latham as they began the last lap. Coming out of the final turn and onto the straight towards the finish Latham made one last lunge for the lead, coming up just short as the checkered flag dropped.

So it was Lucian Pancea taking the 2013 US Formula 1000 West Driver’s Championship in what turned out to be a thrilling finish to the season. Gerardo fought all race long to make up for his early spin but his third place left him three points back of Pancea for the title.

Both drivers are still in contention for the overall US Formula 1000 Driver’s championship which will be decided at Road America in September.

Behind Gerardo Gary Hickman bought his damaged car home in fourth, with Biner moving up two positions for fifth, Ash in sixth, Smith who visited the pits soon after Ott finished in seventh. 

Full results-Race 10:
1. Lucian Pancea, Bellevue, Washington, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
2. Jake Latham, Broomfield, Colorado, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
3. Jose Gerardo, El Paso, Texas, Stohr, 08 Suzuki
4. Gary Hickman, Santee, California, Phoenix, 08 Suzuki
5. Terry Biner, Sandy, Utah, Firman, 09 Suzuki
6. Christopher Ash, Centennial, Colorado, Astra, 08 Suzuki
7. Brad Smith, Golden, Colorado, Speads, 08 Suzuki
8. Steve Ott, Houston, Texas, Astra, 08 Suzuki