US F1000 :: Race Reports

The Ridge Motorsports Park Recap

Rounds 7 and 8 of the Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship West took place at The Ridge Motorsports Park in Shelton, Washington this past weekend.
The Ridge Motorsports Park has significant elevation and camber changes throughout its 2.4 mile length, providing a challenging and thrilling ride for the drivers. With only Ross Wolf having completed a lap here prior to the event, it was looking to be a quick learning curve for the rest of the field, but with perfect weather and a full practice day on Friday, everyone was ready by the time sunny skies dawned over Shelton, Washington. In the morning qualifying Larry Vollum was the class of the field as he opened up a whopping 4.5 second gap over Ross Wolf, followed by John LaBrie a scant .181 seconds behind. With the commanding performance by Vollum, the race was clearly on for second place.

Final Qualifying grid for Round 7

1	Larry Vollum	1:34.117
2	Ross Wolf	1:38.641
3	John LaBrie	1:38.822
4	Ada Cheung	1:50.232

By race time, things had heated up considerably with full sunshine and ambient temps of 85 degrees. When the cars were called to grid, Ross Wolf could not be found so John LaBrie inherited P2 for start and joined Larry Vollum on the front row. At the drop of the green flag, Vollum and LaBrie were side by side but LaBrie pulled ahead before turn 1 and the race was on, but not for long. Vollum saw that LaBrie wasn't fully up to speed and pounced as they went side by side through the carousel and by the time they exited turn 8A Vollum was in the lead for good. In the meantime, Ross Wolf managed to pass the entire field of mixed classes and was gaining on LaBrie, who was now focused on Vollum's wing. Vollum slowly opened up a gap while LaBrie and Wolf engaged in the battle for 2nd. On Lap 3 Wolf attempted an outside pass in turn 8A but ran out of track and dropped two tires, allowing LaBrie to open a slight gap. On the subsequent lap LaBrie missed his braking zone going into the Carousel and went too deep, dropping two tires and nearly collecting the hard charging Wolf, who followed LaBrie into the grass and ended up spinning sideways himself. This allowed LaBrie to open up a significant gap while Wolf tried to extricate himself from the grass. The hot temperatures, however, began to plague LaBrie and he was forced to short shift to try to cool his oil temps. This allowed Wolf to close the gap, and with two laps to go they were again nose to tail as Wolf hounded LaBrie. On the final lap, in a desperate move to pass, Wolf turned in too early and went inside the first apex of the Corkscrew and found himself in the rocks - a daring but unproductive effort. Vollum went on to win with LaBrie taking 2nd and Wolf coming in 3rd after a valiant drive.

Full results for round 7:

1	Larry Vollum
2	John LaBrie
3	Ross Wolf
4	Ada Cheung

Prize Fund for Round 7
1st Place	Larry Vollum	2 Hooser Tires, 1 Pair Hyperco Springs
2nd Place	John LaBrie	1 Hoosier Tire, $50 Hyperco Certificate
3rd Place	Ross Wolf	$25 Hyperco Certificate, $25 Sprocket Specialists Certificate
Pole	Larry Vollum (1:34.117)	1 Hoosier Tire
Fastest Lap	Larry Vollum (1:35.855)	50% off Sprocket Specialists
Random Drawing #1	Ross Wolf	1 Hoosier Tire
Random Drawing #2	John Labrie	1 Hoosier Tire
Random Drawing #3	Larry Vollum	1 Free Sprocket from Sprocket Specialists
Sunoco Hard Charger	John LaBrie	$150 Cash payout (moved up 3 positions)

With Sunday morning temperatures 5 degrees warmer than Saturday, everyone knew it was going to be a warm day and in qualifying things heated up as both Vollum and LaBrie bettered their times from the day before. Ross Wolf, struggling with shifter issues, was unable to better his time.

Final Qualifying grid for Round 8

1	Larry Vollum	1:33.578
2	John LaBrie	1:37.197
3	Ross Wolf	1:39.803
4	Ada Cheung	no time

It was 90 degrees for the afternoon race, and the start was nearly identical to the prior day, with LaBrie getting the best of the start and taking the lead into turn 1 but by the time the cars exited turn 8 it was Vollum once again in the lead with LaBrie on his wing. This time Wolf, run by motorsports engineering did not have to charge through the field and he was a couple car lengths behind LaBrie as they passed the start/finish line 1-2-3. With the warmer temperatures, Vollum wasn't able to pull away as quickly as he had the day before, but LaBrie could not close the gap as Vollum built up a comfortable lead that he was able to maintain until the end. Unfortunately, Wolf went off at the bottom of the corkscrew in the early laps, damaging his front splitter which caused loss of front end aero grip. In turn of these events wold never threatened LaBrie again for position as they finished the way they started.

Full results for round 8:

1	Larry Vollum
2	John LaBrie
3	Ross Wolf
DNS	Ada Cheung

Prize Fund for Round 8
1st Place	Larry Vollum	2 Hooser Tires, 1 Pair Hyperco Springs
2nd Place	John LaBrie	1 Hoosier Tire, $50 Hyperco Certificate
3rd Place	Ross Wolf	$25 Hyperco Certificate, $25 Sprocket Specialists Certificate
Pole	Larry Vollum (1:33.578)	1 Hoosier Tire
Fastest Lap	Larry Vollum (1:35.853)	50% off Sprocket Specialists
Random Drawing #1	Larry Vollum	1 Hoosier Tire
Random Drawing #2	John Labrie	1 Hoosier Tire
Random Drawing #3	Ross Wolf	1 Free Sprocket from Sprocket Specialists
Sunoco Hard Charger	John LaBrie	$150 Cash payout (most improved lap time from qualifying)

Replay XD Video From round 8
Thanks to Replay XD, we have a brief highlight video from John LaBrie’s onboard camera: http://youtu.be/eVAMlesDBMk

Next Up
The Hoosier Tire US Formula 1000 Championship West heads to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for rounds 9 and 10 on September 12-14, where the Championship will be decided. Larry Volllum has a commanding lead in the points standings but John LaBrie still has a mathematical chance of winning should everything go his way.

The Ridge - August 2014 (Round 7 and 8 West)