Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series: Palm Beach GP Race Report
02-28-2012, 08:12 AM
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Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series: Palm Beach GP Race Report
With spring like weather already at hand in Palm Beach, the Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series racers did their part to make it even warmer. With HSR's popular historic race cars, the Nordic Camaro Cup making their second US appearance of the season and our own booming V8 racers on hand, a nice crowd turned out for the HSR Palm Beach Grand Prix.
The V8 Series racing heated up quickly when Trans Am series runner up Simon Gregg lit a fire under his Derhaag Motorsports Corvette and destroyed the Porterfield Enterprises V8 GT-1 track record by more than two seconds in qualifying. Charles Wicht in his ex Doug Harrington Trans Am Rocketsports Corvette also layed down a run that was under the existing track record despite dealing with a slight miss. Bill Riddell brought out his Tommy Riggins built 1963 Ford Falcon Silhouette racer and nailed down the third spot. Bob Mitten was the top qualifier in the Pitboxes.com V8 SPO class with a fine 1:19.603. Pete Kirill took the fifth overall spot and fourth in V8 GT-1 in his Riggins Engineering prepped Camaro. Pete, a former veteran of the IMSA Camel GT Series returned to racing a couple years ago after a nearly thirty year layoff. Lee Arnold used a 1:20.591 lap to garner the second spot in V8 SPO.
Cameron Lawrence grabbed his secomd PMS Motorsports Howe Racing V8 GTA PMS Motorsports pole award with a 1:23.974 with 2011 class champ Randy Walker right behind him. New Jersey's Mike Wilson was third in his Pontiac Grand Prix.
Jason Krikorian was the top dog in LG Motorsprts V8 GT2 in his Phoenix Racing built Corvette with last years Palm Beach winner Dell Haverland next.
The racer's took the green for Saturday's race at 1:40 in the afternoon under clear skies and temp in the 80's.
Simon Gregg led into one with Wicht in hot pursuit. Third qualifier, Bill Riddell immediately broke something in his Falcon on lap one and hit pit lane. Bob Mitten had his big stock car in third, closely followed by Pete Kirill in his Camaro. Kirill's Camaro won its' class at the Rolex 24 back in 2000. Lee Arnold was hanging on to fifth overall and second in V8 SPO. In V8 GTA, Cameron Lawrence led early, but slowed after losing second gear, allowing Mike Wilson to get by for the lead. In V8 GT2 Jason Krikorian led Dell Haverland for the class honors.
By lap two, Gregg had pulled out about a five car length lead over Wicht. It was at that point that Wicht really got up on the wheel and started closing the gap by about one car length per lap. It appeared the two were pretty equal around the circuit except for at the end of the back straight, Wicht would make up the car length under heavy braking into the horseshoe. Gregg's Derhaag Corvette seemed to be handling superbly, while Wicht seemed to be a bit tight in and then loose off, yet he still managed to hang on through the twisties. On lap seven of eight, Wicht made his challenge, going for a late braking pass into the horseshoe. Just barely getting there down the inside, Gregg attempted to make the classic crossover move and retake the lead. However, on exiting the corner with the cars side by side, Wicht on the inside, the duo came up on traffic allowing Wicht to use a slower car for a pick to hold the lead. On the last lap, Gregg was right there and made his late braking move at the end of the back straight. Gregg just couldn't quite get there and Wicht held him off to the checker. Wicht had the race fast lap at a 1:15.334, with Gregg less than 1/10th back.
Pete Kirill took third oveall and third in V8 GT-1 with a fine drive. Bob Mitten added to his win total, with Lee Arnold picking another runner up finish in the V8 SPO class. With Lawrence slowed with the tranny problem, Mike Wilson cruised to his first V8 Series win. Jason Krikorian held off Haverland for the V8 GT2 win.
Sunday's race promised to be another good one between Wicht and Gregg, but we got more than we bargained for with Mitten and Arnold running nose to tail the entire race for the V8 SPO class and Walker and Lawrence doing the same for the V8 GTA honors.
Up front in V8 GT-1, Gregg led every lap but not without Wicht haunting him every step of the way. In V8 SPO, Mitten also led the whole way despite the fact that you could hardly slip a piece a paper between his ex cup Monte Carlo and the late model of Arnold.
V8 GTA came down to one small slip, that made by Randy Walker as he got a bit loose off a corner with about one to go. Cameron Lawrence was right there to pounce, grabbing the lead and holding Walker to the checker.
Dell Haverland picked up the V8 GT2 win in his Corvette, putting him in good position early in the points chase.
The V8 racers enjoyed the attention of the fans as they came by to check out the cars and talk about the series.
The Crane Cams V8 StockCar racer's always enjoy running with Historic Sportscar Racing as their staff always keeps the event running smoothly but with a low key, fun atmosphere. We look forward to scheduling more events with HSR in the future.
The Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series thanks its partners who make it happen, they are:
Crane Cams, HSR, SCCA, Porterfield Enterprises, LG Motorsports, Howe Racing, PitBoxes.com, GoPro, RaceTalkRadio.com, Sunoco, Hoosier, Goodyear, FiveStar, RaceCar Engineering, RacingJunk.com, Roehrig-Enders, GrassRoots Motorsports Magazine, SafeRacer
The V8 Series racing heated up quickly when Trans Am series runner up Simon Gregg lit a fire under his Derhaag Motorsports Corvette and destroyed the Porterfield Enterprises V8 GT-1 track record by more than two seconds in qualifying. Charles Wicht in his ex Doug Harrington Trans Am Rocketsports Corvette also layed down a run that was under the existing track record despite dealing with a slight miss. Bill Riddell brought out his Tommy Riggins built 1963 Ford Falcon Silhouette racer and nailed down the third spot. Bob Mitten was the top qualifier in the Pitboxes.com V8 SPO class with a fine 1:19.603. Pete Kirill took the fifth overall spot and fourth in V8 GT-1 in his Riggins Engineering prepped Camaro. Pete, a former veteran of the IMSA Camel GT Series returned to racing a couple years ago after a nearly thirty year layoff. Lee Arnold used a 1:20.591 lap to garner the second spot in V8 SPO.
Cameron Lawrence grabbed his secomd PMS Motorsports Howe Racing V8 GTA PMS Motorsports pole award with a 1:23.974 with 2011 class champ Randy Walker right behind him. New Jersey's Mike Wilson was third in his Pontiac Grand Prix.
Jason Krikorian was the top dog in LG Motorsprts V8 GT2 in his Phoenix Racing built Corvette with last years Palm Beach winner Dell Haverland next.
The racer's took the green for Saturday's race at 1:40 in the afternoon under clear skies and temp in the 80's.
Simon Gregg led into one with Wicht in hot pursuit. Third qualifier, Bill Riddell immediately broke something in his Falcon on lap one and hit pit lane. Bob Mitten had his big stock car in third, closely followed by Pete Kirill in his Camaro. Kirill's Camaro won its' class at the Rolex 24 back in 2000. Lee Arnold was hanging on to fifth overall and second in V8 SPO. In V8 GTA, Cameron Lawrence led early, but slowed after losing second gear, allowing Mike Wilson to get by for the lead. In V8 GT2 Jason Krikorian led Dell Haverland for the class honors.
By lap two, Gregg had pulled out about a five car length lead over Wicht. It was at that point that Wicht really got up on the wheel and started closing the gap by about one car length per lap. It appeared the two were pretty equal around the circuit except for at the end of the back straight, Wicht would make up the car length under heavy braking into the horseshoe. Gregg's Derhaag Corvette seemed to be handling superbly, while Wicht seemed to be a bit tight in and then loose off, yet he still managed to hang on through the twisties. On lap seven of eight, Wicht made his challenge, going for a late braking pass into the horseshoe. Just barely getting there down the inside, Gregg attempted to make the classic crossover move and retake the lead. However, on exiting the corner with the cars side by side, Wicht on the inside, the duo came up on traffic allowing Wicht to use a slower car for a pick to hold the lead. On the last lap, Gregg was right there and made his late braking move at the end of the back straight. Gregg just couldn't quite get there and Wicht held him off to the checker. Wicht had the race fast lap at a 1:15.334, with Gregg less than 1/10th back.
Pete Kirill took third oveall and third in V8 GT-1 with a fine drive. Bob Mitten added to his win total, with Lee Arnold picking another runner up finish in the V8 SPO class. With Lawrence slowed with the tranny problem, Mike Wilson cruised to his first V8 Series win. Jason Krikorian held off Haverland for the V8 GT2 win.
Sunday's race promised to be another good one between Wicht and Gregg, but we got more than we bargained for with Mitten and Arnold running nose to tail the entire race for the V8 SPO class and Walker and Lawrence doing the same for the V8 GTA honors.
Up front in V8 GT-1, Gregg led every lap but not without Wicht haunting him every step of the way. In V8 SPO, Mitten also led the whole way despite the fact that you could hardly slip a piece a paper between his ex cup Monte Carlo and the late model of Arnold.
V8 GTA came down to one small slip, that made by Randy Walker as he got a bit loose off a corner with about one to go. Cameron Lawrence was right there to pounce, grabbing the lead and holding Walker to the checker.
Dell Haverland picked up the V8 GT2 win in his Corvette, putting him in good position early in the points chase.
The V8 racers enjoyed the attention of the fans as they came by to check out the cars and talk about the series.
The Crane Cams V8 StockCar racer's always enjoy running with Historic Sportscar Racing as their staff always keeps the event running smoothly but with a low key, fun atmosphere. We look forward to scheduling more events with HSR in the future.
The Crane Cams V8 StockCar Series thanks its partners who make it happen, they are:
Crane Cams, HSR, SCCA, Porterfield Enterprises, LG Motorsports, Howe Racing, PitBoxes.com, GoPro, RaceTalkRadio.com, Sunoco, Hoosier, Goodyear, FiveStar, RaceCar Engineering, RacingJunk.com, Roehrig-Enders, GrassRoots Motorsports Magazine, SafeRacer
