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Second year driver Grant Maiman captured his first ever Skip
Barber Formula Dodge National Championship presented by RACER
victory in the series opener at Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca,
leading 16 of 17 laps and holding off a determined charge from
aptly named Scott Speed and polesitter Burt Frisselle. Maiman,
who also stood on the podium in last year's opener at Sebring,
made the most of a Frisselle miscue heading into the corkscrew
to wrestle the point on lap 2 and then pull out a slight lead
over the two Californians.
Later, the trio ran tightly, particularly late in the race
when a debris flag made the outcome questionable. Speed reeled
Maiman in as Frisselle stayed close. On the white flag lap
with both racers trying to set up Maiman, Speed attempted a
daring high pass in turn 2 only to be rebuffed by the
Wisconsin native, who appears increasingly confident as a
sophomore in the series.
Racers haling from California and the Formula Dodge Western
Regional Series were notably quicker than those that had made
the cross-country flight. San Clemente's Justin Blower claimed
fourth place honors just a step faster than fifth place
finisher Al Unser. The two staged a brilliant offensive, clean
and incident free. Robbie Montinola, usually strong at this
track, led a train of positions six through ten before being
upset by fleet newcomer Jason Richardson, who picked up the
sixth spot on lap 12 and made it stick. Montinola, the leader
of the Formula Dodge Western Regional Championship, went on to
finish seventh. 2002 National Championship Runoff winner Scott
Poirier was ninth, sandwiched between Colin Fleming and
Charlie Kimball, who fared best among the four Barber-CART
Karting Scholarship winners, claiming eighth and tenth place
results, respectively.
Frisselle's pole and podium result are his first ever in
National Championship play.
"We're off to a strong start. Qualifying went very well this
morning. My goal was just not to overdrive the car, and to put
some good laps together. We were really successful in our
efforts to land pole." He went on. "By the race, I fully
intended was go keep it really clean and not get into any
trouble. That worked well. I had a problem in turn-6 and Grant
made a great move in the corkscrew to get my position.
Unfortunately things didn't turn out exactly how I had planned
but third place is still great and I'm pleased to have a
podium beneath me in the first race."
CART Stars of Tomorrow Award Winner Scott Speed proved a quick
study among the deep and talented set. The former karting
champion systematically analyzed race lines and driver's
rhythm to form a strategy for advancement.
"I knew I had a good third place car," said Speed. "I was
going to try to hold back and salvage out a third place finish
but after the race started, I felt the car had more. I learned
some useful information from the other guy's line and realized
I had a pretty fast set-up. Consequently, I was able to pass
and challenge for the lead."
Maiman, now the early season points leader, had his own
strategy.
"I wanted to work with Scott and Burt. We decided run together
and knew that if we kept everything nice and tight, we'd have
a strong shot at a podium result. On the second lap, coming
off 6 into the corkscrew, I was able to get by Burt. And later
Scott got around him and those two diced back and forth, which
allowed me to pull away. Unfortunately, I got caught out by
the debris flag and hung up on some gravel, which dropped my
right front tire. From that point on, those guys were on my
tail, and I was just fighting to stay in front, hoping for
that checkered flag."
Success aside, Maiman benefits from a new approach as a
returning driver.
"I'm definitely more confident this year, knowing how things
work, the operations and personnel in the series. There's less
anxiety and a definite comfort level. You can learn so much
from this group of guys. In addition to getting quicker, I'm
focused on minimizing mistakes. The competition is so intense.
You have to run clean, run hard and run fast."
Skip Barber Formula Dodge National Championship presented by
RACER
Final Results
Round 1
Mazda Raceway at Laguna Seca
March 9, 2002
All Drivers in Formula Dodge R/T 2000s on Michelin Tires
FINISH/CAR#/DRIVER/RESIDES/LAPS/POINTS
1/68/Grant Maiman/New London, Wisconsin/17/20
2/23/Scott Speed/Matneca, California/17/16
3/65/Burt Frisselle/Kihei, Hawaii/17/15
4/98/Justin Blower/San Clemente, California/17/12
5/3/Al Unser/Corrales, New Mexico/17/11
6/10/Jason Richardson/Oakland, California/17/10
7/85/Robbie Montinola/Laguna Niguel, California/17/9
8/16/Colin Fleming/North Hills, California/17/8
9/20/Scott Poirier/Deerfield Beach, Florida/17/7
10/57/Charlie Kimball/Camarillo, California/17/6
11/2/Craig Baltzer/Bettendorf, Iowa/17/5
12/56/Ward Imrie, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada/17/4
13/17/Steve Welk/Franklin, Wisconsin/17/3
14/89/Brian Johnson/Los Angeles, California/17/2
15/32/Cristiano Piquet/Miami, Florida/17/1
16/72/Atticus Missner/Evanston, Illinois/17/0
17/50/Abraham Zimroth/New York, New York/17/0
18/78/Luis Pelayo/Naucalpan, Mexico/17/0
19/70/Jared Wilcox/Mahtomedi, Minnesota/17/0
20/42/Jason Klein/Long Grove, Illinois/17/0
21/7/Kyle Lawrence/Fort Gratiot, Michigan/17/0
22/35/Shinji Kashima/Taikou-Ku, Tokyo, Japan/17/0
23/46/Hector Yanez Varquez/Mexico/17/0
24/83/Brian Kellogg/Denver, Colorado/10/MDNF
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Martin Basso
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