Maroney Earns First Series Victory

No. 23 Mile Maroney takes the lead from pole sitter No. 26 David Cheng

Monterey, Calif. – After round five having been completed this morning the Pacific F2000 Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care returned to the track this afternoon for round 6 in conjunction with the USF2000 Championship Series.

Starting positions were determined by fastest laps in the morning race which meant that David Cheng from Sammamish, Washington emerged as the pole sitter and claiming the two points that go along with it. Alongside David #26/Speedware Motorsports/Zerlag Communications/PR1 Van Diemen is rookie teammate Miles Maroney #23/Maroney Company/PR1 Van Diemen followed by round five winner Scott Rarick #34 PR1 Van Diemen and Bob Negron #9/ FengshuiMeBaby.com Van Diemen completing the front two rows of the grid. Lining up fifth just .003 of a second behind Negron is Ira Fierberg #27 Barry I Goldstein, CPA/Sparco/DFR Van Diemen with Bill Kincaid #46 Van Diemen next to him. They are followed by Peter West #99 Clout/DFR Van Diemen, Peter Thomas #44 Refrigeration Control Co./Hytech Exhaust/Church Automotive Testing Van Diemen, Michael Murphy #18 Mygale and Peter Hastrup #5/Western Building Materials/Nuttall & Coleman/DFR Van Diemen having been sidelined on the first second lap of the morning race.

Having learned from the mornings start David was not to be taken advantage of again and took the lead from the green flag followed by Maroney, Rarick and Negron. Running fifth Ira Fierberg got punted off course in turn six and dropped to the back of the field from where he put in on of the better drives of the race to charge back through the field to come home seventh after a one position penalty for contact with DFR teammate Peter Hastrup damaging his left rear wheel causing a loss of tire pressure and Hastrup after starting at the tail end of the field held on after an excellent drive for sixth place to make up for the morning’s misfortune.

Cheng continued to lead until in the very fast turn six put a wheel into the dirt and lost momentum allowing Maroney and Rarick to get by. For Miles it was his first taste of leading a Pacific F2000 event however he is not a stranger to leading and winning race having graduated to cars from a successful carting career. Miles drove an excellent race to hold off Rarick and lead the remaining laps and secure his first victory in the series.

The three PR1 Motorsports entries circulated virtually nose to tail for the entire race and brought Bobby Oergel’s team a clean sweep of the podium for both events this weekend.

Scott Rarick finished second; taking the Expert Class (drivers 35-50) win and with it to extend his point lead. Scott seemed content to stay behind Miles and consolidate his points his focus firmly on securing the Championship this year.

David Cheng came home third another solid podium finish and managed to collect all of the bonus points this weekend by securing pole position each race and posting both fastest laps.
Bob Negron again finished an impressive fourth and was never out of sight of the leaders secured another Master’s Class (drivers 51 and over) wins. Bob has so far managed to maintain second place in the title hunt.

Bill Kincaid who has raced many times at Mazda Raceway as a San Francisco Region Member of the SCCA and drove another steady race to finish fifth ahead of Hastrup and Fierberg which was rewarding after having not finished the morning race.

Eight place went to Michael Murphy in the lone Mygale to run in the series this weekend. He was followed to the checkered flag by Peter Thomas in ninth whose times improved with every session as his pace is steadily improving and Peter West in tenth.

The series now moves to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, California for rounds 7 and 8 on June 26th and 27th and then a nearly three month before returning to Buttonwillow Raceway Park and Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the series finale.

Midway through the season Scott Rarick has a commanding 42 point lead in the championship but with Miles Maroney, David Cheng and Willow Springs winner Conner Ford having found their stride the championship is far from being decided and with the best eleven results counted anything is still possible.

Qualifying:
1. David Cheng (Van Diemen RF05), 1m27.812s; 2. Miles Maroney (Van Diemen), 1m27.938s; 3. Scott Rarick (Van Diemen RF06), 1m26.949s; 4. Bob Negron (Van Diemen RF99), 1m28.359s; 5. Ira Fierberg (Van Diemen RF05), 1m28.362s; 6. Bill Kincaid (Van Diemen RF03), 1m28.750s; 7. Peter West (Van Diemen RF03) 1m31.083s; 8. Peter Thomas (Van Diemen RF02), 1m31.373s; 9. Michael Murphy (Mygale SJ04) 1m31.583s; 10. Peter Hastrup (Van Diemen RF02), 1m36.708s. (All use Zetec/Quicksilver engines.)

Round 5 (17 laps): 1. Maroney, 27m11.253s; 2. Rarick, 27m12.314s; 3. Cheng, 27m13.774s; 4. Negron, 27m16.906s; 5. Kincaid 27m20.558s; 6. Hastrup27m45.497; 7. Fierberg, 27m22.065s; 8. Michael Murphy, 27m45.848s; 9. Thomas, 27m46.058s; 10. West 28:07.769; 9. 11.

Margin of victory: 1.016s.
Fastest race lap: Cheng, 1m26.588s.
Expert class winner (35-50): Rarick.
Sierra Tire Masters class winner (over 50): Negron.

Points: Rarick, 158; Negron, 116; Maroney, 112; Fierberg, 108; Cheng, 108; Kincaid, 78; Thomas, 76; Hastrup, 71; Ford, 54; Maroney, 53; Phillips, 50; West, 69; Podlesni, 37; Murphy, 39.