speed circuit [Updated October 2002]

SCT   4 prizes Beginners Mult Ent Sing Elim Scheduled 
  
 Rnd1 Heat1 18    12  Rnd1 Heat2 18
  Rnd1 Heat3 18   Round 2 9 Final

  Rnd1 Heat1  Belmont   Rnd1 Heat2 Rnd1 Heat3  Derby  Round 2  Club

Lance Ribeiro, NH

2002 Champion

2nd: Scott Cornett, FL

3rd: Trevor Bender, CA

4th: John Welage, OH

5th: Chris Hancock, NH

6th: Jim Fleckenstein, VA

Event History
1991    Scott Goehring      24
1992    Mike Fitzgerald      18
1993    Chris Hancock      16
1994    Andrew House      29
1995    Lane Hess      23
1996    Trevor Bender      26
1997    Robert Kircher      25
1998    John Weber      38
1999    Kevin Keller     27
2000    Gerald Lientz     28
2001    Scott Cornett     29
2002    Lance Ribeiro     35


AREA Ratings


GM: Doug Schulz

Past Winners

1991: Scott Goehring - OH
1992:
Mike Fitzgerald - CT
1993:
Chris Hancock - NH

Andrew House - MD
1994

Lane Hess - PA
1995

Trevor Bender - CA
1996

Robert Kircher - RI
1997

John Weber - MD
1998

Kevin Keller - MD
1999

Gerald Lientz - VA
2000


Scott Cornett - FL
2001
       
 

still playing with toy cars ...

On four different tracks, in three heats, over three days, 35 drivers forsook their regularly scheduled dinner to compete for the 14 available slots on the finals grid.

Heat #1, Thursday, August 1st:
22 drivers raced in our first heat. The first 11 raced Suzuka with Darin Morley finishing first, Trevor Bender second, and Doug Schulz third. The other 11 drivers raced on Kylami with Scott Cornett following up his 2001 Championship with a qualifying win. Terry Schulz finished second and Chris Hancock third.

Heat #2, Friday, August 2nd:
25 drivers filled two fields in our second heat. Both fields raced Montjuich. Lane Newbury led a field of 13 for a win, followed by John Welage, Scott Cornett, and Stuart Tucker. Twelve drivers composed a second field won by Terry Schulz, improving on his previous second place finish. Robert Kirchner and Brian Kircher followed.

Heat #3, Saturday, August 3rd:
Thirteen drivers braved our final qualifying at Estoril. The all or nothing attitude led to D.N.F.s and three last minute qualifiers. Scott Cornett won his second qualifying heat. Kevin Keller and Jim Fleckentein qualify as second and third place finishers -- and Lance Ribeiro finishes fourth, the last driver to qualify for the finals.

Finals, Sunday, August 4th:
This year's final track was a Frankenstein of corners and straights from five different tracks. The long resulting track contained 14 different corners and engendered much fretting.

By the first half of the first lap, Terry Schulz and Lane Newbury had separated themselves from the pack. Stuart Tucker, Kevin Keller, Scott Cornett, Brian Kircher, Darin Morley, John Welage, and Trevor Bender formed the pack.

Lane moved ahead of Terry by the end of the first lap and both drivers continued to separate themselves from a thinning set of chase groups. Kevin and Scott led that pursuit. Darin and Stuart formed the second chase group. The second half of lap one also saw the first casualties. Brian dropped out of the pack and retired from the race. Robert Kirchner's engine gave out for the second D.N.F. of the race.

At the halfway point, Lane and Terry continued their dominance. Scott, Kevin, and Darin bunched up behind the leaders and were joined by Jim Fleckenstein -- taking the place of former contender Stuart who crashed out of the race.

As the leaders finished Lap 2, Terry had overtaken Lane as their ferocious competition continued for the lead. Jim moved up to take the lead in the pursuit pack after two laps followed closely by Kevin and Scott. Darin had previously fallen out of contention and retired from the race.

The first half of the third and final lap saw much jockeying to set up the most dramatic finish in recent memory. Terry maintained his tenuous lead over Lane. Lance Ribeiro made a rush to join the pack led by Scott who was in pursuit of a second consecutive championship. Lance would pass Scott and move into third in the eighth corner. Jim and Trevor rounded out the pack. Doug Schulz retired in the third lap after a failed move to join the pack. Kevin crashed in corner number 5 trying to join the lead pack.

Terry took a chance entering the 10th corner to gain separation from Lane but spun, allowing Lane to pull ahead through the outside of the corner. Scott, Lance, and Jim took advantage of the opportunity to eliminate the gap to the leaders. Trevor and John also move into contention behind the pack.

Entering the 12th corner Lane spins taking his chance to gain separation, but stays even with Terry through the slow corner after pushing his acceleration from zero on the next plot.

Lane approached the second-to-last corner of the race on the line, but with Terry on his inside. Terry took a chance in the corner with the race on the line, but crashed with the entire pack immediately behind him. Lane is forced off his line by the accident and crashes also. Scott is next to enter the corner, spinning in Terry's wake. Lance and John follow and also spin following the dual crashes. Jim spun just outside the corner in a desperate attempt to slow down. Trevor and Chris Hancock managed to successfully slow down prior to the blocked corner.

Scott managed to pull out of the corner with a seemingly insurmountable lead. However, Lance succeeds in making a naked chance in the final corner to pull even with Scott coming onto the front straight. Jim finally enters the 13th corner and spins again on remaining crash debris.

Lance Ribeiro completes his amazing run ­ the last man to qualify for the finals, pulling into contention only one-half of a lap from the finish of the race -- gaining the lead for the first time on a final push across the finish line, beating out defendfing champion Scott Cornett. Trevor Bender, John Welage, Chris Hancock, and Jim Fleckenstein rounded out the top six as the only finishers in this dramatic race.

More details on Speed Circuit racing as practised at WBC at http://www.lucidphoenix.com/sc/wbc/

 GM      Doug Schulz  [6th Year]   10101 Grossvenor Place #901, Rockville, MD 20852 
    doug@lucidphoenix.com   NA

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