speed circuit  

Updated 11/26/2008

2008 WBC Report  

 2009 Status: pending 2009 GM commitment

Gerald Lientz, VA

2008 Champion

Offsite Links

  

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
2003    Douglas Schulz     32
2004    John Welage     30
2005     Dennis Nicholson     37
2006    Kevin Keller     32
2007     Terry Schulz     33
2008    Gerald Lientz     24
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Scott Cornett      FL    07    162
  2.  Kevin Keller       MD    08     97
  3.  Terry Schulz       PA    07     80
  4.  Gerald Lientz      VA    08     73
  5.  Jimmy Fleckenstein VA    07     70
  6.  John Welage        OH    07     56
  7.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    06     56
  8.  Lance Ribeiro      NH    02     52
  9.  Doug Schulz        MD    04     46
 10.  Trevor Bender      CA    02     32
 11.  Chris Hancock      PA    06     28
 12.  Darin Morley       NC    04     26
 13,  Seth Kirchner      KY    07     24
 14.  Jeff Cornett       FL    01     24
 15.  John Shaheen       MA    08     18
 16.  Lane Hess          PA    00     16
 17.  Jason O'Donnell    OH    01     13
 18.  Bruno PassacantandoCT    08     12
 19.  John Sharp III     FL    06     12
 20.  Lane Newbury       TX    04     12
 21.  Tim Mossman        MD    08      9
 22.  Franklin Haskell   NH    03      9
 23.  Mike Aubuchon      PA    07      8
 24.  Dan McGowan        ME    01      8
 25.  Dave Anderson      PA    00      8
 26.  Robert Kircher     RI    08      6

2008 Laurelists                                                  Repeating Laurelists: 0

John Shaheen, MA
2nd

Bruno Passacantando, CT
3rd

Tim Mossman, MD
4th

Robert Kircher, RI
5th

Kevin Keller, MD
6th


Past Winners

Mike Fitzgerald, CT
1992

Chris Hancock, NH
1993

Andrew House, MD
1994

Lane Hess, PA
1995

Trevor Bender, CA
1996

Robert Kircher, RI
1997

John Weber, MD
1998

Kevin Keller, MD
1999, 2006

Gerald Lientz, VA
2000, 2008

Scott Cornett, FL
2001

Lance Ribeiro, NH
2002

Doug Schulz, MD
2003

John Welage, OH
2004

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2005

Terry Schulz, PA
2007

GM Doug Schulz (left) gets a heat underway.

Scale model cars and new tracks keep the experience fresh.

beware the final corner ...

24 drivers took on a series of brand-new qualifying tracks: Catalunya, Istanbul, and a new version of Monaco. Six different drivers won a qualifying race. Three more qualified for the Final with a second place finish in one of the three heats and the last three finalists qualified with a third place finish. Defending champion Terry Schulz, came up a tie-breaker short, ending his title defense.

Don Tatum and Kevin Keller began the race on the front row after bidding for the pole. Kevin failed to push his start speed and stalled on the pole. Don sped out to the lead and spent a good amount of wear in the first lap to create a decent gap tbetween Chris Hancock and Doug Schulz in the pursuit group. Chris' top speed broke on the back-straight after corner #4.

After one lap, Don continued to lead Chris and Doug by a good margin while Jim Fleckenstein and Tim Mossman had worked their way through the pack to make their presence felt. However, while crossing the line completing lap 1, Don broke his acceleration down to 20 mph. Going down the back straight, both Doug and Jim passed Chris' broken top-end-challenged car, Tim spun in corner #4 attempting to do the same. This pursuit group started reeling in Don's acceleration-challenged car aided also by Don's fewer remaining wear.

Doug passed Don to take the lead through corner #6 but Don managed to hold off Chris and Jim through the end of lap 2. By the end of the lap, Bruno Passacantando had also joined the pursuit group -- only four spaces behind Doug and with significantly more wear in hand. Gerald Lientz led the pack, three spaces behind the pursuit group. The rest of the pack, in order, was Russ Harley, Tim, John Shaheen, Franklin Haskell, Robert Kircher, and Kevin.

Jim moved into second -- passing Don through the first two corners of the last lap. He then pulled along-side Doug entering the back straight before corner #4, and passed with his higher top-speed to take the lead. But Doug managed to tuck in behind Jim and used the draft and a chance roll in corner #4 to re-pass back into the lead. On that same straight, Chris became the first car to retire after his top speed broke for a second time and the car engine failed completely.

Jim caught Doug as they ended the straight after corner #4 but Doug had initiative and a wear in hand. Meanwhile, Don and Bruno were lurking just a space behind -- both having a wear and -3 skill chip in hand.

Doug kept the arrow heading into corner #6 and used his last wear through that corner to gain a slight lead. Jim sat on the arrow, forcing Don to take a chance in the corner resulting in a spin. Bruno was then forced outside, but retained his two chips. Don immediately pulled his car off the track and retired.

Doug then went for the win with a naked chance roll in the final corner and crashed. Jim and Bruno pulled up right before the final corner -- Jim on the line, Bruno with a wear and a -3 skill chip and the pack closing in fast. Now it was Jim's turn to roll a naked chance for the win after Bruno chose to go a safer speed through the corner. Jim also crashed out and Bruno -- forced to roll on the chance table to avoid Jim's crash -- spun.

After the first three cars spun or crashed in the final corner, Robert suddenly led the pack not just fighting for laurels, but for a championship -- all while trying to avoid Jim's crash. But Robert's trip to the chance table was no more successful then the previous cars' and he ended the plot spun next to Bruno.

It was Gerald, the fifth car into the final corner, who was the first to beat the chance table, securing his second Speed Circuit championship, becoming only the second person to have won twice. John also managed to get through cleanly to take second. John started the race on the last row and was one of the last drivers to qualify.

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

The view from the good seats.

The finalists going for the checkered flag.
 GM      Doug Schulz  [12th Year]   NA 
    doug@lucidphoenix.com   NA

2008 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page