speed circuit  

Updated 11/30/2009

2009 WBC Report  

 2010 Status: pending 2010 GM commitment

Doug Schulz, MD

2009 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
2009    Doug Schulz     31
 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Scott Cornett      FL    07    162
  2.  Kevin Keller       MD    08     95
  3.  Doug Schulz        MD    09     86
  4.  Gerald Lientz      VA    09     81
  5.  Terry Schulz       PA    07     80
  6.  Jimmy Fleckenstein VA    07     66
  7.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    09     60
  8.  John Welage        OH    07     56
  9.  Lance Ribeiro      NH    02     52
 10.  Lane Newbury       TX    09     36
 11.  Chris Hancock      PA    06     32
 12.  Trevor Bender      CA    02     32
 13.  Darin Morley       NC    04     26
 14.  Seth Kirchner      KY    07     24
 15.  Jeff Cornett       FL    01     24
 16.  Robert Kircher     RI    09     18
 17.  John Shaheen       MA    08     18
 18.  Bruce Rae          bc    09     16
 19.  Lane Hess          PA    00     16
 20.  Jason O'Donnell    OH    01     13
 21.  Bruno PassacantandoCT    08     12
 22.  John Sharp III     FL    06     12
 23.  Tim Mossman        MD    08      9
 24.  Franklin Haskell   NH    03      9
 25.  Mike Aubuchon      PA    07      8
 26.  Dan McGowan        ME    01      8
 27.  Dave Anderson      PA    00      8
 28.  James Fleckenstein VA    02      4

2009 Laurelists                                           Repeating Laurelists:

Lane Newbury, CA
2nd

Bruce Rae, bc
3rd

Robert Kircher, RI
4th

Gerald Lientz, VA
5th

Dennis Nicholson, NY
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, 2009

John Welage, OH
2004

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2005

Terry Schulz, PA
2007

There are generally two tracks running in each heat.

Michael Aubuchon moves his car into the turn.

beware the final corner ...

This year the race-from-the-front and from-behind strategies battled all through qualifying and the Final. Recently, race-from-behind has seemed less effective, but it saw a resurgence this year.

Qualifying took place on the fast and simple Hockenheim, the tighter and slower Melborne, and the long and heavy braking Spa. Nearly half of all the top finishers from each heat used a race-from-the-back strategy of one sort or another including Rob Kircher, Dennis Nicholson, Lane Newbury, Franklin Haskell, and Doug Schulz. But Jim Fleckenstein, Bruno Passacantando, Don Tatum, Gerald Lientz, Kevin Keller, and Doug Galullo qualified with more of a race-from-the-front strategy. Tatum qualified twice in the preliminaries which meant that Bruce Rae qualified for the Final with a third place finish.

The Final devolved into a two-car race by the end. There were certainly other cars that contended on Catalunya. Don Tatum, Kevin Keller, and Lane Newbury all mixed it up with the leaders. But for most of the race it was clear that Jim Fleckenstein and Doug Schulz would duel for the wood at the end just as they had last year. In 2008 both crashed in the last corner, this year only one of them would.

Jim started the race from the front of the grid and pushed early, extending a gap while using up most of his wear over the first half of the race. Doug started mid-pack on the grid but used a high start speed to get up to the back of the front runners by corner #2. From there Doug ran a more conservative race and conserved his wear for a late charge - outlasting the other front runners to be Jim's primary competition. By the last lap, they ran neck and neck heading into the fifth corner. Jim went faster through the outside of that corner using his last wear and then performed a late brake to stay out of the next corner, gaining the arrow. Doug then dove inside, used a wear and entered the next corner on the outside to stay ahead of him. This proved to be decisive as Doug was able to block Jim in the second to last corner and forced him into two naked chance rolls which culminated again in his crash in the last corner. Doug is now the third two-time Speed Circuit champion - joining Kevin Keller and Gerald Lientz as co-holders of that lofty pedigree.

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

Doug Schulz moves his car on his way to his second title.

Doug Galullo takes a corner.

 

 Boys and their toys are much in evidence as part of the appeal on the newly researched tracks.

 Dennis Nicholson, Bruno Passacantando
and Jimmy Fleckenstin man their cars.
 GM      Doug Schulz  [13th Year]   NA 
    doug@lucidphoenix.com   NA

2009 Preview Page | View the Icon Key | Return to main BPA page