speed circuit [Updated October 2007]  

2007 WBC Report  

 2008 Status: pending 2008 GM commitment

Terry Schulz, PA

2007 Champion

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Laurels 

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

 Laurels

Rank  Name              From  Last  Total
  1.  Scott Cornett      FL    07    162
  2.  Kevin Keller       MD    06     94
  3.  Terry Schulz       PA    07     80
  4.  Jimmy Fleckenstein VA    07     70
  5.  John Welage        OH    07     56
  6.  Dennis Nicholson   NY    06     56
  7.  Lance Ribeiro      NH    02     52
  8.  Doug Schulz        MD    04     46
  9.  Gerald Lientz      VA    03     43
 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.  Lane Hess          PA    00     16
 16.  Jason O'Donnell    OH    01     13
 17.  John Sharp III     FL    06     12
 18.  Lane Newbury       TX    04     12
 19.  Franklin Haskell   NH    03      9
 20.  Mike Aubuchon      PA    07      8
 21.  Dan McGowan        ME    01      8
 22.  Dave Anderson      PA    00      8

2007 Laurelists

Seth Kirchner, KY
2nd

Scott Cornett, FL
3rd

Jimmy Fleckenstein, VA
4th

Mike Aubuchon, PA
5th

John WElage, OH
6th


Past Winners

Scott Goehring, OH
1991

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

Scott Cornett, FL
2001

Lance Ribeiro, NH
2002

Doug Schulz, MD
2003

John Welage, OH
2004

Dennis Nicholson, NY
2005

The finalists gather for the big race.

A battle for second is developing as Terry enjoys a rare big lead.

the 16th Champion

33 drivers competed for 12 spots in the Final grid over three qualifying heats from Portugal (Estoril) to South Africa (Kylami) to Canada (Montreal).

Two first heat races were won by Seth Kirchner and Jim Fleckenstein. Franklin Haskell would pick up the first of his two third place finishes. All three drivers would qualify for the Final with these finishes.

Qualifiers from the second heat included victors Doug Schulz, Jeff Cornett (improving on his second from the rprevious heat) and Doug Galullo, as well as runners-ups John Welage, Mike Aubuchon, and Robert Kircher.

Qualifying in the third and last heat were victors Terry Schulz and Scott Cornett (improving on his second in the first heat), and runner-up Dennis Nicholson.

The Final race at Suzuka in Japan had a full twelve car field of seven victors, four runner-ups, and the best third place finisher. In all, five former champs would be in the line-up. Three more had failed to qualify.

There was some significant bidding for pole position on this track, with Jeff bidding 8 wear for the pole and Terry 6 to gain the outside of Row 1. Row 2 was populated with Jim and Doug G who each bid 4 wear. Seth and Scott populated the third row, Doug S. and Robert the fourth, and Dennis and Mike the fifth. John and Franklin took the last row.

This Final began with fireworks when Jim miss-shifted off the starting grid to lose precious space going into the first corner and Doug S stalled on the grid to fall all the way back to the end of the pack with a damaged engine to boot. On the positive side, Terry took command of the race early by exploiting his 100 start speed to immediately gain two spaces over row-mate Jeff and began his second consecutive Final from the lead.

Doug G and Robert found themselves in position to challenge early in Lap 1 when Robert miss-plotted heading into the sixth corner. The amount of wear and skill chips he expended to stay on the track greatly hurt his future prospects.

Terry plotted an excellent first lap from his lead position and continued to put pressure on the trailing cars. Terry had a three-space advantage over Doug G after half a lap. Doug G., who also tangled with Terry last year, blew a top speed test on the front straight, then mis-plotted in the middle of the back straight as Terry gained greater separation. Terry maintained at least a four-space lead through the remainder of the race's check points with minimal wear usage. He had five wear left mid-way through the last lap.

With this year's champion racing off into the sunset, Scott and Seth fought a tight battle for second through the last two laps. Side-by-side coming out of the last corner, Seth achieved greater speed to gain second by a space. Jim and Mike passed Doug G. and then dueled to the end for 4th place wood. Mike led Jim most of the race up to the end of the last lap when Jimmy out accelerated Mike for fourth coming out of the last corner.

John managed to escape a raucous back marker fight to claim 6th place and the last of the laurels. Despite nothing but pride on the line, the final three cars of the field fought tooth and nail for position on the final half lap and stayed in a tight knot through multiple spins and stayed on track through multiple naked-chance
rolls. Jeff crossed the line just ahead of Doug G and Franklin who had been stymied in his come from behind strategy all race long.

It was a particularly sweet victory for Terry, who had been close several times before and had lead in the second lap of the Final last year before tangling with Doug G and eventually retiring.

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

 GM      Doug Schulz  [11th Year]   NA 
    doug@lucidphoenix.com   NA

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