FORMULA 600 CHALLENGE SERIES: ROUND #4 AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

This time of the year the heat can be really unbearable in the deep south but this weekend’s weather provided a slight reprieve with a nice wind for most of the race event.  This was the very first time that Aaron Ellis had ever been on this famous track but it did not take this crafty old veteran very long at all as he steadily improved his lap times with every session on the track.  Qualifying for Saturday’s race saw veteran John Pickle in the former Banana Boat (2nd at the Daytona Runoffs) take the pole with a 1:39.652, followed by Carl Maier in 2nd, rookie Jeff DeLong in 3rd, Aaron Ellis in 4th, George Fox in 5th, another rookie Zak Morvik in 6th and returning to the Series, Fred Edwards in 7th, re-learning the car and the track.  The start of the race saw Aaron Ellis charge to the front from 4th with John Pickle right with him.  This battle continued for several laps until Aaron laid down a fast lap of 1:37.358 to pull away from John and win the race with John finishing in 2nd; 3rd was Jeff DeLong, 4thwas George Fox, 5th was Carl Maier, 6th was Zak Morvik and 7th was Fred Edwards.

Since the grid for Sunday is determined by your fastest lap of the event, whether in qualifying or the Saturday race, Aaron Ellis decided to sit on his 1:37.358 set during the Saturday race. John Pickle did not improve his best lap time of 1:39.652 and settled for 2nd on the grid; Jeff DeLong improved his lap time to a 1:41.674 to take the 3rd spot, George Fox also improved his lap time to take 4th, Zak Morvik took the 5th spot and Carl Maier moved to the back after changing cars – Fred Edwards turned his car over to Carl to run the Sunday race.  At the start, John Pickle and Aaron Ellis swapped the lead several times until John had to spin his car to avoid another car in the spider hairpin.  Aaron then proceeded to increase his lead with a new fast time of 1:35.792.  In the meantime, John Pickle was on a mission to catch both Jeff DeLong and George Fox who had passed John during his spin and re-start.  Over the next 8 or so laps of this 15 lap race, John reeled in and passed first George Fox and then Jeff DeLong.  Aaron Ellis won going away, John Pickle got a much deserved 2nd place from way back in the pack, George Fox finished 3rd, Jeff DeLong finished 4th, Carl Maier finished 5th and Zak Morvik finished 6th.

The points for this weekend’s event are as follows:

  1. Aaron Ellis            24
  2. John Pickle           22
  3. Jeff DeLong          20
  4. George Fox          18
  5. Carl Maier            16
  6. Zak Morvik           14
  7. Fred Edwards       12

After four rounds, the Series Points standing are now:

  1.  Aaron Ellis         96
  2.  Carl Maier         76
  3.  Jeff DeLong        52
  4.  Mo Makki           52
  5.  John Pickle         44
  6.  Sven deVries      38
  7.  Barry Luterek     38
  8.  George Fox        34
  9.  Zak Morvik         26
  10.  Calvin Stewart     14
  11.  Hunter Brayton   12
  12.  Fred Edwards      12

We have two ties – for 3rd/4th and for 6th/7th which should be resolved at Atlanta.

We are very thankful for our valued sponsors who have made this series possible:

Metalloid Corporation of Sturgis, Michigan (www.metalloidcorp.com )

Shrieve Chemical Products of Houston, Texas ( www.shrieve.com )

Hoosier Racing Tire ( www.hoosiertire.com )

Honda Performance Development (www.hpd.honda.com/racing-line)

Solo Performance Specialties (SPS) (www.soloperformance.com)

Pegasus Auto Racing Supplies   (www.PegasusAutoRacing.com)

Speed Partz   (www.speedpartz.com )

Hawk Performance  ( www.hawkperformance.com )

Winding Road Racing  (www.WindingRoadRacing.com )

 

The Formula 600 Challenge Series was developed to help promote an affordable open wheel formula car class to showcase talent without large financial race budgets. The Formula 600 open wheel cars use a 600cc motorcycle engine and a 6 speed sequential transmission revving up to 15,000 rpm with speeds in excess of 140 mph. The sound of this drive train is likened to a F1 car.

Please visit our website at  www.theformula600challenge.com  for news, photos and videos.

For more information, please contact:

Jim Murphy                                            Fred Edwards                                             Carl Maier
770-861-2337                                       260-438-4295                                             972-897-9763
jdmurphy47@aol.com                        f.edwards@metalloidcorp.com               cmaier@amsoil.com