Sunny skies prevailed over Infineon Raceway for the opening rounds of the 2007 Russell Pro Series and Patrick O’Neill, of San Francisco, California, took charge as he swept to victory on Saturday and Sunday.
Driving the #64 O’Neill Construction World Speed Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda, O’Neill jumped past pole-sitter Richard Fullerton and into the lead on the opening lap and would pull away, leading every lap to capture Round One of the championship on Saturday. O’Neill would repeat the feat on Sunday, after Fullerton, who set new qualifying records on both Saturday and Sunday, was forced to make a brief pit stop during the warm-up laps for a loose shock cover, and had to start from the back of the field.
“My car was working great all weekend and it was a thrill to take the victory on both days against a driver as good as Richard, ” O’Neill explained. “It’s a shame that he had to pit at the start on Sunday as he is fun to race with and by setting the fast lap of the race showed he had a great car as well. “
Fullerton, from Aspen, Colorado, finished second in Saturday’s sixteen-lap event, and managed to work his way up to fourth in Sunday’s nineteen-lap affair, setting a new race record lap of 1:36.294 (93.46 MPH) in the process.
Wrapping up the podium on Saturday was Chris Cumming, from Vancouver, British Columbia, in the #26 90 Degree Software Inviro Medical World Speed Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda Cumming would finish third again on Sunday, holding off Michael Guasch in the #91 Molecule Phenom Racing Group Pro Formula Mazda and a late charging Fullerton.
Second place in Sunday’s race would be occupied by 2006 Russell Pro Series Champion Stan Kohls, just over four seconds adrift of O’Neill in the #8 World Speed Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda.
Several Standard Formula Mazda drivers turned out on Saturday for the opening round of the Mazdapalooza championship with Doug Smith coming out on top in the #1 Sutro Eyewear Blitzkrieg Racing Standard Formula Mazda. Joining him on the podium were Ted Idlof in the #13 Shoe String Racing Standard Formula Mazda and 2005 Mazdapalooza Champion Chaz Lemmon in the #78 Red Line Oil Pacific Coast Racing Standard Formula Mazda.
Rounds Three and Four of the Russell Pro Series and Mazdapalooza Championship will be held at Infineon Raceway on March 8-11.
2007 Russell Pro Series/mazdapalooza
Official Race Results
Date 02-17-2007
Round 1 - Infineon Raceway - Track Length 2.5 Miles
Victory Margin 15.039
Race Length 40.000 Miles, Time of 26:24.534, Average MPH 90.878 PM SM
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Pos # - Class - Driver, Hometown - Sponsor - Pts -Reg. Make - #laps- Time
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1 - 64 - PM PATRICK O’NEILL - 20 - 16 -1:38.402
2 - 55- PM RICHARD FULLERTON - 15 - 16 - 1:38.180
3 -26 - PM CHRIS CUMMING - 12 - 16 -1:39.045
4- 8 - PM STAN KOHLS -10 -16 -1:38.897
5 - 91- PM MICHAEL GUASCH -8 -16 -1:39.442
6 - 3 - PM LARRY SCHNUR -6 - 16 -1:39.955
7 - 18 - PM TOM HUGHES -4 -16 - 1:42.014
8 - 7 - PM CLAUDIO CORNALI -3 - 16 - 1:40.335
9 - 2 - PM MICHAEL GESSER - 2 - 16 -1:42.113
10 - 1 - SM DOUG SMITH -20 - 15 -1:49.215
11 -13 - SM TED IDLOF -15 -15 - 1:50.425
12 -78 -SM CHAZ LEMMON -12 - 15 -1:49.005
DNS - 4 - PM PAUL LaHAYE
DNS - 56 - SM SHAW WESTERHOFF
DNS -69 - SM CRAIG SMITH
DNS 92 PM MARYEVE DUFAULT
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