Race Recap: UF1 Series 2012 – Race 5 – Circuit of the Americas

Post Race Analysis
Round 5 is in the books and what a day it was… We saw a few big hitters have mishaps that caused some serious point shifts at the top… UF1 champions Craig Hammon and Current UF1 Champion Mike Kennedy lost out on points today causing a rippling effect on the Team Standings…

On the podium we have 6 people, The two Tonys on top… Sounds like a bad gay Italian porn movie 🙂 One in a FGX and the other in a 104 Roche… Then tied for 2nd is Dave Berger in his 104 ver2 and Mark G in his FGX Exotek … Mark stepped up his game today… is that a gyro in his car ? I smell Drama 🙂 And tied for 3rd is Lightfoot in a stock FGX and Aaron Lane… First time out for Aaron in our series… plan to see this dude at the top for sure…

Still at the top of the Championship is Tony Phalen who has extended his lead to 17 points… He drove 3 consistent races all within 8 seconds of each other…

Moving into 2nd place in his 104 ver2 is Dave “the ice man” Berger… I always look at the times to see who comes closest to capturing an extra lap… Dave came within 1 second twice to that goal… I love this dude… he’s meticulous, focused and in the zone with his eye always on the big picture… No surprise he’s sitting 2nd in the Championship with Team Repsol Honda up front…

Lightfoot had a bad accident 2 minutes into race 1 that broke his upper deck and front upper arm… He cautiously drove the car for 8 minutes haply limping away with 39 laps… Just one point behind Dave, Lightfoot is hoping to take back 2nd place at Monaco with is IRS chassis… He desperately needs to create a buffer with Dave before the final race at TQ where the 104 ver2 will surely dominate…

Mr Bill Martinez is now sitting in 4th place… This guy is like the dark Ninja… always hiding in the “B” main low key but quietly finds himself in the top of the standings… But right behind him just 1 point back is Mark G who had an amazing day… qualifying 3rd in the A main is his best showing to date… he had nothing break on his more durable Exotek chassis while I personally saw 4 stock FGX’s break… Reliability still haunts the FGX… and 1 point behind Mark sits 6th place Clement Kwong… Clement has definitely shown more restraint on the track driving more cautiously and it’s paying off… Clement is poised to jump into 4th place after Monaco , a track he has a lot of experience in…

Now we move into a 3 way tie for 7th place between Doug Rebal, Mike Kennedy and Jeff Young… The money has to go on Kennedy to pull himself out of this spot… An unfortunate ESC issue cost Mike big points in race 1 when he lost motor but retained steering after a minor accident… Jeff had an incident in race 3 that cost him 8 laps… Doug maintained 3 fairly consistent races with no major incidents…

Down in 8th spot Craig “Cuda” Hammon had a uncharacteristic incident that cost him approximately 38 laps in the final race of the day… It’s unfortunate because this was a track that Cuda dominated last year finishing two laps ahead of everyone else… I know Monaco is not his favorite venue but I really hope to see him there… I’ll buy you a beer at the Asian Hooters across the street 🙂

And the F1 2011 PS3 Master himself, Mr. Quincy McClinton sits in 9th spot… Qunicy’s next rival sits 23 points behind, a nice buffer I would say in order to maintain a top 10 finish…

And Marcos Wanless has moved into 10th spot… congratulations dude… it’s been a 5 month battle so far with 3 months to go… hang in there baby…

I also have to mention Fred Medel who is consistently at the top but who unfortunately had to miss a race back in April … Tamiya related work stuff… Fred is the highest ranking racer who missed a day and sits in 13th spot… It’s conceivable that Fred could break into the top 10 by the end of the season…

Thanks to everyone who came out… As long as we don’t loose site and keep this series open and friendly it will last a little longer… Whenever I see a driver having a less then perfect day and visibly showing signs of frustration I imagine what it must be like for a real F1 driver who has a DNF or an incident that’s cost points positions… with millions of dollars on the line and possibly your career and millions of people around the world watching and a media micro analyzing your every move…
Kinda of all puts it into perspective… 🙂

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