Category: News

Sarting from the pole, Breuning led flag to flag in the streets of Long Beach, with expected challenge from Bill Smithem being cut short by an early encounter with the wall. Mike Erter was in 2nd place, Larry Eaglen put himself on the final step of the podium, while Bill Smithem finished 4th and Ian Wilson 5th.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	1	1:20.785	0	22
Mike Erter	2	4	1:22.97	0	16
Larry Eaglen	3	3	1:21.665	2	14
Bill Smithem	4	2	1:21.415	6	12
Ian Wilson2	5	5	1:24.310	8	10
Philip Peterson	6	6	1:23.426	16	8

Breuning qualified on pole, but the battle for the quickest lap time was very close; The first 5 cars on the grid were within a second. First to third, 0.121 seconds.

At the start, it was Smithem that looked to take the lead, with Breuning on his inside in turn one. Approaching the tight section around the fountain, Smithem took the safe way and let the #61 go. The margin between Breuning and Smithem remained close, while Smithem was dealing with Austin Dilts, who passed him for 2nd only to miss turn one a lap later – ending his race. Smithem was back in 2nd, but a little bit further behind now. The pitstops widened the gap even more and Breuning took the win, ahead of Smithem and Morgan Smith. Larry Eaglen and Ian Wilson rounded out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	1	1:13.794	0	22
Bill Smithem	2	2	1:13.542	0	16
Morgan Smith3	3	6	1:13.769	6	14
Larry Eaglen	4	8	1:14.549	2	12
Ian Wilson2	5	9	1:14.966	4	10
Fozzy Fozillo	6	3	1:14.190	6	8
Philip Peterson	7	5	1:14.884	12	6
Chris C Brown	8	12	1:19.855	0	5
JD Wardlow	9	11	1:16.159	6	4
Andrew Forrester2	10	10	1:15.829	6	3
Austin Dilts	11	4	1:13.840	2	2
Mike Erter	12	7	1:14.953	6	1
Rafael Rodrigues5	13	13	1:16.39	4	0

Erter and Fozillo battled out front for most of the race, with Erter leading all but four until the pair pitted on lap 57. Smithem and Brown ran one two until an incident dropped Smithem to fifth. A bit later Brown, after leading several laps, came together with Fozillo, dropping to fourth.

The race finished in a two lap shootout after that caution, with Erter on the top step, Fozillo second, and Smithem third. Top five was rounded out by Brown in fourth and Eaglen in fifth.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Mike Erter	1	1	0:23.425	0	22
Fozzy Fozillo	2	2	0:23.146	4	16
Bill Smithem	3	4	0:23.149	4	14
Chris C Brown	4	7	0:23.157	18	12
Larry Eaglen	5	8	0:23.492	6	10
Jack Wilson21	6	6	0:23.368	14	8
Stuart Wright	7	10	0:23.721	8	6
Andrew Forrester2	8	5	0:23.621	8	5
Marcellus Breuning	9	11	0:23.412	2	4
Les Bentz	10	9	0:23.386	4	3
JD Wardlow	11	3	0:23.569	14	2

Mike Erter started from pole position and took the lead. Breuning didn’t catch up with him until Smithem dropped out due to technical issues. The two drivers up front were nose to tail and Breuning couldn’t find a way past until lap 36, when Erter ran a little wide coming off turn 4. The roles changed, but the battle continued, now with Erter in hot pursuit. Although he got close a few times, Breuning held on for the win and Erter took 2nd, with Don Warren joining them on the podium. Stuart Wright was 4th and Jack Wilson rounded out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	3	0:29.39	0	20
Mike Erter	2	1	0:29.32	0	18
Donald Warren2	3	6	0:29.9	2	14
Stuart Wright	4	8	0:29.733	2	12
Jack Wilson21	5	5	0:29.232	6	10
Ian Wilson2	6	4	0:29.240	8	8
Craig Hawkins	7	9	0:29.563	2	6
Andrew Forrester2	8	7	0:30.670	8	5
Bill Smithem	9	2	0:42.703	4	4
Danny K Passmore	10	10	1439:59.1000	0	0

Pole sitter Breuning had a 13 pt deficit on Smithem going into the finale, meaning that Smithem needed to finish in the top 5 to secure his first title. Which he did. He ran a solid and careful race and finished on the podium behind Breuning and Mike Erter, who had a good dice for the lead – swapping positions twice. As always in this Lotus 49, a little mistake has big consequences and Breuning got lucky when Erter went wide in the carousel. Rod Potgieter, who started on the front row, finished 4th – also finding out that small mistakes take you back a ways. Phil Peterson rounded out the top 5.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	1	1:8.61	4	22
Mike Erter	2	3	1:7.941	0	16
Bill Smithem	3	4	1:8.347	3	14
Rod Potgieter	4	2	1:8.361	3	12
Philip Peterson	5	5	1:8.672	4	10
Larry Eaglen	6	7	1:9.656	8	8
Donald Warren2	7	6	1:8.427	8	6
Jack Wilson21	8	8	1439:59.1000	0	0
Stuart Wright	9	9	1439:59.1000	0	0

Starting from the pole and leading flag to flag, Marc Breuning claimed the championship despite only his first win this season here at Laguna Seca in the finale. Only Bill Smithem had a chance in the championship, if he would’ve won and Breuning would have been 5th or lower. It was not to be. Smithem was 2nd, ran a solid race. Phil Peterson joined them on the podium with his best finish of the season in 3rd. Larry Eaglen was 4th and Don Warren, who struggled after a good start in 2nd, brought it home in 5th.

Driver	Finish	Start	Fastest	Incidents	Points
Marcellus Breuning	1	1	1:14.556	0	22
Bill Smithem	2	3	1:14.622	5	16
Philip Peterson	3	6	1:15.577	5	14
Larry Eaglen	4	4	1:15.542	13	12
Donald Warren2	5	2	1:14.593	18	10
Stuart Wright	6	9	1:17.178	15	8
Andrew Forrester2	7	7	1:17.308	20	6
Fozzy Fozillo	8	5	1:15.587	8	5
Jack Wilson21	9	10	1:20.374	20	4
JD Wardlow	10	8	1:19.626	20	3