Spicer Revisits Victory Lane at Mosport in Round Three of the SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford Series

Richard Spicer returned to victory lane on Saturday afternoon (May 21), winning Round Three of the SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford Series at Mosport International Raceway. Joining the Hagerman RacEngineering driver in the post-race celebrations were Alliance Autosport’s Scott Rettich and PM Racing’s Brian Schofield.

Under increasingly cloudy skies and in front of an enthusiastic crowd, the opening race of the Mosport doubleheader commenced with Rettich and Schofield leading the talented Spec Racer Ford Series field to the green flag. As expected, the leaders immediately went two and three wide at the waving of the flag, with Rettich managing to hold off the advances of both reigning SCCA National Champion Schoefield and the Round One winner Spicer.

Wasting no time in attacking the high-speed road course, Rettich, Schofield and Spicer immediately began building a gap on Lehner Racing’s Jeffrey Lehner, who in turn was able to break away from the very entertaining fight for fifth between Sweeney Racing’s Herb Sweeney IV, PM Racing’s Jean-Luc Liverato, Dinosaur Racing’s Mark Vultaggio, Harris Racing’s Carl Harris, McNeish Racing’s Lee McNeish, JAY Motorsports’ Bruce Myer, IceRace.com Racing’s Robert Reed, and Nixon Peabody Racing’s Michael Hausknecht.

The fight for the win however so became a two-car affair, as Spicer worked his way past Schofield and he and Rettich steadily pulled away, despite dicing for the top spot.

While the battle for the win proved highly-entertaining to watch, deeper in the field, the continuing fight for sixth through 12 proved just as exciting, featuring multiple side-by-side runs and repeated passes for position.

Just as it appeared that the win would be decided via a last lap pass, a slight bobble by Rettich, due in part to some light rain falling, allowed Spicer to pass for the lead and build a very small advantage. While Rettich closed the gap on the final tour of the famed Canadian road course, he was unable to retake the top spot. Spicer as a result scored his second win of the season by 0.270s. Schofield was next to the checkered flag after the duo, having run an uneventful race alone in third place. Lehner and Sweeney completed the top-five, just of Harris who emerged from the six-car fight for sixth.

“Scott was half a second faster than Brian and I all weekend in the test day and qualifying, so I was hoping that I would just be able to pick up enough from him in the first couple laps to hang on,” Spicer said. “I did, and really I was literally hanging on for the first half of the race. He made one bobble and the rain started coming, and I felt like maybe my car would be better and maybe I could just get in front and control the pace a little bit and take a little bit of a breather.

“I just got lucky and he got loose and I got a gap. He couldn’t get enough draft down the back straight to make that move into [turn] 8, I guess. It was a great win. I’m really excited. It was awesome.”

The SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford drivers return to action on Sunday morning (May 22), with Round Four at Mosport International Raceway.

The top-three will be posted following every session on the ESR Facebook page and ESR Twitter page.

 

Spec Racer Ford Series
Round 3 – Race Results
May 21, 2011
Mosport International Raceway – Bowmanville, Ontario

Pos.	Driver	Team	Diff.	Fast Time
1.	Richard Spicer	Hagerman RacEngineering	-	1:36.147
2.	Scott Rettich	Alliance Autosport	0.270	1:36.222
3.	Brian Schofield	PM Racing	17.453	1:36.812
4.	Jeffrey Lehner	Lehner Racing	22.784	1:37.310
5.	Herb Sweeney IV	Sweeney Racing	26.995	1:37.149
6.	Carl Harris	Harris Racing	33.576	1:37.285
7.	Jean-Luc Liverato	PM Racing	33.651	1:37.826
8.	Robert Reed	IceRace.com Racing	34.203	1:37.371
9.	Mark Vultaggio	Dinosaur Racing	36.881	1:37.356
10.	Bruce Myers	JAY Motorsports	39.059	1:37.543
11.	Lee McNeish	McNeish Racing	40.126	1:37.588
12.	Michael Hausknecht	Nixon Peabody Racing	40.238	1:37.408
13.	Randy Youngsma	Youngsma Racing	47.813	1:38.087
14.	Richard Wiehl	Citgo Racing	1:07.038	1:38.225
15.	Frank Vultaggio	Dinosaur Racing	1:13.264	1:39.222
16.	Don Kahn	Motion Dynamics	1:13.486	1:39.408
17.	Carl Warren	Warren Racing	1:33.381	1:40.641
18.	Tom Cirillo	Motion Dynamics	11 Laps	1:42.558
19.	Tom Riley	TRAC Consulting	15 Laps	1:38.272

 

Rettich Converts Pole into Win at Mosport in Round Four of the SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford Series

Scott Rettich converted the pole position into a win Sunday (May 22), taking home top honors in Round Four of the SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford Series at Mosport International Raceway. Standing alongside the Alliance Autosport driver on the podium were Hagerman RacEngineering’s Richard Spicer and PM Racing’s Brian Schofield.

After encountering rain late in the opening run at Mosport, threatening overcast skies greeted the Spec Racer Ford Series drivers when race two of the Canadian doubleheader commenced on Sunday morning. As series followers have come to expect, when the green flag waved, the entire field fanned out two and three wide entering turn one. Rettich however made the most of his P1 starting position, holding the lead through the opening sequence of turns, despite constant threat by Schofield and Spicer. While the opening lap or two featured the top-three running virtually nose-to-tail, Rettich was ultimately able to pull out a gap, thanks to the Schofield and Spicer dice heating up.

Behind the lead trio, the action was just as entertaining to watch, with Harris Racing’s Carl Harris, Lehner Racing’s Jeffrey Lehner, Sweeney Racing’s Herb Sweeney IV, and PM Racing’s Jean-Luc Liverato dueling for fourth place, not far ahead of Warren Racing’s Carl Warren, Citgo Racing’s Richard Wiehl, McNeish Racing’s Lee McNeish, Motion Dynamics’ Don Kahn, Trac Consulting’s Tom Riley and Dinosaur Racing’s Frank Vultaggio going head-to-head.

Out front, the order shuffled, when Schofield had a significant bobble exiting the high-speed turn four, allowing Spicer to take over second place, and subsequently pull away from the defending SCCA National Champion.

As the 20-race progressed, the battle for third place heated up. Harris and Lehner, having broken away from their pursuers, began challenging Schofield for the final podium position. This combined with the multi-car fight near the rear of the field proved to be the best action, with the order only decided by the waving of the checkered flag.

Rettich in the end emerged with his first win of 2011 via a four second victory of Spicer. Schofield, despite some late race pressure, came home in third. Lehner and Sweeney IV completed the top-five, narrowly edging Harris at the stripe.

“It feels great to come away in Spec Racer with two poles, a second and a win,” Rettich said. “It just feels awesome. I’ve got to thank my crew, Alliance Autosport for giving me an incredible car and working very hard. I’ve also got to thank my parents, Goodyear, Red Line, PDI Communications and Springboro Car Wash for putting together a great package for this weekend.

“My car was really good from the get go and it just got better and better and by middle race on, it was a really strong car. That’s when my car peaked. Towards the end, I was backing off a little bit.”

The chase for the SCCA Pro Racing Spec Racer Ford title resumes on August 6-7, with Rounds Five and Six on the historic streets of Trois-Rivieres in Quebec. With four of the 10-race season now in the books, Rettich leads Spicer in the championship standings by 23 points, 492-469.

The top-three will be posted following every session on the ESR Facebook page and ESR Twitter page.

 

Spec Racer Ford Series
Round 4 – Race Results
May 22, 2011
Mosport International Raceway – Bowmanville, Ontario

Pos.	Driver	Team	Diff.	Fast Time
1.	Scott Rettich	Alliance Autosports	-	1:35.152
2.	Richard Spicer	Hagerman RacEngineering	4.798	1:35.362
3.	Brian Schofield	PM Racing	22.093	1:35.757
4.	Jeffrey Lehner	Lehner Racing	23.475	1:36.398
5.	Herb Sweeney IV	Sweeney Racing	23.611	1:36.239
6.	Carl Harris	Harris Racing	23.925	1:36.500
7.	Jean-Luc Liverato	PM Racing	45.090	1:37.394
8.	Randy Youngsma	Youngsma Racing	45.586	1:37.333
9.	Bruce Myers	JAY Motorsports	45.921	1:37.108
10.	Lee McNeish	McNeish Racing	1:07.061	1:37.898
11.	Don Kahn	Motion Dynamics	1:08.973	1:38.098
12.	Tom Riley	TRAC Consulting	1:11.041	1:37.877
13.	Frank Vultaggio	Dinosaur Racing	1:11.319	1:37.917
14.	Michael Hausknecht	Nixon Peabody Racing	1:25.378	1:37.308
15.	Carl Warren	Warren Racing	3 Laps	1:38.221
16.	Richard Wiehl	Citgo Racing	5 Laps	1:38.036
17.	Robert Reed	IceRace.com Racing	18 Laps	1:57.295