Racing At The Beautiful and FAST Portland International Raceway

This past weekend the Formula Car Challenge presented
by Goodyear series took to Portland International Raceway for another exciting double header. The event was held inside of the SCCA U.S. MAJORS tour. “Historically we come up to race at Portland over the July 4th weekend,” noted Series Official Ben Hettema. “This year we were given the opportunity to race at our home track (Sonoma Raceway) on the July 4th weekend, but we knew our racers still wanted to come to Portland because the track is phenomenal, and the host region is very friendly and accommodating. As expected the entire event, and the staff supporting it were great and we had some thrilling and fast racing.” The weather was perfect, and many of the racers took advantage of the additional test day prior to qualifying.

Round 5 Pole Sitters (Qualifying 1)
Jay Horak Pro Formula Mazda – 1:14.31
Carter Williams FormulaSPEED – 1:15.58
Bill Weaver Formula Mazda 1:17.551

In the first race of the weekend, Horak took a commanding lead in PFM and increased the gap by racing almost a full second faster than his qualifying time. Carter Williams, who had the fastest FormulaSPEED qualifying lap, had to pull his race entry as his car had a mechanical issue that could not be resolved in time for the race. “We were beyond disappointed,” stated WSM Team Owner Telo Stewart. “These engines have been so reliable that we don’t carry a spare. Being so far from home and with limited time before the races we just got caught out which is something very rare for us.” The FormulaSPEED class had plenty of action even with Williams’ absence. Courtney Crone got a great start and led a number of laps, while Colin Mullan worked hard to put together an opportunity to take the lead. After some very fast and consistent laps, Mullan was able to take the lead and retained it until the finish. Crone spun, and was passed by Tao Takaoka. Takaoka and Crone then battled side-by-side with Crone taking back the second position before the finish. In Formula Mazda, pole sitter Bill Weaver got a good lead on second place Mel Kemper. Stew Tabak was running in third, but was not close enough to make an attempt. At the checkered flag it was Weaver, Kemper, and Tabak.

Round 5 Race Winners
Jay Horak – Pro Formula Mazda
Colin Mullan – FormulaSPEED
Bill Weaver – Formula Mazda

The grid for the second race was based on fastest laps from previous qualifying sessions and the first race. Round Six got off the a great start with Jim Mali taking the lead in Pro FM. Mali and Horak raced nose to tail for several laps. Horak got past Mali, but then went off track a few laps later. Mali took the lead with Horak in hot pursuit. Horak was able to make another pass, and took the win in PFM. In Formula Mazda Weaver stayed out front wire-to-wire for a perfect weekend. In FormulaSPEED Mullan and Crone battled again, with Crone taking the lead early on. Mullan was keeping the pressure on Crone, staying in her mirrors. She went off course going into the fast final corner, and Mullan inherited the lead holding onto it until the finish.

Round 6 Race Winners
Jay Horak – Pro Formula Mazda
Colin Mullan – FormulaSPEED
Bill Weaver – Formula Mazda

At every Formula Car Challenge event series partners provide additional awards to the competitors. Select drivers were awarded complimentary Goodyear Racing tires. Pole sitters were each presented with The Molecule Pole Award. The Molecule Pole Award is given to the fastest qualifier in each class. The award includes a selection of Molecule suit care products. Next up on the FCC schedule is the double-header at Sonoma Raceway on June 30th – July 2nd

The Formula Car Challenge presented by Goodyear is part of the Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 $200K Scholarship Shootout, which will see the champions of select junior open-wheel and karting series from around the world vie for a scholarship to enter the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda in 2018.