F1600 Southern Series Round 2 @ Palm Beach: 5/18-5/19

Florida continues to provide great racing conditions for the competitors in the "F1600 Southern Series".

Making their series debut is Alan Opel in his "Pit Lane Service" 98' Van Diemen Ford and Hannu Nummenpaa in his "Fast Finn" 2000 Van Diemen Ford. Both Alan and Hannu are highly experienced race mechanics who brought immaculately prepared Van Diemens.

Jonathan Lee would end up winning race 1 as he was followed by John Robinson who suffered from a set of flat-spotted tires. The rest of the field had a "dog fight" for the last podium spot, changing positions multiple times a lap. Jim Morgan saved his cards for the end of the race and would finish in 3rd ahead of Hannu, Bernard, Schimenti, and Roel.

Unfortunately, Alan was forced to retire early as he suffered from a suspension failure.

Race 2 turned out the be a boxing match. The greasy track conditions favored Jonathan who enjoys sliding around the turns. On the other hand, it hurt Robinson who already had to race on a very worn set of tires. We had a pack of five drivers with lap times within .3 of a second! Jim Morgan spun off while battling for 3rd place and would end up finishing 6th, he ended the weekend leading in championship points. Hannu would inherit 3rd place as he remained calm in another action-packed race. He was trailed by Schimenti and Bernard. Alan who was able to fix his car after a suspension failure in race 1, did very well getting up to speed in race 2. Alan's teammate Roel had a successful race, Roel is improving every weekend and beat his race 1 time by three seconds!

The series continues at Sebring Short Course on June 8th, and once again we will be running with the "Southern F2000 Series". It's not too late to challenge for a championship spot, you may drop four races. If you want both competitive racing and a good time we hope to see you there!