Rookie Maroney Takes Second Win

Mile Maroney

Buttonwillow, Calif. – The sun continued to shine on Sunday for Round 10 of the Pacific F2000 Championship Presented by Corsa Car Care and shone brightly on rookie Miles Maroney as he claimed his second victory of the season.

Running with VARA as part of their Oktoberfest Race meeting, the series was again greeted with clear skies and warm temperatures as the morning qualifying session began. Just as it was on Saturday the battle was between the three PR1 Motorsports teammates to decide the pole. Scott Rarick was the first to put in his fast time on lap 4 before running wide at the exit of Riverside ending his session and wound up in second. Next up was Maroney who did not have the pace of the previous day and ended up fourth after spinning to a halt in the sweeper. This left David Cheng to take the pole with a lap of 1:36.469. Saturday’s race winner Ira Fierberg managed to put up the third fastest lap to squeeze in between Rarick and Maroney to start on the inside of row two. Completing the grid were Peter Hastrup, Les Phillips, Peter West, Michael Murphy and Bob Negron who did not get a timed lap in due to electrical problems and will start at the back of the field.

David Cheng; #26 PR1 Van Diemen led Scott Rarick; #34 PR1 Van Diemen led into Sunrise(turn 1) followed by Miles Maroney; #23 Maroney Company/PR1 Van Diemen, Ira Fierberg; #27 Pinnacle Performance/Sparco/DFR Van Diemen, Les Phillips; #89 Swiss Implants Mygale, Peter Hastrup; #5 Western Building Materials/Nuttal & Coleman/DFR Van Diemen and the remainder of the field with Bob Negron; #9 Feng Shui Me Baby.com/Negron Racing Van Diemen beginning his charge from the back.

The PR1 trio began to pull away from the field with Fierberg holding onto fourth ahead of Hastrup and a hard charging Negron who had already passed Peter West; #99 Clout/Terminal Velocity Processing/DFR Van Diemen and Michael Murphy #18 Mygale and Les Phillips.

Rarick bobbled coming out of Sunrise and Miles seized the opportunity to take second away from Scott as they headed into the On Ramp(turn 2). Little did Miles realize at the time that this was the pass for the win as a couple of laps later, under pressure from Maroney, Cheng was to spin and drop out of the lead as well as losing several other positions.

With Miles in the lead the top two positions stabilized as the battles continued further down in the field. Negron had worked hard to move into third position ahead of Fierberg and Hastrup with Cheng back on the pace and picking up positions one by one. Once David had passed Hastrup and Ira to take fourth, Hastrup managed to get by his DFR teammate and hole fifth for a lap until Ira retook the position.

On the podium (L to R) Rarick (2nd), Maroney (1st) and Cheng (3rd)

Miles continued in the lead and took a well earned victory ahead of Rarick. Miles also posted the fastest race lap which was good for 2 point added to the 30 gained by the win and moved back into second place in the standings with 207 points.

Rarick’s second place earned him the Expert Class victory clinching the Expert Class title as well as adding to his series leading point total as he closes in on the overall championship.

Third place went to David Cheng who after recovering from his spin had a fine drive back though the field and passed Negron for third on the final lap.

Negron again claimed the Master Class win with his fourth place finish as well as earning him the Williams Racing Development Hard Charger Award after his stirring drive up through the field. Bob is enjoying his best season in the series and is looking forward to Las Vegas where he hopes to claim the Master Class title.

The battle between DFR teammates Ira Fierberg and Peter Hastrup ended in Ira’s favor with him taking fifth place and Hastrup eventually finishing seventh after having been passed by Michael Murphy for sixth with only a few laps remaining.

Murphy’s sixth place was his highest finish and best race in the series so far as he feels he is finally getting comfortable in the car. Murphy was followed home by Les Phillips and Peter West.

The series now moves to Las Vegas October 16 and 17 for the final two rounds.

Qualifying: 1. David Cheng (Van Diemen RF05), 1m36.469s; 2. Scott Rarick (Van Diemen RF06), 1m36.933s; 3. Ira Fierberg (Van Diemen RF05), 1m37.270s; 4. Miles Maroney (Van Diemen), 1m37.592s; 5. Peter Hastrup (Van Diemen RF02), 1m38.869s; 6. Les Phillips (Mygale SJ04), 1m38.875s; 7. Peter West (Van Diemen), 1m39.662; 8. Michael Murphy (Mygale), 1m39.755s; 9. Bob Negron (Van Diemen RF99), No Time. (All use Zetec/Quicksilver engines.)

Round 10 (15 laps): 1. Maroney, 25m55.841s; 2. Rarick, 25m57.488s; 3. Cheng, 26:07.295; 4. Negron, 26m07.877s; 5. Fierberg, 26m31.073s; 6. Murphy, 26m31.540s; 7. Hastrup, 26m46.495s; 8. Phillips, 26m46.547s; 9. West, 26m51.346s.

Margin of victory: 1.647s.

Winner’s average speed: 100.653 mph.

Fastest race lap: Maroney, 1m37.978s, 106.555 mph.

Expert class winner (35-50): Rarick.

Sierra Tire Masters class winner (over 50): Negron.

Williams Racing Developments Hard Charger Award: Negron.

Points: Rarick, 266; Maroney, 207; Negron, 200; Cheng, 190; Fierberg, 185; Hastrup, 141; Phillips, 106; West, 99; Kincaid, 89; Thomas, 76; Murphy, 68; Ford, 54; Podlesni, 37.