Thursday, July 29, 2010

2010 ISF Season Review

The "Samurai Brothers" of Mike Faruta, Bill Nakosaki, and Justin Satozaki did their magic again on this version of the ISF 2010 Season Review.
This version contains a lot of long video clips so you really get good natural sound and driver dialogue.
The soundtrack is once again  barn burner that features the Scorpions.
Enjoy!
Steve "The Wrench" Ratchett


Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Ferrari Rules 2009 F1 And GT At Runaway Bay

Ferrari Rules F1 And GT At Runaway Bay
Ferrari Rules F1 And GT At Runaway Bayby John Wiedemann
7/16/2009

Waukesha, WI - Runaway Bay, sounds relaxing doesn't it? It was anything but relaxing as the F1 and GT divisions of the ISF visited the track on Thursday evening for the Red Stripe "Last Call". John Shea was victorious in a down to the wire battle to the finish with Mark Walczak in the F1 feature. Everet Kamikawa trashed the field with a dominant feature win in the GT division.



With only four races remaining on the F1 schedule, now is the time to show what you got. Mike Fitzlaff set fast time at his home track to begin action for the evening. Strong heat race wins went to Mike Lack and Everet Kamikawa sending them forward to take on Mark Walczak and John Shea in the B main. While Shea held the early lead in the B main, Lack was making up ground in the second half when Walczak ride left the racing surface, hit the wall and bounced back into Lack. The accident damaged Lack's car and he lost valuable laps while making repairs. Back on track, Lack quickly made up some of the laps but finished in fourth when time expired, less than a half lap behind Walczak in the final transfer spot.

Walczak, the only racer not running on option tires, easily took the lead in the first half of the F1 feature. With twenty laps between himself and the leader, Shea was hard on the throttle in the second half while Walczak tried to hold on in a difficult lane with the traction less option tires. Shea flew through the field but struggled with handling making the battle for the lead tighter than he would like. With fifteen seconds left in the race, Shea finally took the lead over Walczak and finished the feature with a two lap advantage over Walczak. Fitzlaff scored a podium finish, just two laps behind Walczak and Kamikawa exited the race just after the halfway break in fourth. Shea's win makes it two in a row and the third on the season, extending his point lead in the division.

Tonight's event marks the midpoint for GT division racing. Larry Rotter has been at the top of the GT World and was looking to continue the same racing fortunes at Runaway Bay. Unfortunately for Rotter, tonight's race may be a preview of the rest of the GT season. John Wiedemann set fast time, for the first time in his ISF career, and went on to hold off John Shea and Mike Fitzlaff for the fast heat race win. Everet Kamikawa knocked off Rotter and Corey Galbraith beat Mike Lack by three laps to win their respective heat races. Shea ended the B main in just four laps after losing control and flying completely off the track. In the feature race, Kamikawa jumped out to the early lead while Wiedemann stalled on the start and quickly went a lap down. Crawling back into second place, Wiedemann was able to race side by side with Kamikawa for a few laps until Kamikawa's Ferrari would pick up the pace and pull away. By the end of the first half, Kamikawa had a four lap cushion over Wiedemann as the two moved to the outside lanes. Kamikawa continued his blistering pace, putting more laps on the field. Wiedemann settled in to second place, trying to hold his ground over a charging Galbraith. As the race closed in on the conclusion, the only battle left on the track was the battle for second. Kamikawa had the win in hand and Fitzlaff pulled off with handling issues. While Galbraith was turning faster laps, Wiedemann's steady pace and Galbraith's off track excursions allowed Wiedemann to finish second with a five lap lead over Galbraith. The win by Kamikawa was his second in a row, moving him into the points lead and serving notice on the field that he has the car to beat.

Next week, July 23rd, the ISF series again heads down to the Southshore Speedway and Emporium for GT and GTP racing action. The Maxim/FHM/Stuff Grand Prix will be featured on the track that is hidden somewhere in a grassy field on the south side of Milwaukee.

INTERNATIONAL SPORTSCAR FEDERATION
Official Finish, Event # 2009-13-116
Red Stripe "Last Call"
July 16, 2009
The Raceway at Runaway Bay
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F1 Grand Prix Category -- 16 Minute Final
Fin. Str.
Pos. Pos. Driver Car Laps Status
1 2 John Shea Ferrari 161 Running
2 3 Mark Walczak Red Bull-Renault 159 Running
3 1 Mike Fitzlaff Jordan-Peugeot 157 Running
4 10 Everet Kamikawa Ferrari 79 Running
5 4 Mike Lack Jaguar 100 Running
6 7 Corey Galbraith Arrows-Cosworth 97 Running
7 5 Larry Rotter McLaren-Mercedes 92 Off
8 6 John Wiedemann Jaguar 91 Running
9 9 Dan Margetta Red Bull-Renault 84 Off
10 8 Dean Strom Williams-Honda 78 Off

Fastest Qualifier -- Fitzlaff; 4.178 seconds.
A Main -- 1. Shea; 2. Walczak; 3. Fitzlaff; 4. Kamikawa. (Fastest Lap -- Shea; 4.616 seconds)
B Main -- 1. Shea; 2. Kamikawa; 3. Walczak; 4. Lack. (Fastest Lap -- Shea; 4.549 seconds)
Fast Heat -- Not Contested.
Reg. Heat -- 1. Lack; 2. Rotter; 3. Wiedemann. (Fastest Lap -- Rotter; 5.279 seconds)
Slow Heat -- 1. Kamikawa; 2. Galbraith; 3. Margetta; 4. Strom. (Fastest Lap -- Kamikawa; 4.978 seconds)
Qualifying -- 1. Fitzlaff, 4.178; 2. Shea, 4.203; 3. Walczak, 4.290; 4. Lack, 4.434; 5. Rotter, 4.566; 6. Wiedemann, 4.584; 7. Galbraith, 4.677; 8. Strom, 4.686; 9. Margetta, 4.695; 10. Kamikawa, 4.861.

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GT Category -- 12 Minute Final
Fin. Str.
Pos. Pos. Driver Car Laps Status
1 4 Everet Kamikawa Ferrari 575-GT 142 Running
2 1 John Wiedemann Ford GT 133 Running
3 7 Cory Galbraith Ford GT 128 Running
4 2 Mike Fitzlaff Corvette C5 107 Off
5 3 John Shea Corvette C5 4 Accident
6 8 Mike Lack Ford GT 109 Off
7 5 Larry Rotter Toyota Supra 106 Running
8 6 Mark Walczak Aston Martin Vanquish 94 Running
9 10 Dean Strom Corvette C4 92 Off
10 9 Dan Margetta Ford GT 44 Off

Fastest Qualifier -- Wiedemann; 4.242 seconds.
A Main -- 1. Kamikawa; 2. Wiedemann; 3. Galbraith; 4. Fitzlaff. (Fastest Lap -- Kamikawa; 4.651 seconds)
B Main -- 1. Kamikawa; 2. Fitzlaff; 3. Galbraith; 4. Shea. (Fastest Lap -- Shea; 4.323 seconds)
Fast Heat -- 1. Wiedemann; 2. Shea; 3. Fitzlaff. (Fastest Lap -- Fitzlaff; 4.882 seconds)
Reg. Heat -- 1. Kamikawa; 2. Rotter; 3. Walczak. (Fastest Lap -- Walczak; 4.222 seconds)
Slow Heat -- 1. Galbraith; 2. Lack; 3. Strom; 4. Margetta. (Fastest Lap -- Lack; 4.767 seconds)
Qualifying -- 1. Wiedemann, 4.242; 2. Fitzlaff, 4.356; 3. Shea, 4.393; 4. Kamikawa, 4.451; 5. Rotter, 4.474; 6. Walczak, 4.633; 7. Galbraith, 4.831; 8. Lack, 4.832; 9. Margetta, 4.856; 10. Strom, 4.878.



 
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John Shea's F1 Ferrari in victory lane for the third time in 2009.
090716ISFRunawayF1Winner.jpg
John Shea celebrates winning the F1 race at Runaway Bay.
090716ISFRunawayGTVL.jpg
Two wins in a row for Everet Kamikawa's GT Ferrari.
090716ISFRunawayGTWinner.jpg
Everet Kamikawa shoots down the competition with a super quick Ferrari in GT action.
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The F1 podium at the Red Stripe "Last Call": Mike Fitzlaff (3rd), Mark Walczak (2nd), Rusty Wallace (media hound), John Shea (winner)
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The GT podium at the Red Stripe "Last Call": Corey Galbraith (3rd), Everet Kamikawa (winner), Rusty Wallace (lurking), John Wiedemann (2nd)
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The line up for the F1 feature race at Runaway Bay: Mike Fitzlaff, Mark Walczak, Everet Kamikawa, John Shea
090716ISFRunawayGTaction.jpg
GT racing action at Runaway Bay as Everet Kamikawa chases Larry Rotter into the infield portion of the road course.
 

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Kamikawa, Shea, Fitzlaff Enjoy 2010 Deckertring Victories

Kamikawa, Shea, Fitzlaff Enjoy Deckertring Victories
Kamikawa, Shea, Fitzlaff Enjoy Deckertring Victoriesby John Wiedemann
6/24/2010

West Allis, WI - John Shea, Everet Kamikawa and Mike Fitzlaff visited victory lane in the Duel at The Deckertring F1/GT/LMP event on Thursday evening. Shea outdueled F1 competitor Mark Walczak in a thrilling victory while Kamikawa drove to a two lap win over Shea in the GT race. Fitzlaff's Nissan won the LMP division uncontested.

The F1 race started off with all of the competitors running on the option tire. Kamikawa struggled early in the race with a wheel rub, slowing his car down and causing handling problems. Even with the wheel issues and a couple pit stops to try and correct the issue, Kamikawa only found himself down by five laps when the field pitted to put on the preferred sticky tires. At the halfway break, Shea led Walczak by a half lap with Mike Lack three laps behind.

With the race resuming for the second half Shea would need to maintain the lead on one of the difficult outside lanes while Walczak ran quick laps on the inside groove. Off track excursions proved to be the undoing for Walczak as he was brought in to serve a twenty second penalty. More "offs" for Walczak added up and with just over two minutes left in the race, the next deslot would put him out of the race. Going for broke, Walczak was able to reel in Shea to get back on the lead lap. A wreck with one minute left in the race was the unreeling for Walczak and his race was over allowing Shea to cruise to the win. Walczak maintained second followed by Lack and Kamikawa.

In the companion class Fitzlaff found himself the only driver running the LMP type car, securing the winning points and a spot in the final. Joining Fitzlaff in the feature race was the Camaro of Walczak, the Corvette of Shea and Kamikawa in the Ferrari. Handling issues plagued Walczak from the start of the race and with fourty-five laps run in the race, he parked the Camaro in the wall. Shea also battled deslots which allowed Kamikawa to cruise to a five lap lead by the halfway point. In the second half, Shea came back as Kamikawa now battled the handling gremlin. With time running out Shea worked his way to two laps behind Kamikawa but time was not on his side. Kamikawa held on for the win, his second in the Ferrari 575-GT.



 
DSCN0979.jpg
Everet Kamikawa took home the GT victory at The Deckertring.
 

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

ISF Reduces 2010 Schedule

ISF Reduces 2010 Schedule
by John Wiedemann
2/8/2010

Change has come to the ISF for the 2010 season. The initial change is that the schedule has been compacted in preparation for the biggest change in series history. The ISF series will move to a fall/winter schedule.

The following is a statement from the league:

You will notice the schedule has been reduced by a few events and this was done for various reasons, but in the immediate timeframe it was to facilitate a shorter 2010 season to move the series to a fall / winter program for the 2011 season.

Moving ISF to fall / winter will open up the ARA stock car series to return to spring & summer time racing. The ARA is only running 10-12 events at most, so that will be much easier to fit into a limited spring & summer timeframe instead of the 18 races that ISF has been running most recently.

We will run the 2010 ISF schedule as outlined below, take a short break, and then start on the 2010-2011 ISF (2011) schedule sometime in early fall. We anticipate about 14 races for the ISF 2011 season, which we feel will work well for our track owners who host events in all three of the local basement slot car leagues.


ISF 2010 Schedule
DATE , EVENT, LOCATION, DIVISIONS
May 6 Rapids Invitational Rapids International Raceway GTP, F1GP
May 20 Waukesha Grand Prix Raceway at Runaway Bay GTP, GT/LMP
June 17 Brookfield Grand Prix Raven Raceway GTP, GT/LMP
June 24 West Allis Grand Prix Walczy World GTP, F1GP
July 1 XtraLaps.com Grand Prix Lack Track GTP, F1GP
July 8 Duel at The Deckertring The Deckertring F1GP, GT/LMP
July 15 Rapids Grand Prix Rapids International Raceway GTP, GT/LMP
July 22 Road Westallica Grand Prix Road Westallica GTP, F1GP
July 29 Muskego Grand Prix Badger Raceway GTP, F1GP
August 5 St. Francis Grand Prix South Shore Speedway GTP, F1GP
August 12 West Bend Grand Prix Lack Track F1GP, GT/LMP
August 19 The Turtle Trot Turtle Creek Park Raceway F1GP, GT/LMP
August 26 Last Call Raceway at Runaway Bay F1GP
September 2 Deckertring 1000k The Deckertring GTP

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

2010 Season Review Preview

In 2010 there were many fine moments. This is a quick 4 minute preview of the full video.
Enjoy!
Steve "The Wrench" Ratchett