NA-F2000: Chris Meredith Road America summary

Meredith Is Fifth in Formula Ford Zetec Points After Road America

POTOMAC, Md., Aug. 11 - Chris Meredith of Potomac, Md. moved into fifth place in the national point standings for the Formula Ford Zetec Cooper Tires Championship following a doubleheader at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. Aug. 6-7.

Meredith was consistently in the top 10 throughout the weekend with his MII Security/Comprent Motorsports No. 79, although he had challenges to deal with in both 12-lap races. He ended up 10th in the first race and eighth in the second one after starting tenth in both races, which featured 30-car fields.

In the first half of the doubleheader on Saturday the 18-year-old driver saw what looked like a top-five finish disappear only two laps from the checkered. He was battling for fifth place when the car driven by the driver he was dicing with suddenly slowed in turn three with mechanical difficulties. With no where to go Meredith ran into the back of the other driver's car, losing his own Van Diemen's nose, front wing and shock cover in the process. Somehow Meredith hung on to take the checkered flag in tenth place despite the damage.

Meredith dropped back to 12th at the start of the second race on Sunday, and it quickly became apparent why when his car developed engine problems. Since Road America is a 4-mile road course with some very long straights, he had his hands full but he still managed to finish eighth in that event.

Although Meredith was gunning for two top-five finishes instead of two top-10 finishes, he was still very pleased to finish both events and earn enough points to take fifth in the point standings with eight races down and six to go in the 2005 season.

The next event is another doubleheader but it's quite a bit closer to home. It will be held Aug. 27-28 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. It is the series' second visit to Mid-Ohio this year. Meredith won the series' "Hard Charger" award at a race at Mid-Ohio in May when he finished sixth after starting 19th.

The Cooper Series is sanctioned by the Grand American Road Racing Associat ion. It features open-wheel, single-seat race cars powered by either four-cylinder, double-overhead-cam, fuel-injected 2.0-liter Ford Zetec engines that produce around 170 horsepower or carbureted 2.0-liter Ford "Pinto" engines. The cars use Cooper Zeon racing slicks and they can reach speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour.

Drivers who have competed in this type of race car on their way to careers as professional race car drivers include Indy 500 winners Dan Wheldon and Buddy Rice; two-time Indy Racing League champion Sam Hornish Jr. and 1996 Champ Car World Series titlist Jimmy Vasser.

For more information see Meredith's Web site at chrismeredithracing.com; his team's Web site at comprent.net and the series' Web site at cooperseries.com.

-lm-