ACRL: Sears Point Results

Pierce, Arnold Take ACRL Class Wins at Sears Point, Hollywood Gets First Team Title

Sonoma, CA October 10, 1999 - Brad Pierce, subbing in the Team Las Vegas Carbir, became the fifth different winner in seven races of the series' 1999 season. Pierce trailed polesitter Jeff Glenn's Team Hollywood Carbir for seven circuits of the eighteen lap event, then took the lead on lap eight and never looked back. Pierce was delighted with the result, praising his crew for a quick engine swap on Saturday and for getting Sunday's setup just right. Pierce held pole position for much of the morning qualifying session, until Glenn's final lap at 1:35.905 snatched the pole away by a mere .136 second. Glenn, 1997 ACRL Drivers Champion, fought an evil-handling car to a second place finish in the race after a pair of spins and several lurid slides "We tried some new setup tricks, and the car was great for the first three or four laps, then the handling went completely away," said an exhausted Glenn after the race. His teammate Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi took his first-ever ACRL podium finish in third, making it a 1-2-3 for the Carbir factory. Tirinnanzi, gave notice of his very competitive talents at Irwindale the week before, was extremely happy with his first podium appearance.

Team Fresno's John Ostlund, who had engine problems most of the weekend, brought his Lola home in fourth place ahead of teammate Frank Arnold, whose Swift DB2 finished fifth overall and first in the Aerocell Sports 2000 category. Arnold, a veteran of many Sears Point races, was hounded for the last half of the race by Sears Point first-timer Michael Scully in the Team Las Vegas SR71. Arnold hung on for the victory and maintained his lead in the Sports 2000 Drivers points chase. Joe Casanova finished third in Sports 2000, and added enough points to give Hollywood the team victory. Super Sports 2000 points leader Steve Romak of Team Fresno ran in third spot for the first six laps until sidelined with a broken CV joint, but maintained the season points lead over teammate Ostlund. Sandy Popescu of Team San Diego finished seventh, one place behind fellow Rookie of the Year contender Charlie Hewett of Team Reno, but maintained her lead in the Rookie standings. Edd Ozard, representing Team Fresno, took a test drive in a Van Diemen, but pitted at the end of lap one and retired. Reno's Rick Lee had engine problems in his Carbir late Saturday after setting some top times in practice, and did not start Sunday's race.

The American City Racing League's season finale will take place October 23 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with the Hoosier-shod, VP-fueled Super Sports 2000 and Aerocell Sports 2000 cars running the 2.2 mile oval/road course combination.

Sears Point Raceway Resullts: Finishing position, start position ( ), driver, team, chassis, class, laps complete, qualifying time, best race lap, reason out (if any).

1 (2) Brad Pierce, Las Vegas, Carbir, SS2, 18, 1:36.041, 1:36.308 2 (1) Jeff Glenn, Hollywood, Carbir, SS2, 18, 1:35.905, 1:36.701 3 (4) Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi, Hollywood, Carbir, SS2, 18, 1:37.335, 1:37.660. 4 (5) John Ostlund, Fresno, Lola 89/90, SS2, 18, 1:39.420, 1:39.206 5 (6) Frank Arnold, Fresno, Swift, S2, 18, 1:40.316, 1:42.231 6 (8) Michael Scully, Las Vegas, SR71, 18, 1:42.110, 1:42.728 7 (7) Charlie Hewitt, Reno, Swift, SS2, 17, 1:41.973, 1:41.586 8 (9) Sandy Popescu, San Diego, Swift DB5, SS2, 17, 1:42.966, 1:41.782 9 (10) Joe Casanova, Hollywood, Swift, S2, 17, 1:47.402, 1:48.490 10 (3) Stephen Romak, Fresno, Lola, SS2, 6, 1:36.874, 1:37.855 11 (11) Edd Ozard, Fresno, Van Diemen, SS2, DNF, DNQ 12 (2) Rick Lee, Reno, Carbir, SS2, DNS, DNQ

Race Time: 29:31.490                Race Length:  45.414 Miles
Track Length: 2.523 miles       

SS2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:36.308 (Pierce) SS2 Margin of Victory: 14.184 seconds S2 Fastest Race Lap: 1:42.231(Arnold) S2 Margin of Victory: N/A

Team Points: Hollywood 250 Fresno 230 Las Vegas 176 Reno 73 San Diego 70 

SS2 DRIVER POINTS           AEROCELL S2 DRIVER POINTS 
 (BEST 7 OF 8 RACES):                   (BEST 7 OF 8 RACES):
 1    Stephen Romak         564     1 Frank Arnold          399
 2    John Ostlund          548     2 Michael Scully        381 
 3    Peter Zarcades        469     3 Joe Casanova          269
 4    Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi   462     4 John Bachofner        181
 5    Sandy Popescu         445       Jeff Anderson         181
 6    Rick Eickhoff         341     6 Ian Wood              172
 7    Chris Ronson          324     7 Bill Bachofner        169 
 8    Jay Messenger         317     8 Leo Giroski           160
 9    Brad Pierce           256     9 Doug Allen            158 
10    Rick Lee              218    10 Spencer Trenery       102
      Margie Smith-Haas     218       Duke Johnson          102
12    Jeff Glenn            179    12 Jeff Clinton           93
13    Tom Kreger            169    13 George Greenwood       80
14    Scott Shelly          160       Brad Arntson           80
15    Charlie Hewett        150    15 Chris Knight           73
15    Joe Giroski           137        
17    Edd Ozard             134        
18    Dennis Pavlina         61

                     MOTORSPORTS COMPOSITES TRIPLE         
          
TEAM POINT STANDINGS            CROWN SS2000 OVAL TRACK 
 (AFTER 7 RACES)                CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS (FINAL)          
1   Fresno          1627        1  Peter Zarcades           288 *
2   Las Vegas       1541        2  Stephen Romak            288
3   San Diego        959        3  John Ostlund             256
4   Reno             922        4  Jay Messenger            241
5   Hollywood        873        5  Sandy Popescu            219
6   Los Angeles      364        6  Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi      214
7   Portland         287        7  Rick Eickoff             207
8   St. Louis        139        8  Chris Ronson             166
9   Vancouver WA     100        9  Margie Smith-Haas        145
                               10  Jeff Glenn                84
                               11  Scott Shelly              76
                                   Brad Pierce               76
                               13  Rick Lee                  58

S2000 TCOC STANDINGS * Number of wins was tie-breaker. (FINAL) 1 Michael Scully 288 2 Frank Arnold 195 3 Jeff Anderson 181 Joe Casanova 181