| TORRENTE, SHEPARD, OTT WIN AT BAY CITY |
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Torrente, Shepard, Ott win Bay City
July 1, 2011 – The Saginaw River in downtown Bay City, Michigan relinquished its grip on the many drivers who have tried to tame it. The phrase dominance was used for the first time in quite a while. With the sun shining and the temperatures in the mid 70’s all weekend, the teams made the trip to the state of Michigan for the 2011 DOW Bay City River Roar with their best shot at conquering the Saginaw River. Things started off with a bang Friday afternoon as the Formula Lights class lost two rookie drivers when a collision ensued off course in turns 1 and 2. Carlos Mendana and Miguel Rodriguez got together in turn 1 and their weekends were cut short, or so we thought. Thanks to the generosity of Paul Trolian, whose 2011 season has been put on hold indefinitely due to back injury, Carlos Mendana made the trip from Bay City Michigan to Warsaw, Indiana and picked up Trolian’s Pugh designed Formula Light and was then able to compete throughout the weekend. Unfortunately for Carlos and the rest of the Mendana Enterprises, this past weekend was filled with trials and tribulations as they fought to keep the gremlins off of their backs.
After Friday’s unexpected collision in testing things ran as smooth as they possibly could for the 17 boats competing in the roughest water they will see all season for the top spot on the podium. For others in Formula Lights, things went well and after qualifying on Saturday, Butch Ott in the #78 Omnisource sponsored machine found himself on the pole for the 30 lap main event. To his left he had two of the toughest competitors in the sport, Jason Nelson of Atlanta, GA and Mark Schmerbauch of Greenfield, WI. Butch also understood that from top to bottom the field was going to be a handful. After a multitude of restarts, which saw the #18 of Jason Nelson barrel roll in turn 1, rookie driver Dustin Fierek stuff is boat after hitting a roller on the front straight away and Travis Thompson spinning out in turn 1 putting a hole in his boa, the race was called short after 22 of the scheduled 30 laps. When it was all said and done the phrase dominance was used for the first time as the 78 of Butch Ott took the checkered flag; enduring 5 restarts and holding off #6 Mark Schmerbauch on every one and going wire to wire to win his first event of 2011. The surprise in Formula Lights was the #24 of Jose Mendana Sr. who was the lone bright spot for Mendana Enterpries. Mendana Sr. driving hard through the entire field after starting 15th off the dock due to motor problems that caused Mendana Sr. to bow out of qualifying. With the first race under his belt in more than 5 years Mendana Sr. is excited to what he can do in his future opportunities.
In Formula Two action, the theme of dominance continued. After a clean day of qualifying #42 Kris Shepard running for Northern Concrete Pipe found himself on the pole. The surprise on the start doc Sunday were the 2nd and 3rd top qualifiers; the hard charging #34 Jeff Reno in the DOW chemical machine and the #5 of Ruben Stafford qualified quite well in their first encounter with the rough and tumble waters of the Saginaw. On lap 8 of the scheduled 30, the F2’s saw their first restart of the race as the 3rd place machine of Ruben Stafford barrel rolled coming out of turn 1. This couldn’t have come at a better time for race leader Kris Shepard. As the flag was dropped, both Shepard and the #34 of Jeff Reno duked it out through the first few laps. On lap 3 the race leader Shepard was forced to set his Mercury Optimax powered machine tight to the turn four buoy, with Reno nipping on his heels and looking to take the outside line away Shepard’s Hoffman skipped out into the right sponson of Reno causing a big hole on the right side. With confirmation from his crew chief that he had a sizeable hole in the front half of his right sponson Shepard patiently waited for a race stoppage to repair the damage. “I wouldn’t have been able to make it more than 5 more laps with the amount of water I was taking on”. After the restart Shepard tightened his stranglehold on the Saginaw and cruised to his first victory in 2011 and his second victory at the Bay City River Roar in the past four years. The stunner on the podium was the #97 of Dan orchard who battled engine troubles all weekend long after making the long trip from Stratford Ontario, Canada the night before qualifying after putting his Pugh designed hull back together following a devastating crash at the Port Neches River Fest a little over a month ago.
As the sun moved to its highest point over the shores of the Saginaw, Shaun Torrente dominated the Formula One final. Running for Peter’s and May Global Transport and talon 22 Custom Boats dismantled the usually tough to handle Saginaw River. On Saturday Shaun laid down a 33.10 second lap time putting himself .44 seconds ahead of his closest competitor Terry Rinker. As the field lined up for the final Sunday afternoon, defending River Roar Champion, Chris Fairchild running for Kroger foods felt good about his chances to take down the your gun from Homestead, FL. Last year Fairchild waited in the wings until lap 47 when Torrente almost blew over heading in to turn 3 and he jumped out in front easily and cruised to victory. 2011 was not as kind to the defending champion. On lap 4 his Kroger Food’s machine exploded down the front strait away and almost as soon as the defense of his title began it was over. Continued issues for Mendana Enterprises forced the #21 of Jose Mendana Jr. to watch the 50 lap main event from the dock as his wiring harness shorted out and fried his starting mechanism. The Formula One class provided some surprising finishes as well. Brian Venton running for Bud Light took his completely rebuilt Grand Prix to the Podium for only the 2nd time in his career. The “Phoenix” came back to life for the driver from Bowmanville Ontario, Canada was forced to completely rebuild his team and trailer after his trailer caught fire on his way to the first stop of the 2010 F1PROP series down in Port Neches, TX
With the Saginaw lying dormant once again and a safe clean weekend of racing in the books we move on to the next stop on the 2011 Formula One PROP tour. In three weeks the Formula 2 and Formula Lights do battle again at the PNC roar on the river in Trenton, MI July 22nd – 24th. This race will crown the world champions for the Formula 2 and Formula Lights Class. Check out F1 PROP on facebook and twitter.
| 2011 Formula One Bay City Results |
| 1st | Shaun Torrente, Homestead, FL |
| 2nd | Terry Rinker, Tampa, FL |
| 3rd | Brian Venton, Ontario Canada |
| 4th | Lynn Simburger, Elsah, IL |
| 5th | Jeff Shepherd, Woodlawn, TN |
| 6th | Mike Klepadlo, Gaylord, MI |
| 7th | Jeff Reno, Okeechobee, FL |
| 8th | Kris Shepard, Antioch, IL |
| 9th | Steve Lee, Ocala, FL |
| 10th | Chris Fairchild, Paw Paw, IL |
| 11th | Jose Mendana Jr., Miami, FL |
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