Jan 24, 2004
\nChristchurch, New Zealand (January 24, 2004) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Charlie Kimball stormed to a magnificent victory this evening in the first of three Talley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s International Formula Ford Challenge Series races at Ruapuna Park Raceway.<\/p>\n
Kimball, who qualified fourth, took the lead from polesitter Tim Edgell in opportunistic style midway through the 10-lap race (which started a little after 7 p.m. in gloriously sunny conditions) and quickly asserted his superiority before taking the checkered flag 1.608 seconds ahead of his rival. Team USA Scholarship teammate Ryan Millen posted a similarly strong charge to finish the race tucked underneath Edgell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gearbox in third place.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an unbelievable feeling,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kimball, 18, from Camarillo, Calif. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s nothing like a win! I did it five times last year [four times in U.S. Formula Ford 2000 Zetec competition and once in the British Formula Ford Zetec Winter Series] and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s great to get a first win so early this year. I fully intend to carry this momentum forward through the season.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Kimball didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make life easy for himself by making a poor getaway from the standing start and losing a couple of positions on the run to the first corner. But he profited from a first-corner melee to jump up into third place. He then made a fine pass on Chris Pither to move into second before homing in on Edgell.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I made a horrible start,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d admitted Kimball. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just had way too many revs and got a lot of wheelspin. I think I was sixth into the first corner.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I made a run on Pither and braked really late into the complex and just squeezed through. I could see Tim [Edgell] making a bit of a break. I knew I could catch him up in the infield but I knew I was going to struggle to hold him on the straight.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Kimball, though, closed quickly onto the tail of the leader, establishing a new lap record of 1m 29.792s as he did so, then used the draft to excellent effect on the front straightaway before sweeping past just before the braking area for Turn One.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I have to give [Edgell] credit,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kimball. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153He raced me hard but it was clean. I have to thank him for giving me some running room.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Kimball then paced the race to the checkers: \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was good to get out front, make a gap and then turn some fast laps when I needed to [in order to make the lead secure],\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Millen also was charging hard. He had made a stunning start from fifth on the grid \u00e2\u20ac\u201c all the top five qualifiers had bettered Jason Richards\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 existing track record of 1m 30.090s \u00e2\u20ac\u201c only to find himself pushed wide at the first corner, which cost him four positions. From seventh, Millen picked up one place when the unfortunate Andy Knight suffered a broken wheel on the first lap. He then made short work of Ben Crighton, Marc Doran and Pither (who was hobbled by a misfiring engine) before setting his sights on Edgell<\/p>\n
Millen, 19, f rom Newport Beach, Calif., turned a best lap just 0.019 seconds shy of Kimball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s new standard as he homed in on the series point leader, but Edgell kept all the doors firmly closed and held on to second place by a scant 0.262 seconds.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153That damn blue car is so wide,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d joked an excited Millen. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, who knows what might have happened if I hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t got caught up in that mess at the first corner…. Still, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m very happy. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an excellent result, especially as most of the series has been a disaster for me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve had the pace but I haven\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t been able to put it together; and today I managed to put it together. That was fun!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
One of the first to congratulate Kimball and Millen was teammate Joe D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino, who has been restricted to the sidelines after suffering a broken left arm in a crash last week at Teretonga Raceway.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m kind of bummed not to be driving, of course,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said D\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Agostino, 18, from Plantation, Fla. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d love to have been out there, but to be perfectly honest, watching Ryan and Charlie, I felt really proud. They both did an awesome job.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so great to have Joe here,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Kimball. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I wanted to get the lap record for him because he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been really quick here when we tested. I knew he was going to kick me if I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do it. So for my own safety, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m glad I got the record.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The final two races — one of 12 laps duration and the other 18 laps — will take place on Sunday afternoon. The grid for the first race already has been set, with Kimball taking advantage of a draft from teammate Millen to post a sensational lap at 1m 29.373s \u00e2\u20ac\u201c almost three-quarters of a second inside the old record. Edgell posted the second fastest lap, marginally ahead of Jayant Singh and Millen, although the results have not been finalized pending an inquiry into the possibility that Edgell\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time might have been set after the checkered flag had been shown.<\/p>\n
Grid positions for the 18-lap finale will be established according to championship positions at that time.<\/p>\n
The seven-race International series boasts a host of prizes, including test drives in a Barber Dodge Pro Series car, a Star Mazda car and a Formula Ford 2000 Zetec Van Diemen, plus a free race weekend in the SCCA Formula Russell Championship Presented by Yokohama. All the prize rides will take place in the United States. The series is currently led by Tim Edgell, who holds a 24-point margin, 120 to 96, over fellow New Zealander Chris Pither. Kimball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s victory today and his pole for tomorrow\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s first race vaults him to third in the table, just six markers shy of Pither. With 32 points on offer for each race win, plus bonus points available for pole and fastest lap in each race, the series is still wide open.<\/p>\n
Qualifying results for Race One: 1. Tim Edgell (NZ), Van Diemen RF03, 1m 29.735s; 2. Chris Pither (NZ), Spectrum 07, 1m 29.849s; 3. Andy Knight (NZ), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 1m 29.849s; 4. Charlie Kimball (USA), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 1m 29.898s; 5. Ryan Millen (USA), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 1m 29.983s; 6. Marc Doran (NZ), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 1m 30.247s.<\/p>\n
Results for Race One (10 laps): 1. Kimball, 15m 09.671s, 84.192mph; 2. Edgell, 15m 11.279s; 3. Millen, 15m 11.541s; 4. Doran, 15m 18.387s; 5. Ben Crighton (NZ), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 15m 19.612s; 6. Richard Reid (NZ), Van Diemen\/Stealth RF94, 15m 25.233s. Fastest lap: Kimball, 1m 29.792s, 85.699mph (new record).<\/p>\n
Current championship points after five of seven races: 1. Edgell, 120; 2. Pither, 96; 3. Kimball, 90; 4. Kenny Smith, 75; 5. Knight, 73; 6. Simon Gamble & Doran, 56; etc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jan 24, 2004 Christchurch, New Zealand (January 24, 2004) \u00e2\u20ac\u201c\u00e2\u20ac\u201c Charlie Kimball stormed to a magnificent victory this evening in the first of three Talley\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s International Formula Ford Challenge Series races at Ruapuna Park Raceway.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1491,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1490"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1492,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1490\/revisions\/1492"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/teamusascholarship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}