Dalziel Takes Long Beach Atlantic Race - Ranger 2nd.

[Jay]

Here are the results from the first Toyota Atlantic Race of the Season:

1 1 28 Ryan Dalziel
2 5 27 Andrew Ranger
3 4 19 Bryan Sellers
4 7 12 Ronnie Bremer
5 6 24 Danica Patrick
6 11 8 Jonathan Bomarito
7 9 4 Rocky Moran Jr.
8 13 9 Alex Garcia
9 15 15 Josh Hunt
10 18 7 David Sterckx
11 10 25 Chris Festa
12 14 3 Philip Fayer
13 20 65 Justin Sofio
14 17 23 Tom Nastasi
15 16 49 Dan Selznick
16 0 34 Tony Loniewski
17 3 69 Alex Figge
18 8 6 Tonis Kasemets
19 2 96 Jon Fogarty
20 12 2 Eric Jensen

Great run by Dalziel - obviously the Championship favorite. He's a great guy and would be a tremendous addition both as a personality and as a championship contender should he make the move up to Champ car.

However...

Andrew Ranger, 17 year old, 2nd...and pushing Dalzeil. He outdrove some very highly rated drivers from Europe last year and I expect him to be a contender in Atlantic this year as well. He's a quick study...and could even take the Championship...

[nrc]

Here are the results from the first Toyota Atlantic Race of the Season:


Thanks. But considering that some of us will wait to watch it on TV it would have been nice not to spoil it in the thread subject and put a spoiler warning on it.

[Sean O'Gorman]

Who is Ronnie Bremer?

[RTKar]

Good to see 20 cars. :thumbup:

[Jay]

Thanks. But considering that some of us will wait to watch it on TV it would have been nice not to spoil it in the thread subject and put a spoiler warning on it.My apologies - I forgot the race was being broadcast on TV in some places (it wasn't here)! I'll do that next time.

[Sean O'Gorman]

Thanks. But considering that some of us will wait to watch it on TV it would have been nice not to spoil it in the thread subject and put a spoiler warning on it.

:confused:

I remember Kendall mentioning during the race that Dalziel won the Atlantics race, it doesn't get much more of a spoiler than that.

[indyfan31]

Ranger did a great job, but NOBODY was pushing Dalziel yesterday, he was pretty much untouchable.
Patrick stayed pretty clean but didn't have the car to challenge Sellers or Bremer.

[IlliniRacer]

Anyone know what happend to "Just Al"? I thought he qualified towards the back of the back.

[Sean O'Gorman]

Hey, cool, I just realized I raced against the kid who finished 16th at Speeds in Columbus last May. :)

[JoeBob]

Anyone know what happend to "Just Al"? I thought he qualified towards the back of the back.
he qualified 19th, and didn't make it through the first turn:

http://www.toyotaatlantic.com/News.asp?ID=605

GREEN FLAG waves at 10:35 a.m. to start the 2004 Toyota Atlantic season. #28 DALZIEL leads through Turn 1, with #96 FOGARTY in second and #27 RANGER has moved up from fifth on the grid to third. #23 NASTASI and #5 UNSER make contact coming off Turn 5 and both cars sustain damage. #23 NASTASI was able to continue, but and #5 UNSER is in the runoff area at Turn 6. #3 FAYER goes into the runoff area at Turn 9, and continues after a brief delay.

[IlliniRacer]

Thanks JoeBob. It seems funny that I'm rooting for an Unser again. Haven't done that since AUJ - pre-Penske

[JT265]

#3 FAYER goes into the runoff area at Turn 9, and continues after a brief delay.

"Fill" just stopped for a sammich. Nothing to see here.

:D

[Dr. Corkski]

#3 FAYER goes into the runoff area at Turn 9, and continues after a brief delay.

"Fill" just stopped for a sammich. Nothing to see here.

:DIt actually looked like he lost quite a bit of weight, but I think his performance at LB pretty ruled out weight as the problem. Now Gentilozzi, his race suit looked like it could fit 2 Fayers in there with room to spare.

Despite what someone said Ranger, who although was very good at dealing with Sellers who was pressuring him the entire race, was nowhere near the pace of Daziel. Only Fogarty was able to keep pace until his Toy blew up going into 7. His teammate Figge's blew on the ensuing restart at 1.

Rocky Moran drove the entire race with a broken front wing, but I wasn't sure how it happened.

There wasn't all that much action up front, the only pass among the front runners was when Kasemets took Bremer (who raced Brit F3 last year) for 6th. Most of the action was in the back of the pack and too many times guys were way over their heads going into 1 and stuffed it into the tires which meant that most of the late stages were run in full course caution. The dude Sean raced stuffed it so hard that most people standing next to me didn't even notice it until the caution came out.

[JT265]

Thanks for the update Corkski. PG has lost a ton of weight in the last couple of years. Ranger will have to get used to the cornering speeds and braking in these cars and maybe he can be a factor as the season plays out.

[Jay]

I have to admit I do hype Ranger up a bit much - to look at the other side, he had his butt roundly trounced at Donington in British Formula Renault (which I'd rate higher than Atlantic talent-wise) last year. But, he did roundly trounce Hall and Bell in - both of which were top talent in British FRenault. He seems to be a quick study - so we'll see!

[theunions]

Rocky Moran drove the entire race with a broken front wing, but I wasn't sure how it happened.

Per Rocky, he contacted someone ahead of him on the opening lap, and he handling was horrendous the rest of the way. The suspension may also have been damaged.

[FCYTravis]

Per a conversation at Buttonwillow Raceway Park on Monday with Eric Jensen, Eric was the one Rocky Moran bumped into. It broke a suspension part on Jensen's Swift and forced Eric's retirement a few laps later.

It was a bit of a surprise to see the Jensen squad running as strong as they did at LB after last year's, shall we say, underwhelming performances. Jensen told me that last year the team was running engines that were down at least 5-10 hp to the vast majority of the series, who had Hasselgrens. This year, with the revamped engine rules, Jensen has Hasselgrens and, if not contending for a podium, Eric made a far more respectable showing than last year.

[nrc]

My apologies - I forgot the race was being broadcast on TV in some places (it wasn't here)! I'll do that next time.

Thanks. Please do post, just don't put the winner in the thread title. It even appears on the main forum page so it can't be avoided.

Dalziel pretty much owned the race, but after the first half it deteriorated into a series of short runs between restarts. Ranger never seemed to be anywhere close to Dalziel on the restarts, so nothing was going to happen there. Fogerty might have made it interesting into turn one on those restarts if hadn't blown up early on.