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By TOM RIFE (Contact)
Originally published 8:09 p.m., Sunday, November 2, 2008
Updated 12:07 a.m., Monday, November 3, 2008
Full article link with photos
NAPLES — NASCAR can only hope that its points championships go right down to the final laps of the season the way two titles were decided Sunday in the ChampBoat Series 2008 finale on Lake Avalon in East Naples.
In the inaugural Naples Grand Prix, the F1 and F2 national championships were not secured until all the checkered flags waved at the Sugden Regional Park.
Even though Tim Seebold won the 60-lap F1 final on the .8-mile course, it was Terry Rinker who ran well enough to hold off Shaun Torrente and Seebold for his fourth national crown.
In the F2 division, Kris Shephard scored his first-ever feature win in a 35-lapper. But series honors in that class were won by Jimmie Merleau, whose second-place finish helped him wrestle the points lead away from Mark Proffitt.
About 2,000 spectators turned out for Sunday’s festivities.
When drivers first arrived at Lake Avalon on Thursday and Friday, they were uncertain about what racing on the circuit’s shortest course might produce. By the end of the day Sunday, however, most were singing the praises not only of the course, but of the park in general and the work done by race chairman Brian Ohlis of Naples and co-chairman Bill Seebold. Seebold, a retired racing champ, is a resident of the Cedar Hammock Golf Club.
“I really can’t thank Brian and my dad enough for what they did to put this race here together,” said an emotional Tim Seebold of Osage Beach, Mo. “It can be a thankless job, and it took a lot of work. They deserve a lot of credit.”
In all, six events were held in the ChampBoat Series in 2008. The scenarios were clear Sunday prior to the racing. Each driver understood what he had to do to motor off with all the marbles.
For Riverview’s Rinker, winning the F1 championship meant finishing no more than four positions behind second-place Torrente of Homestead. Rinker did finish fourth in the race won by Seebold. Torrente was second, just 3.5 seconds behind Seebold, and Chris Fairchild of Paw Paw, Ill., took third.
“It was tough,” said Rinker of his decision-making in the final. Should he push hard to win, or drive more conservatively to protect his championship hopes? “We were up close probably up through the halfway point of the race. Then I got tied up with a back marker and really took some bad hops and got chopped pretty hard a couple of times,'' he said.
“I decided at that time that I was just going to pick my way around here,” Rinker added. “It was tough seeing the leaders getting away from me at that point. But my team kept reminding me that the championship was in our hands and not to make any stupid mistakes. As much as I like to win a race, winning a championship I think was the more important thing for our Amsoil sponsor and for our team.”
Torrente talked about the way the points chase played out.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. ”We won three races this year. Timmy won two and the guy who won the championship won one. That’s a bit of a problem. But other than that … I think this sport should be about your best day, not your worst day. Maybe we need to think about that.”
Seebold had to hold off Torrente.
“Shaun was right on my tail the whole time,'' he said. "You needed a good start today and that got us up front. But after that, you ran up on lapped traffic. I think we had just a little more top speed than they had, but with 15 boats on this tight course, you’ve got to have acceleraton, too.”
A little pre-race propeller tuning Sunday morning gave Seebold just enough muscle.
The F2 scenario was that Merleau of Fenneville, Mich., needed to finish at least four places ahead of Proffitt, of Lake City, Tenn. And that’s just what Merleau was able to do, finishing second to Shepard of Antioch, Ill. Third went to Jay Fox of Bay City, Mich., and Proffitt was fifth, behind John Fleming of Woodlands, Texas.
The F2 race was a thriller that had to be restarted with nine laps to go after a blowover by Port Charlotte’s Fred Durr. A situation that took place the lap before Durr’s crash precipitated the mishap.
“I was going into Turn Five and somebody closed down on me,” said Durr. “In order to avoid a collision, I hit the buoy and after it popped, it stayed attached to the left front pickle fork of the boat. It was handling acceptably so I kept racing. But the combination of the changing winds and the buoy on the boat affected the aerodynamics and pushed the boat up. When I went up, I wasn’t able to get the nose back down.”
Durr was not injured and he credited thousands of dollars in extra safety gear. He has a specially made helmet, wears a HANS device for neck/spine protection and also has an oxygen system in his cockpit.
The F2 title was Merleau’s first in that division. He said it was a plus for what he said was a “green” Mercury 200-horsepower, completely stock engine.
Shepard won the F2 race after starting from the fourth position.
“Yesterday, I didn’t have the best day,” Shepard said. “I had a good boat, but things just didn’t go my way. We worked on the propeller and looked for some extra giddy-up-go.
“It was definitely one of my best races,” said Shepard, whose mother-in-law, Carol Anderson, resides in Naples during the winter months. “I’ve lost a race the way I won one today. I think in five more laps Merleau would have got me. He had a little more speed.”
Originally published 8:09 p.m., Sunday, November 2, 2008
Updated 12:07 a.m., Monday, November 3, 2008
Full article link with photos
NAPLES — NASCAR can only hope that its points championships go right down to the final laps of the season the way two titles were decided Sunday in the ChampBoat Series 2008 finale on Lake Avalon in East Naples.
In the inaugural Naples Grand Prix, the F1 and F2 national championships were not secured until all the checkered flags waved at the Sugden Regional Park.
Even though Tim Seebold won the 60-lap F1 final on the .8-mile course, it was Terry Rinker who ran well enough to hold off Shaun Torrente and Seebold for his fourth national crown.
In the F2 division, Kris Shephard scored his first-ever feature win in a 35-lapper. But series honors in that class were won by Jimmie Merleau, whose second-place finish helped him wrestle the points lead away from Mark Proffitt.
About 2,000 spectators turned out for Sunday’s festivities.
When drivers first arrived at Lake Avalon on Thursday and Friday, they were uncertain about what racing on the circuit’s shortest course might produce. By the end of the day Sunday, however, most were singing the praises not only of the course, but of the park in general and the work done by race chairman Brian Ohlis of Naples and co-chairman Bill Seebold. Seebold, a retired racing champ, is a resident of the Cedar Hammock Golf Club.
“I really can’t thank Brian and my dad enough for what they did to put this race here together,” said an emotional Tim Seebold of Osage Beach, Mo. “It can be a thankless job, and it took a lot of work. They deserve a lot of credit.”
In all, six events were held in the ChampBoat Series in 2008. The scenarios were clear Sunday prior to the racing. Each driver understood what he had to do to motor off with all the marbles.
For Riverview’s Rinker, winning the F1 championship meant finishing no more than four positions behind second-place Torrente of Homestead. Rinker did finish fourth in the race won by Seebold. Torrente was second, just 3.5 seconds behind Seebold, and Chris Fairchild of Paw Paw, Ill., took third.
“It was tough,” said Rinker of his decision-making in the final. Should he push hard to win, or drive more conservatively to protect his championship hopes? “We were up close probably up through the halfway point of the race. Then I got tied up with a back marker and really took some bad hops and got chopped pretty hard a couple of times,'' he said.
“I decided at that time that I was just going to pick my way around here,” Rinker added. “It was tough seeing the leaders getting away from me at that point. But my team kept reminding me that the championship was in our hands and not to make any stupid mistakes. As much as I like to win a race, winning a championship I think was the more important thing for our Amsoil sponsor and for our team.”
Torrente talked about the way the points chase played out.
“We have nothing to be ashamed of,” he said. ”We won three races this year. Timmy won two and the guy who won the championship won one. That’s a bit of a problem. But other than that … I think this sport should be about your best day, not your worst day. Maybe we need to think about that.”
Seebold had to hold off Torrente.
“Shaun was right on my tail the whole time,'' he said. "You needed a good start today and that got us up front. But after that, you ran up on lapped traffic. I think we had just a little more top speed than they had, but with 15 boats on this tight course, you’ve got to have acceleraton, too.”
A little pre-race propeller tuning Sunday morning gave Seebold just enough muscle.
The F2 scenario was that Merleau of Fenneville, Mich., needed to finish at least four places ahead of Proffitt, of Lake City, Tenn. And that’s just what Merleau was able to do, finishing second to Shepard of Antioch, Ill. Third went to Jay Fox of Bay City, Mich., and Proffitt was fifth, behind John Fleming of Woodlands, Texas.
The F2 race was a thriller that had to be restarted with nine laps to go after a blowover by Port Charlotte’s Fred Durr. A situation that took place the lap before Durr’s crash precipitated the mishap.
“I was going into Turn Five and somebody closed down on me,” said Durr. “In order to avoid a collision, I hit the buoy and after it popped, it stayed attached to the left front pickle fork of the boat. It was handling acceptably so I kept racing. But the combination of the changing winds and the buoy on the boat affected the aerodynamics and pushed the boat up. When I went up, I wasn’t able to get the nose back down.”
Durr was not injured and he credited thousands of dollars in extra safety gear. He has a specially made helmet, wears a HANS device for neck/spine protection and also has an oxygen system in his cockpit.
The F2 title was Merleau’s first in that division. He said it was a plus for what he said was a “green” Mercury 200-horsepower, completely stock engine.
Shepard won the F2 race after starting from the fourth position.
“Yesterday, I didn’t have the best day,” Shepard said. “I had a good boat, but things just didn’t go my way. We worked on the propeller and looked for some extra giddy-up-go.
“It was definitely one of my best races,” said Shepard, whose mother-in-law, Carol Anderson, resides in Naples during the winter months. “I’ve lost a race the way I won one today. I think in five more laps Merleau would have got me. He had a little more speed.”