Junior Open Wheel Talent

After being away from the computer for a few days due to a mini-vacation, it's time to catch up on all the racing news and results. Rather than put all the news into individual posts, which are already dated, I decided to just put everything in one spot via a 'Linkage' post.

Skip Barber
Skip Barber National standout Connor De Phillippi won Round 7 by going from 3rd to 1st in the final lap.
Round 7: Complete Results

Skip Barber Karting Scholarship winner Court Vernon won his first Skip Barber National race over the weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.
Round 8: Complete Results

Formula BMW-Americas
Gabby Chaves won the first race of the weekend at Lime Rock Park in dominant fashion. The win moves the Colombian driver back into the points lead.
Round 8: Complete Results

Australian driver James Kovacic celebrated his 16th birthday in style by claiming his first Formula BMW victory in Race 2 at LRP. Not only did Kovacic win, he became the first driver to win from a spot other than pole position, so far this season. He started the race in 5th. Honorable mention should go to Alex Ellis who led most of the race only to see the victory slip away in the closing laps.
Round 9: Complete Results

F2000 Championship
Matthew Inge ran a solid race to take his second win of the season in the F2000 Championship, while racing at Summit Point Motorsports Park. Championship leader Chris Miller finished the race in second place. Alegra Motorsports driver Fabio Orslon continues to develop as he finished the race in 3rd.
Race 1: Complete Results

Tim Minor found his way to the top spot of the podium in the second race of the weekend at his home track (SPMP). Championship leader Chris Miller continued his renowned podium streak by finishing 2nd. Ben Searcy found his way to the podium after being DQ'd from a fifth place finish in Race 1---due to missing the minimum weight requirement by a mere 3lbs.
Race 2: Complete Results

You can read the F2000 Championship weekend notebook here>>.

Atlantic Championship
Simona De Silvestro made history this weekend by becoming the winningest female driver in the 36-year history of the Atlantic Championship. Simona claimed her fourth career Atlantic victory at Lime Rock Park. The previous record was held by Katherine Legge, who had 3 career Atlantic victories. John Edwards had a great run to finish 2nd after starting 5th. His performance earned him the hard charger award. Borja Garcia put in another solid performance to finish 3rd in Round 5. The result marked his second podium of the season.
Round 5- Complete Results

Formula 3 Euro Series
Jules Bianchi dominated the competition at Zandvoort this weekend for Rounds 7 & 8 of the 2009 championship. The 19-year-old driver has won four races this season and leads the championship by 17 points.

The Hard Charger of Round 7 was Atte Mustonen who improved 11 positions-- 20th to 9th.
Round 7- Zandvoort Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 8 was Stefano Coletti who improved 12 positions-- 24th to 12th.
Round 8- Zandvoort Complete Results

World Series by Renault
Bertrand Baguette dominated the weekend by winning both races at Le Mans. Baguette leads the championship by 19 points over Marcos Martinez (2nd) and James Walker (3rd).

The Hard Charger of Round 10 was Dani Clos who improved 10 positions--20th to 10th.
Round 10: Le Mans Complete Results

The Hard Charger of Round 11 was Edoardo Mortara, who improved 15 positions--21st to 6th. Honorable mention should go to Miguel Molina who improved 8 positions--10th to 2nd.
Round 11: Le Mans Complete Results

Karting
Karting standout/Skip Barber front runner Sage Karam showcases his "quickness" on and off the track in this video following podium celebrations.

Championship Karting International plans to send six North American drivers to Europe for the Formula Kart Stars event at the PF International karting circuit in Grantham.

Indy Lights
Jeff Iannucci of 'My Name is IRL' has started a Friday Night Lights segment on his blog that features weekly interviews with an Indy Lights competitor.

Eformulacarnews put together a nice recap of the first half of the 2009 Indy Lights season-- which features statistical comparisons to season's past.

If you plan to travel to Toronto this weekend for the Indy Lights race,.... Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe recommends a stop at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Star Mazda
The Star Mazda competitors are returning to oval racing again this weekend for the first annual Pizza Ranch 100 in Newton, IA. You can read the official race preview here.

I realize that most of you have probably already read this, but in case you missed it... make sure to check out my Driver Profile piece on Peter Dempsey--which features a Q&A segment.

I was considering posting this as Thursday Morning Reading--but it seems better suited as a Linkage piece.

As most of you know, this is a big weekend for the junior formula world with the Mazda Formula-X event at New Jersey Motorsports Park being broadcast live on HDNet. Make sure to tune in and bump up the viewership numbers....

For more information on this weekend's events; click here.

Skip Barber National
The Skip Barber National Championship will be racing at NJMP this weekend as well. I don't have an adequate preview to link to, but you can view a few press releases here.

NewsOverCoffee Blog, out of Nazareth, PA., will be on-hand to provide coverage for their local drivers-- Sage Karam and Corey Lewis.

Despite a lack of preview for the young guns of the Skip Barber National program-- the series' website does offer a profile for the current drivers.

Star Mazda
The Star Mazda Championship will be returning to New Jersey Motorsports Park this weekend for Rounds 4 & 5 of the championship.

You can read the Star Mazda race preview here.

Atlantic Championship
The Atlantic Championship has a big weekend ahead of them as they are considered the headline class at Thunderbolt Raceway in New Jersey. This weekend's press and television coverage wouldn't be possible without the assistance of Mazda--- it's great to see them dedicate so much to promoting junior formula racing.

You can read the Atlantic Championship race preview here.

For those that missed it earlier this week, you can also read my Junior Formula 101 piece on the Atlantic Championship.
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F2000 Championship
North of the border--- the F2000 Championship returns to action for Rounds 5 & 6 of the 2009 Championship. You can read the weekend preview here.

Mike Eakin has also written a nice piece about his first time at Mosport---which includes an attempt to flatter both Canadian race fans and the Canadian brewers. I almost forgot, he also writes about his adventures in a Malibu rental car.

Patrick Buganski of the Daily Journal has been busy writing about next weekend's Mazda Formula-X event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. His work includes a nice intro for the junior formula series, a piece on the Atlantic Championship, as well as an article on Frankie Muniz's return home.

Paul Keith at the RedBulletin put out an article on Robert Wickens "best weekend of his career".

A few of my readers, have posted links on Nick Tandy's recent success after losing his brother; Joe Tandy. You can view the links.... here and here. Congratulations to both Nick Tandy and Josef Newgarden, as well as the entire JTR crew, for an incredible weekend.

The F2000 Championship series is continuing to field an impressive number of entries... with 33 drivers (currently) entered for next weekend's stop at Mosport.

The IndyCar bloggers are having fun with the recent performance enhancement comments made by Danica "gray area" Patrick.

The Championship Karting International series' enjoyed a relatively successful debut at New Castle Motorsports Park.

It's been awhile since I've done a linkage article, so I figured tonight looks to be as good as any...

Breaking News-- Jeff at My Name is IRL has changed his blog's name to My Name is Champ Car, oh wait, today is April 1st right? **update** Everything is now okay and back to normal...phew.

Injuries Do Happen-- Apparently Frankie Muniz has a broken foot? The good news is that his engineers are hopeful that the weight of his cast will increase the weight on the throttle... Okay, okay,.... in all seriousness, hopefully the injury isn't too bad as Frankie has been very impressive in pre-season testing. Look for even more improvement at Miller Motorsports Park next month.

Traveling Abroad--A few North American karters are scheduling trips across the Atlantic: Tristan DeGrand, of J3 Competition, and Gustavo Menezes, of Tony Kart, will travel to Castelletto d’ Orba, Italy this weekend for the third round of the WSK International Series. Both drivers will compete in the KF3 class. American Andrick Zeen spent last weekend in Angerville, France, running in the KF2 class, for the first round of the GPO Karting Series driving for Sodi Kart.

Stroller Racing-- Alexander Rossi tells Paul Crossling over at UpdateSport about how his time in a stroller at Laguna Seca changed his life.

Twitterized-- Yes, it's true,... I joined Twitter; you can follow the updates here.

On A More Serious Note-- Yesterday, I wrote an article about the world economy and how it's affecting North American junior formula entries. Apparently, it's worse than we thought across the globe as KTR announced early today that they will no longer be running in the 2009 World Series by Renault. Let's hope this is the last announcement of this nature we will make in 2009. I wish KTR the best and hope to see them field a team again in the 2010 WSR.

It's been awhile since I've done a linkage post and there is a fair amount of reading out there on this Friday morning. Without further ado, here is your February edition of Linkage.

EFCN has a nice Q & A with Bobby Rahal, who seems intent to really develop the Formula BMW Americas program.

Drivers looking to compete in the Stars of Karting series for 2009 will be competing for awards in excess of $85,000.

Andersen Racing is promoting their ladder system North of the border by sponsoring Canada's TRAK karting series. The new karting program (TRAK) is presided over by former open wheel standout Dan Di Leo and the Di Leo family. Three drivers from the TRAK series will be awarded a 2-day Formula BMW Test. Pretty smart marketing by Andersen and a great prize for any aspiring driver.

Skip Barber Racing will begin their Spring Training tomorrow at Sebring International Raceway with 19 drivers currently registered to take part. The entry list includes the young talent Sage Karam who returned his Skip Barber National Scholarship. In talking with a few insiders, I was able to obtain very little information on the situation. Apparently Sage's sponsor/manager didn't feel the contract was in the best interest of Sage. Take what you will from the information given, but I think we all thought it was a bit strange when Skip Barber handed out two fully funded rides last December. Either way, it seems (on the surface) that all parties involved are content with the situation.

Michael Vincec, 2008's Stars of Karting ICC National Champion, is one of the drivers on the Skip Barber Spring Training entry list. EKN has a nice article on the 17-year-old karting stand-out.

The F2000 Championship has a nice/new website, which it was in dire need of. In case you missed it, they also decided to publish my F2000 Championship article from the Junior Formula 101 series. Click here for more Junior Formula 101 installments. Look for the Atlantic Championship piece to be released shortly.

In Star Mazda news..... it has been reported that Charles Anti will return to the cockpit with John Walko Racing this season as a test driver. He hopes to return to racing full-time in the near future.

Sorry for the delay in posting news, I was out of town last week. There has been quite a bit of news, so I'll do my best to recap most of it... Here is your November edition of "Linkage".

The Star Mazda series has a new team for 2009; Juncos Racing. The new team will field three cars including two series newcomers: fifteen-year-old Michael Furfari and seventeen-year-old Sean Burstyn.

In more Star Mazda news: Conor Daly spent two days testing with JDC Motorsports. According to team owner John Church, the test went very well.

Josef Newgarden spent last Monday driving an Anderson Racing Star Mazda car around Sebring,.... despite thoroughly enjoying the test and the team, the Tennessee resident seems to have his eyes set on the British Formula Ford Championship for 2009. The 17-year-old flew back to the UK last weekend and will spend the balance of this week testing with three Duratec teams. Look for a big announcement soon.....

In the karting world.... Jonathan Thonon claimed the $10,000 check for winning the SuperPro division of the 2008 SKUSA SuperNationals. You can find full results for the TAG and SuperPro divisions here.

In Atlantic Championship news: US RaceTronics continues its aggressive testing schedule for 2009, running Sebastian Saavedra.

Condor Motorsports signed Max Lefevre to contest the 2009 Atlantic Championship earlier today.

Due to some A1GP frustration, it appears Jonny Reid will return to the United States for another year in the Indy Lights series.

In more Indy Lights news, Sam Schmidt continued his 2009 tests running both Charlie Kimball (for a second time) and Dillon Battistini. The duo spent one day on the road course and one day on the oval at Homestead.

Genoa Racing tested Richard Philippe at Homestead last week.

The F3 Euro Series has finalized their team roster for 2009. Two teams were added to the series for 2009... including Kolles TME; the team established by former F1 Force India team boss.

Happy Halloween. Most of us have gone trick-or-treating in our lifetime or at least dressed up for a Halloween party, but few can say they have dressed up as a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich like Indy Lights driver Logan Gomez.

The Atlantic Championship has been purchased by Ben Johnston for 2009 and beyond.

Daniel Ricciardo will be driving for Carlin Motorsport in British F3 next season, according to ex-Formula One driver Dr Helmut Marko.

Marco Andretti will replace Charlie Kimball in the Team USA A1 car for China. It appears that Marco will be partnering "Panica" Patrick for the remainder of the season. Personally, I hope Kimball is offered another drive.

2002 British F3 champion, Robbie Kerr will be testing for and developing Litespeed's F3 program.

Stars of Karting Eastern and Western Division ICC Champion, Mike Vincec claimed the overall title this weekend in Las Vegas; finishing third in both finals at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The young Canadian will be running in the Skip Barber National Championship for 2009 after winning the 2008 Skip Barber Scholarship Award, which funds one full season in the National Championship. Gary Carlton won both finals but still fell one point short of claiming the 2008 title.

Stars of Karting National Championship Results
*Final 1
*Final 2

In World Series by Renault news....17 year old Max Chilton (British F3 pilot), will be testing for Comtec Racing. Max is the younger brother of sports car/touring car driver Tom Chilton.

Atlantic Championship drivers had their year-end Awards Banquet after the conclusion of the series finale at Road Atlanta. Click here to see who's who in the Atlantic Championship.

2008 Indy Lights Champion Rafa Matos sat down with Indy Racing Revolution's Chris Estrada for a little Q&A session.

Chris Keller, of karting fame, won the SCCA Formula Ford National Championship in his first try over the weekend in the National Runoffs at Topeka, Kansas. Perhaps we will see Keller put together a F2000 Championship campaign for 2009?

Or maybe we will see Niki Coello make a full F2000 Championship campaign in 2009??..... Coello won his third Formula Continental Championship by more than 16 seconds on Friday afternoon at the SCCA Runoffs. One would think he would be hungry for a little stiffer competition. Personally I would like to see Niki Coello and 2008 F2000 Champion Anders Krohn run a few more competitive laps. The race everyone anticipated, never happened....(see 1:36s into video)
Click to see Video

With so much open wheel racing news being released at once, it's time for another edition of Linkage.

Lead Story: 2008 Indy Lights champion Rafa Matos will drive for Luczo Dragon Racing in the IndyCar Series for 2009. After such a successful venture through the American junior formula ranks, anything less would have created a total collapse of the ladder system.

2005 Super Kart Illustrated "Rising Star" award winner, Cole Whitt continued his dirt track development with a win at Terra Haute, Indiana.

Italian Motors lead ICC driver, David Jurca concluded his Jetta TDI Cup season on Saturday October 4th at Road Atlanta. Jurca finished in fourth place overall after leading the championship for most of the season. It appears that a mistake by Volkswagen officials may have cost him the championship as he hadn't finished outside the top 6 until he tried to drive a damaged car.

Red Bull Junior driver Robert Wickens won Sunday's F3 Euro Series race at Le Mans in the rain. Wickens who is known as one of the busiest junior formula drivers in the world, won in both the World Series by Renault and the F3 Euro Series this season.

Stars of Karting standout and European KZ1 pilot, Gary Carlton tried his hand at driving a Ford Focus Midget race car alongside Star Mazda championship contender Joel Miller and Stars of Karting ICA pilot James Kennedy. The test was courtesy of Wally Pankratz Racing and Maier Racing.

It appears that IndyCar/Indy Lights driver Franck Perera will return to Europe and the GP2 Series for 2009. Rosters are currently being set for the GP2 Asia series so stay tuned for driver/team updates.

Former F1 and Champ Car great Nigel Mansell did some laps in a go-kart on the new layout at Thunderbolt Raceway (NJMP). He must have given his son Greg a few tips after the venture; Greg Mansell received the official hard charger note in the box score over the weekend enroute to a career best finish of 7th in the Atlantic Championship race on Sunday. Greg's brother Leo Mansell finished 12th in Sunday's race.

ATS Formula 3 driver Hamad Al Fardan survived his tremendous wreck at The Nurburgring without any serious injuries only to break his metatarsus in a leisure activity, forcing him to miss the next two rounds of the Championship.

Several Indy Lights drivers were scheduled to try out dirt track racing over the weekend at Terre Haute, Indiana..in an effort to raise money for flood victims of Wabash Valley. Unfortunately the event was cancelled due to rain (isn't it ironic, don't you think?).
The event has since been rescheduled for October 4th.

International Formula Master driver, Chris van der Drift became the first Kiwi driver to try out the new Ferrari powered A1GP Car.

World Series by Renault driver Fabio Carbone will be driving a Nissan Nismo GT-R next weekend in a one-off at the Suzuka 1000km.

Italian Motors driver and current VW TDI Cup Championship leader, David Jurca, had another successful weekend by finishing sixth at Lime Rock. Retaining his championship lead.

British F3 hotshoe, Andy Meyrick looks to make his return to the racetrack for the British F3 series finale at Donington Park following a mysterious illness that has sidelined him since early July. We hope for a speedy recovery for the Welsh driver as he has consistently proven his talents behind the wheel.

Former open wheel star, A.J. Allmendinger is reportedly "feeling the pressure letting up", despite a recent article by Marty Smith of ESPN.com claiming the opposite. Just this week, A.J. was named to the Atlantic Championship All Star Team. It would be a shame to see A.J. on the sidelines for 2009.

Kart racing may never be an Olympic sport, but American gearbox champion Gary Carlton continues to "Globetrott for ICC Success".

Bahrain's hottest F1 Prospect, Hamad Al Fardan, was hospitalized over the weekend after a crash at the Nurburgring in the German F3 Championship. The 21 year old was later released despite some serious bruises.

James Hinchcliffe and several other Atlantic Championship drivers prefer race car horsepower to bull power after taking in the (PBR) Professional Bull Rider event in Edmonton.

In more Atlantic news....North American drivers Carl Skerlong and James Hinchcliffe will most likely be buying the band "THE TASTE'S" first album. Listen to clips of their music here.

Bobby Caldwell has announced a three race Star Mazda program with the Nash Performance Group.

F2000 Championship contender Chris Miller is racing alongside his father John at Road America this weekend. John, who still races regionally, was a F2000 Pro competitor in the 90's.

"Drive of the weekend" goes to Pastor Maldonado in the GP2 series at Hungaroring. Maldonado started dead last in Race #1 and finished fifth overall, running on old tires for the majority of the race.

I haven't done a linkage post for a few weeks, so I decided this would be a good time with four of our featured series running over the weekend. So for those of you looking to get all your results and updates in one spot.... here you go.

In F2000 Championship news.....On Saturday, Anders Krohn continued his winning ways with a victory in the F2000 Championship Race 7.
Jonny Baker overcame wet conditions in qualifying to take the top spot and the victory in the F2000 Championship Race 8.

The Stars of Karting series made it's stop at one of my favorite karting tracks, USA International Raceway, in Shawano, WI. Gary Carlton and Mike Vincec must have learned a few new tricks while racing overseas as they claimed the top two spots in both ICC races. Ekartingnews has a nice race report for all classes.


The Formula BMW-Americas drivers were busy this weekend as well, running at Lime Rock Park. Daniel Juncadella took the win in FBMW Americas Round #8 driving for the Euro Junior Team. Alexander Rossi, driving for EuroInternational, continued his dominance by taking the top spot in the FBMW-Americas Round #9.

Matt Jaskol took his first Super Late title in the NASCAR All-American Series after passing young driver Bear Rzesnowiecky with five laps remaining. Apparently Jaskol used to coach Bear in go karts.

Joseph Newgarden and Conor Daly split victories in Rounds 5 & 6 of the Skip Barber National Championship while racing at Mosport. Conor Daly wanted to make sure his father, Derek Daly, was having a good Father's Day and followed up his Skip Barber win with a victory driving a Formula Ford 1600 in the Ontario Formula Ford Challenge. Apparently his dad was so happy he let Conor run a Ford Mustang FR500S with him last weekend.

Former Red Bull driver Colin Fleming took his first win in a late model stock car over the weekend at Irwindale. The former World Series by Renault driver finished second in his first race of the season driving the King Taco Monte Carlo. After his victory at Toyota Speedway, Fleming now sits fifth overall in the Auto Club Late Model championship and leads a talented group of rookies. To those of us who follow karting, another former shifter kart standout started alongside Colin in the race; Benny Moon. Moon exemplified his quickness by qualifying a solid third place enroute to a fourth place finish in his first career ACLM start.

Since we are on the subject of stock cars on an open wheel website,... it should be known that the 2004 SKUSA Supernationals ICC victor; Jason Bowles won a race at Infineon in the NASCAR Camping World West Series. The Ontario, California resident attributed his road racing skills to his years driving go karts.

Back to the world of junior formula racing, ... The IMSA (International Motor Sports Association) has decided to return as the sanctioning body for the Atlantic Championship. This merger is largely due to the hard work of Vicki O' Connor, President of the Atlantic Championship, who has done an excellent job keeping this series alive in 2008.

In more Atlantic Championship news, the series has decided to move it's headquarters to Indianapolis.

Richard Antinucci tried his hand at Daytona Prototypes this weekend in the #47 Doran Racing car....only to see his hopes go up in flames along with the car in the boot section of Watkins Glen. Antinucci, who is currently leading the Indy Lights points chase, is the nephew of former F1/Indy Car driver Eddie Cheever.

Atlantic Championship driver, Jonathan Bomarito was also trying to fill his empty weekend by driving a sports car. Bomarito, in a GT class entry, teamed up with Jameson Riley and Craig Stone in the Racer's Edge Mazda RX-8. The trio had a difficult weekend and brought the car home in the 35th spot overall.

In 2005, Super Kart Illustrated named ICA driver Cole Whitt the year's Rising Star. Over the weekend, Cole proved them right by becoming the youngest driver (in the series 53 year history) to win a USAC national on dirt. At the time of the win, the former Italian Motors driver, was 16 years, 11 months, and 13 days.

David Jurca, student athlete, has teamed up with Pignataro Volkswagen to offer race fans an exciting opportunity. Pignataro customers will compete at an indoor karting track, with several prizes available including the opportunity to be a guest of Jurca's at the Portland stop of the TDI Cup. David will be on hand to talk with race fans and offer tips for aspiring drivers. The Portland event will be as close to a home track stop as possible for the Federal Way, Washington driver.

Apparently Danica Patrick will finally get her F1 Test with Honda later this year. Stay Tuned.

Robert Peele of the New York Times has an excellent piece on the development of young drivers. Roger Bailey, executive director of the Firestone Indy Lights series, says it best; "“It’s very hard to sort the talent from the wallet.".

World Speed Motorsports driver Taylor Hacquard talks about high school commitments, karting, and his Star Mazda efforts. In other World Speed Motorsports news.... the team has put together a "Where Are They Now" article for past drivers.

Scott Speed is personally promoting pedicures after winning the CTS race at Dover International Speedway.

Alan Brewer at IndyProRacer has added a nice interview with Bobby Wilson after his first oval win.

Congrats to ICC pilots Mike Vincec and David Jurca for taking the top spots in this weekend's Stars of Karting: Race of Americas. Sunday's victory was Jurca's second win in two weeks after leaving Mosport victorious last weekend in his Jetta TDI.

After a very impressive run at Indy...it's time to meet Indy Lights Driver; Ana Beatriz Caselato Gomes de Figueiredo. ....formerly known as Bia Figueiredo.

The new A1GP car, featuring Ferrari power... made its track debut at the Italian Circuit of Fiorano.

Well, it's finally here.... the biggest week in North American Open Wheel Racing (Indianapolis 500). Some might dispute the previous statement, claiming the United States Grand Prix or perhaps the World of Outlaws Knoxville Nationals claim the top spot. Historically, it's hard to vote against the Indianapolis 500. This is the 92nd running of the great American event and once again it features many familiar names to those of us who follow the karting and junior formula ranks.

For those focused strictly on junior formulas,... anxiously awaiting this weekends Indy Lights race, here are a few fun facts for you.

David Jurca has taken over the points lead in the Jetta TDI Cup with a win at Mosport.

In Formula Renault news.... Tyler Dueck (former teammate of Jurca's) is taking advantage of the Intrepid Driver Program by racing in the Italian Renault Championship.

Jonny Reid, an "Aucklander in Iowa?"......has just passed his Indy Lights rookie test at Iowa Speedway. After the successful test in Newton, IA.... look for Reid and Integra Motorsports to make their debut in this weekend's Freedom 100 (Indianapolis).

Scott Speed had another successful weekend in the ARCA series.

FBMW USA rookie, Gianmarco Raimondo, made history this weekend by sweeping the first round of competition at Laguna Seca Raceway. Raimondo is the first rookie to sweep the opening round since the series inception.

I finished the write-up on my Early Season Predictions for the 2008 Junior Formula Championships.

Despite leading the most laps last weekend in the ARCA race at Kentucky Speedway, ex-formula one driver/karting standout Scott Speed had to settle for 2nd place in his Red Bull entry.

In more ARCA/karter news... ex-KGB pilot Gabi DiCarlo spoke to some young race fans about the benefits of a DARE program.

In GP2 News, Bruno Senna (Aryton's nephew) hit a stray dog that ran onto the track during the race. The FIA is investigating the incident and the race organizers will likely face sanctions. Fortunately, for Senna's well being, the impact was offset affecting only the right-front suspension of the car.

The SCCA has announced that they will be moving the 2009 National runoffs to Road America. Personally, I'm thrilled with the decision. Most race drivers will agree that this is a perfect destination and beautiful racetrack....however, word on the street has it that a select few are upset by the expense of the track.

Ryan Phinny wants more people to know his name. Watch for him to make an appearance in this weekend's Grand Am Rolex series at Laguna Seca.

Expanding on news outside of the junior formula arena, apparently Sarah Fisher is still waiting on promised funding for her 500 effort. At this point, her fans are starting to write checks.

Avid follower's of the FF2000 Championship will be pleased to know that SpeedCast Productions will be following the series and presenting each race with an online broadcast. Race 1 from VIR last weekend is up now.

Click to see Video

The Atlantic Championship made an announcement today that they will be moving the season finale at Road Atlanta up one day to leave a larger gap between themselves and the 10-hour American Le Mans Series "Petit Le Mans". Unfortunately, this date change comes with the cost of disappointing many fans in attendance who follow the MAZDASPEED Motorsports development ladder. The Skip Barber finale was originally scheduled to be run on Friday at Road Atlanta as well. They will be moving their season finale to VIR.

Eformulacarnews has a nice preview for the PacificF2000 series this weekend. Look for Jeff Westphal to be a front runner as he has proven himself as the driver to beat in the series. You can watch Jeff do a lap in a Civic at Infineon Raceway here.

With Danica Patrick becoming the first female to win an Indy Car race, many in the motorsports world are wondering when we will see a top female driver in NASCAR. It appears Danica has her eyes set on F1 instead.

This is old news now, but it's still worth bringing up for a second time. Congrats to Simona De Silvestro on becoming the second female in history to win an Atlantic Race. The win came only hours after Patrick's IRL victory in Japan. Silvestro and Katherine Legge are the only two females to win in this prestigious series. Legge has recently left open wheel racing for an opportunity as factory Audi driver. Her absence from the open wheel world may have something to do with this. The video demonstrates exactly how much these drivers rely on the downforce provided by the car's wings.