Sears Point Raceway - Five out of Five!

Nik has just returned from Sears Point Raceway, San Fransico California, where he achieved his latest race wins. A large grid of the best Sports 2000 racers from the western United States, came together at Infineron Raceway for the Nationals.

Nik had only visited the track twice previously to this race, and had never raced in anger over its 2.52 miles of undulating track. Arriving on Thursday night, and after a few hours sleep, he arrived at Sears Point for an early practice session followed by qualifying.

The first qualifying session was sensational, with Nik grabbing pole by less than two hundredths of a second from Sears Point specialist and fellow Van Diemen racer David Ferguson. David was the first person in the USA to purchase a Van Diemen car from Nik’s sponsors Ancaster Leisure, and was delighted to be so close to Nik who established a record qualifying time.

A second qualifying race for the Four Flight Cup was held on Friday and again Nik also secured pole for that race.

Saturday saw temperatures sore into the nineties, and a rolling start was no problem as Nik held off David into the first corner, David fell away after a couple of laps with gear shifter problems and Jeff Littrell challenged. Jeff made an attempt at a pass at the hairpin but locked up and collided with the tyres as Nik closed the door. Several full course yellows allowed Littrell, who was fired up and had recovered to second spot, to close up each time, but Nik pulled out a breathing space and was first across the line to take his fourth National win in four races.

The times for this race were slow, as the heat had affected the track. Eric Purcell who is running the car for Nik, had made a few changes between practice and the race, Eric is learning all the time about the Van Diemen and is sure he can find a good set-up for the Runoffs in Ohio. Nik left the track on Saturday night secure in the knowledge that he had qualified in the best possible way for those Runoffs. Dane, Eric Purcells No.1 team technician was left a list of adjustments to work on and to prep the car for Sunday’s regional race. Nik was really looking forward to that as the pressure of finishing the National race was now gone and he could have a real gloves off race.

Sunday was another hot and sunny day; an early race gave the chance of better times. A smaller grid without some of the faster runners gave Nik little trouble and left him with only the lap record to beat. A step up in pace with the car now handling better than on Saturday, but still not as he would have liked, saw him establish a new lap record.

A fantastic weekend of racing which should stand him in good stead for Mid Ohio, Nik knows it will be tough to beat the top runners there, but he is relishing the challenge and can hardly wait.