SRA-West Formula Sidecar Series
Round 1- Las Vegas Motor Speedway- Classic Course
Location: Las Vegas, NV
March 29-30, 2014
Sidecars returned to Las Vegas Motor Speedway’s Classic Course this past weekend and put on a good show for those in attendance. Different winners on each day of the double-header format are a good indication of an exciting year for three-wheeled racing. A new qualifying format shook the grid up and allowed for some serious action in Saturday’s 8-lap sprint.
Defending champions Team Johnny Killmore would not be a factor during the weekend, finishing off the podium both days. Driver John Wood cited multiple issues with handling and the engine, along with not having his regular passenger. For this weekend it would be a dogfight between DJ’s Racing (Donn Sayre/John Heenan) and Wood Brothers Racing 1 (Chris Wood/Aaron McEwen). The two would drag race to turn 1 almost side-by-side with DJ’s just keeping the lead. A two-bike pile up in the middle of the pack would cause several machines to bunch up on the outside, allowing DJ’s and Wood Brother’s 1 to fight for the lead alone.
The fight was close but Wood Brothers 1 never seemed to be able to get that last bit of speed needed for a pass. DJ’s seemed to lose the advantage in left turns, but key passing spots on the course were braking zones that follow a right hand turn. This gave DJ’s the extra few feet of space needed to fend off Wood Brothers 1 the entire race, but not without enduring constant pressure. In the final two laps a gap would appear. Wood Brothers 1’s driver, Chris Wood, cited arm pump as the reason. This left DJ’s Racing with a somewhat comfortable 1.2 second gap at the checkers. Third place was taken by Big Dog Garage (Bernard Juchli/Kevin Kautzky), who won out in a lap 1 battle between two other machines and then ran a consistent race free from pressure.
Sunday’s grid was decided by finishing order but turn 1 would produce different results. Due to a poor start DJ’s racing would get eaten alive by the field, entering turn 1 in 4th place. The holeshot went to Wood Brothers 1 and they squirreled away while a 4-bike battle raged behind them. This settled down coming onto the back-straight with Big Dog Garage in second, followed by DJ’s Racing. The action would remain for second, with DJ’s hounding Big Dog for 6 of the 8 laps. Finally, under braking into the turn 5 hairpin, DJ’s brakes would overheat. According to driver Donn Sayre, “I think I overcooked my brakes because we came down the back-straight chasing Bernard [Juchli] for second place and the pedal went to the floor– I had nothing. It was either pile-drive Bernard or take it into the dirt, so we spun out in the dirt, but managed to finish in 5th place.”
This left Big Dog Garage alone and they spent the final two laps closing to within 1.6 seconds of the leaders at the checkers, laying down the fastest lap of the day at 1:35.7. This is Big Dog’s best ever finish. Wood Brothers 1 took the win and the points lead, though driver Chris Wood again cited arm pump during the final laps, causing them to come off the pace by almost 2 seconds per lap. Lap times for all teams seemed to be slower than Saturday, but heavy winds likely played a factor in that. Third place was taken by Team Nurburgring (Steve Stull/Heidi Niedhoeffer), their best finish as a team so far.
With such a wild event we will certainly have to wait until round 2 in order to get a better picture of how the season will shape up. DJ’s and Wood Brothers 1 have closed in on one another and are tooth-and-nail battling each other. Big Dog Garage has closed the gap apparently but can they carry this new momentum? Will Team Johnny Killmore be able to solve their issues and recover from finishing off the podium both races? A chance for answers will not come until April 25-27 when the SRA-West arrives at Willow Springs International Raceway with host club AHRMA. The high speed track will be a polar opposite to the kart-track-like confines of Las Vegas and a whole new skill set will be required. For more information on the series go to www.sra-west.us or search for Sidecar Racers Association West Inc on Facebook. The SRA-West would like to thank all the teams who made this event possible and host club WERA for putting on a fantastic event both days. For more information on the WERA and its regional, national, and endurance racing series’ please go to www.wera.com.