Smith Wins in Suzuka in Battery Powered Car!!

The Majors Series made their 12th Stop of the Season at the venerable Suzuka Grand Prix Circuit in Japan in the McLaren MP4-30 F1 car.. Three vApex Atlantic Team members took the Green Light for the 53 lap race....One vApex Member went on the RED LIGHT at the start. That was the pole sitter Erich Smith. However, even with a drive thru penalty for a jumped start, Erich battled back to WIN the race. A really incredible drive when you stop and think about it! The F1 cars are not ones that we run very often so there was a steep learning curve the past 2 weeks preparing for this race. Rick McClure had over 400 laps of practice in this car and was a vital contributor to a faster and more stable setup. Rick qualified 10th for the race.Brian Barney got all his required practice laps in and qualified at the beginning of the week due to a Business Trip he had to take. Brian started 19th on the grid while Andy Banfield started 17th following his typical race preparation mode of worrying about race setup. He finished 8th, 1 lap down in an uneventful run on a 3 stop strategy. Rick and Brian both had contacts during the race which they recovered from tremendously to finish 6th, 1 lap down, and 9th, 2 laps down. Brian came into the race professing his profound hatred for this track. Add the frustrations of the F1 car to the mix and its a recipe for sadness. But he made up 10 spots in the race and showed that he can drive anything!

So, Erich was the only vApex Atlantic Driver that did not improve his finishing position above his qualifying position. Of course, that's tough when you start on Pole and Win the race.

The Atlantic Team closed to within 452 Points of the 1st Place Team, Turn 1 Heroes, in the Constructors Championship. With 2 races remaining, it is unlikely that we can catch them, but this is still an amazing effort for our first year in the Majors Series.

In the Pacific Division, Clark Archer, running with Ridin' Shotgun Motorsports, (his Team in the Pacific Majors prior to their expansion to a Worldwide Series) qualified 11th in the ultra-competitive division and finished in 21st after some troubles on track. Blake Reynolds, who has guest driven with us (and HOPEFULLY will want to stay around with us and be a vApex Member...Hint Hint...) qualified 5th and finished on the 2nd step of the podium.

The Majors are off to the Land Down Under for the Bathurst 500 in Australian V8 Supercars for their next race on October 21st.

The Majors are having a Special Event for all drivers on the iRacing circuit on Saturday, October 20th for the Bathurst 1000. You just have to join the Majors and you can run the race with a Team. There is no cost to join the Majors. If you are interested, start looking for teammates and G'Day!!