Other open wheel
SBRS: Laguna Seca: Craig Baltzer race report
CMC Racing Monterey California: March 9, 2002 Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca- 2.23 Mile Road Course Round 1 of the Formula Dodge National Championship Series Bettendorf, IA. March 12, 2002- Craig Baltzer kicked off his 2002 Skip Barber Formula Dodge ...
Edited: Dec 29, 2009, 6:56 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
CMC Racing
Monterey California: March 9, 2002
Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca- 2.23 Mile Road Course
Round 1 of the Formula Dodge National Championship Series
Bettendorf, IA. March 12, 2002- Craig Baltzer kicked off his 2002 Skip Barber Formula Dodge National Championship campaign this past weekend at Mazda Raceway in Monterey California. Fresh off his selection in the Barber-CART Karting Scholarship Run-offs, Baltzer was 15th after qualifying on Saturday. Throughout the 30 minute race Craig managed to make up 4 positions to finish 11th, and score 5 valuable points in the Championship. Baltzer posted a fastest time of 1:39.675 which was 6th fastest lap of the race.
Craig:
"Overall I am fairly pleased with my result today. I missed part of the setup in qualifying. I tried softening the front of the car a little and giving it more front brake bias. I found out pretty quickly that the level of grip didn't support the amount of front bias I had dialed in, the result was that I would lock the fronts much too easily. This forced me to increase my braking zones which I'm sure hurt my qualifying performance a little. There is so much to learn its tough knowing what's most important and will be most beneficial for me. All I know for sure is that the more I learn the faster I'll go. I'm happy with an 11th place finish for my very first National Championship race and to still have 12 more races in which to improve is very encouraging. A special thanks to Skip Barber, Dodge, Michelin, RACER Magazine, Lakefront Technologies, and Socal Decal Works for making this happen".
CMC Racing
Monterey California: March 10, 2002
Mazda Raceway in Laguna Seca- 2.23 Mile Road Course
Round 2 of the Formula Dodge National Championship Series
Track conditions for Sunday were much different. Qualifying was run under a combination of light showers and fog. Usually comfortable in wet conditions, Craig found himself in an uncharacteristic 24th place on the grid after the 35-minute session. This was in part, due to a slight engine cut out. Since there was no time to diagnose the problem it was decided to have Craig switch cars. The feature began on a quickly drying track. In the new car Baltzer found himself trading places in the middle of a six car battle eventually landing in 19th place and posting the 14th fastest time of the day.
Craig:
"Today has been a pretty tough day. I did get some very valuable experience in wet conditions which is good, but my qualifying position hurt the whole day. I've learned that in this series qualifying is one of the most important parts. The level of competition is very high and fairly consistent from one end of the field to the other. Its important to be able to quickly make the right choices for qualifying and lay down a good time. The competition is just so tight that it's hard to make up much ground or gain a lot of positions during the race. Unfortunately this race confirmed just that. I'm somewhat disappointed with my result today but I have to expect this once in a while. This weekend was a whole new experience for me, a new series, new drivers, only my second actual car race and my first time at Laguna, plus learning about adjusting the roll bars for the first time. It all goes back to that little thing called experience and there's just no shortcut for it. For now I just have to be patient and do my homework, once I settle in and find the groove I know the results will come".
-cb-
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article NA-F2000: Sebring: Round one race report
Next article NA-F2000: Sebring: Round two race notes
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Skip Barber
A runaway and a steal in Toyota Pro/Celebrity race
Road racing
Road racing
A runaway and a steal in Toyota Pro/Celebrity race
John Dean to start MX-5 Cup race one on pole at NOLA
SCCA
SCCA
John Dean to start MX-5 Cup race one on pole at NOLA
Fall-Line Motorsports falls short at Sebring in CTSC
IMSA Others
IMSA Others
SCC: Sebring
Fall-Line Motorsports falls short at Sebring in CTSC
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 5 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 5 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe