January 2008
Star Mazda Winter Series:
Billy drives for Richie Hearn Motorsports
Having just won the Championship in the Formula TR Pro Series for Goshen Motorsports, Billy Goshen is driving in the Star Mazda winter series for Richie Hearn Motorsports. His first time in a Pro Formula Mazda was on Friday afternoon, November 16, practicing for the first and second race of the series on Saturday and Sunday. With very little seat time, Billy was able to capture a third place finish in the Sunday race. |
The third and fourth race of the series was held at Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, Arizona on December 8th and 9th. With the track not open for practice, the teams arrived Friday afternoon to a steady rain. With the track still very wet, Saturday’s 8:00 A.M. practice and the 10:30 qualifying were on rain tires. The three fast qualifiers were Taylor Hacquard, Mike Hill and Billy Goshen, in that order. The 20 lap main started under sunny skies and a dry track, with the three top qualifiers maintaining their positions throughout the race.
Sunday’s schedule was the same as the previous day with all of the teams hoping the cloudy skies would not bring rain. The weather continued to hold with practice and qualifying run on a dry track. Sunday’s qualifying brought the same results as Saturday with the order being Hacquard, Hill, Goshen and House. Less than 45 minutes before the 1:30 P.M. start and with the sun still shining, a cloud moved over the facility and dropped about 10 minutes of rain on the track. At race time, the track still had several areas of water and most teams decided to run on rain tires.
As the starter threw the green, Taylor Hacquard and Billy Goshen were able to get a good run down the very long straightway and opened a sizable lead over the rest of the field making it an exciting two man race for the entire 20 laps. As they went into the first turn, Hacquard went a little wide allowing Goshen to take the lead. Billy held the lead for several laps while Taylor continued to close the gap. Once he caught up, Taylor used the draft down the straightway to take over the lead coming out of the first turn. For the next 4 or 5 laps, the positions stayed the same with Hacquard able to open a little gap down the straightaway and Goshen closing the gap in the back turns.
With five laps to go Taylor went a little wide in the first turn allowing Billy to retake the lead. Goshen continued to lead with Hacquard close behind. As they passed the start finish line, the starter flashed the sign “one to go.” This time Hacquard was close enough to use the draft and again took the lead coming out of turn one, but Goshen was not about to settle for second. As they continued around the track, Goshen stayed on the rear of Hacquard. Going into the final turn Goshen made an excellent inside move, on what was still a slippery section of the track, and came onto the straightaway with the lead, recording his first win in a Formula Mazda.
With testing and more seat time, Billy Goshen is looking forward to the 2008 Pro Mazda season driving for the Goshen Motorsports Team. |
