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BARBERDODGE: Two Formula Dodge Champions Crowned

15 April 1998

ROSAMOND, Calif., and HOMESTEAD, Fla. - The Southern and Western regions of the Skip Barber Formula Dodge Race Series both crowned champions last week. Japan's Roger Yasukawa, 19, the son of Formula 1 team McLaren's Japanese agent Minoru, won the Western 2.0-liter championship over Randy Puro and Darrell Cherry, with two wins at Willow Springs Raceway. In the South, Matt Plumb, 22, of New York City, clinched the championship with two wins at the Homestead Motorsports Complex.

Puro and Cherry are still fighting over the runner-up spot in the West, with two races remaining at Laguna Seca Raceway, while Pete Boss and Louis Dibrell will do the same at Sebring International Raceway for Southern second-place honors.

Plumb won 10 races in the Southern Region, as did Yasukawa in the West. As Formula Dodge champions, each is automatically invited to the 1998 "Big Scholarship" run-off at Sebring International Raceway this fall, the winner of which is awarded a full season of competition in the Reynard Dodge-based Barber Dodge Pro Series in 1999 (value: $150,000).

Both Plumb and Yasukawa plan to enter three Barber Dodge races (the maximum allowed for "Big Scholarship" nominees) sometime during this year in anticipation of running full seasons in 1999. In the meantime, Yasukawa has entered England's Formula Palmer Audi championship.

The Eastern and Midwestern Skip Barber Formula Dodge championships begin in May.