By Jeff Pederson-Pedal Down Promotions

(PEDAL DOWN PROMOTIONS) July 9, 2020 – A tripleheader race weekend produced three top-10 showings for Plymouth, Wis. driver Jeff Bartz and the Pure Energy Racing team in SCCA F1600 Formula F competition at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio on Saturday, July 4 and Sunday, July 5.

Behind the wheel of his Petty blue No. 33 machine, Bartz narrowly avoided a large pileup shortly after the drop of the green flag of Saturday’s time delayed race and returned on Sunday to post three consecutive top-10 finishes in a trio of races, including Saturday’s rescheduled race.

Bartz’s weekend got off to a rocky start with a lackluster qualifying effort and a huge accident at the start of Saturday’s aborted race, which he was lucky enough to avoid.

“In qualifying we had a bit of a handling issue and I was unable to find someone to work and draft with, so we ended up qualifying 11^th for the first race,” Bartz said. “I was confident we had more left in the car and was looking to move up in the first race.

“The first race was an interesting one as a pileup of cars in the first corner left us under a red flag with time expiring before they could resume the race,” he said.

With Saturday’s race pushed to Sunday, Bartz contested three races in back-to-back-to-back fashion.

“After Saturday’s big accident, which affectively ended the race, they reworked the schedule to have all three races on Sunday,” Bartz said. “Therefore, Sunday was a busy hot day with high temps in the low 90s, as it was most of the weekend. In the morning, due to the crash the previous day a few competitors were unable to get their cars fixed in time, so I moved up a few positions for the start.

“I was able to get more into the groove and ended up being able to move up during the race to ultimately finish seventh, just out of touch of the lead pack of cars,” he said. “For the second race, they took fast time from the previous race, so I ended up starting seventh and again finished seventh with a very intense battle with Ax Kametches where we swapped positions over 10 times throughout the race.”

Bartz, who posted fifth-place and third-place showings in his first outing of the 2020 season at the June Sprints at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. on June 18-19, then put together his best overall performance of the weekend in Sunday’s race finale.

“Due to the constant battling during the second race, my times fell off a bit slotting me to start 10^th for the third and final race,” Bartz said. “The third race was definitely my best from the weekend. I was able to work my way up to sixth and set fastest time in the race. I was in a close race for fifth, but ultimately couldn’t complete the pass for fifth on the final lap and ended up sixth.”

Overall, Bartz was satisfied with the Pure Energy Racing team’s performance in its return visit to Mid-Ohio after a few years away.

“Mid-Ohio is a highly technical and difficult track to master,” Bartz said. “There are countless blind corners and the track itself has very little grip most times compared to other tracks. Unlike a lot of other tracks, at Mid-Ohio a lot of times the more you push and force it, the slower you will end up going. It is definitely a flow track and a patience track as well. Overall, the track itself is a real pleasure to drive and definitely one of my favorites.”

“Overall, this weekend I feel we performed at a high level, especially considering the very stiff pro competition and the fact that I haven’t driven Mid-Ohio for a couple of years,” Bartz said. “I am very pleased with the weekend, overall.

“In past years, we have run well at Mid-Ohio, but this year was definitely a step up,” Bartz said. “The improvements we made to the car over the winter and the track time I have gotten in so far, definitely paid off.”

Bartz and Pure Energy Racing team will take a month off from competition before returning to its home track – Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis. in mid-August.

“We have a bit of a break between our next race which will be the SCCA Cat Majors at Road America on August 15-16,” Bartz said. “We will be making good use of the time off and will be working on some further improvements that should put us in contention for some podiums and hopefully victories at this next race.

“This last weekend at Mid-Ohio we showed we have the speed to run with stiff competition,” he said. “We just need to put it all together now and bring home some results. As for the remainder of the year, the Aug. 15-16 race weekend at Road America will be our last race before the SCCA Runoffs at Road America in October.”

Sponsors for the 2020 Pure Energy Racing team include: David Hobbs Honda, CapN SHIELD, Harper Drain & Septic Service, Kearney Driver Development, Hoosier Tire and Pedal Down Promotions.

For more information on Jeff Bartz and the Pure Energy Racing team, contact Pedal Down Promotions via email at pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, by phone at 920-323-7970 or by visiting www.pedaldownpromo.com.

Pedal Down Promotions is a full-service public relations and media services company devoted to helping its clients effectively communicate with targeted audiences through press releases, newsletters, profile and feature articles, website and social media content development, printed media, editing and layout, graphic design and book publishing services.

For more information on Pedal Down Promotions, email pedaldownpromotions@gmail.com, visit www.pedaldownpromo.com or call 920-323-7970.

2020 Pure Energy Racing Upcoming Schedule

Aug. 15-16 – SCCA Cat Majors, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

Oct. 9-11 – SCCA National Runoffs, Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

2020 Pure Energy Racing By The Numbers

Races – 5

Race Victories – 0

Top Five Finishes – 2

Top 10 Finishes – 5