Verhagen, Bamford and Grant Win on Saturday at Pittsburgh
Wampum, PA – Neil Verhagen, Steve Bamford and David Grant won on Saturday afternoon in the F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series, respectively, at Pittsburgh International Race Complex in the Formula Race Promotions Weekend.
F1600
K-Hill’s Neil Verhagen won by .002 seconds in the first F1600 Formula F Championship Series race of the weekend at Pittsburgh in a drag race from turn 18 to the finish line alongside Kaylen Frederick. It was a race-long battle among six cars that came down to the wire in traditional Formula F style, and a big points day for Verhagen, who sits second in the standings.
“It was a great last lap with Kaylen. The whole race was great with Kaylen, he is good to race with. But I need to give it to K-Hill for giving me a great car this weekend and Tonis Kasemets and my mechanic Scott for putting it together. I saw the nosecone just the slightest bit in front of him and that is when I knew it was mine,” said Verhagen.
Frederick put in his best performance yet for Team Pelfrey, with a run to second and a handful of laps in the lead.
“I thought I had him at the end but apparently not, just .002 seconds,” said Frederick. “I was planning to pass him on the back straight but he moved over, so I went around the outside and it was just a drag race to the finish line.”
In third place and just .127 seconds away from the victory in the all-green-flag-race was Team Pelfrey’s Calvin Ming.
“It was a good race, I tried to stay up front and then in the end Neil and Kaylen finished first and second. It’s another podium and a good race, thanks to Team Pelfrey,” said Ming.
After a strong showing in Friday practice, K-Hill’s Peter Portante finished fourth, working his way forward from a sixth place starting position, while Phillippe Denes completed the top five for Team Pelfrey. Portante, however, set the fastest lap which will give him pole for the second race of the weekend which is scheduled for Sunday morning.
Masters Class victor Steve Bamford ran as high as third early in the race, but fell back to sixth, where he finished.
“The car got hot so I tried to pull out and get some air, but I lost the draft and drove by myself for the rest of the race,” said Bamford.
Thomas Schwietz and Rob Albani completed the Masters Class podium.
“It was a tough race with Tom and Mike (Scanalan),” said Albani. “We had a good race, changing positions every lap and I finished third.”
Of note, Hans Ada and Dexter Czuba both had strong performances, finishing seventh and eighth, respectively.
Sunday continues from Pittsburgh International Race Complex with two F1600 races, rounds 14 and 15 of the season.
F2000
Steve Bamford took another solid victory, starting from pole and leading flag-to-flag in his quest for the 2016 F2000 Championship with a win coming in round nine of the season at Pittsburgh on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Brandon Dixon finished second in the No. 5 entry while Trent Walko brought home a Mazda-powered Van Diemen on the third step of the podium for Team Pelfrey.
“It was a decent race. I would have liked the fastest lap but I’ll give that one to Trent,” said Bamford. “We had a good start and the cars behind me were battling and it let me get away. I was able to build a gap and keep it.”
Dixon was able to match his Sunday Mid-Ohio result in July with a second place finish.
“I think Steve had the pace on all of us today,” said Dixon. “We made a big improvement from qualifying this morning. It was ugly. We made bigger changes than we would usually make between qualifying and the race. It was a gamble but the car was a lot happier.”
Walko made his 2016 debut, as the local driver started second, fell back to fourth and moved to third in Team Pelfrey’s first F2000 Championship Series start, and also set the fastest lap of the race.
“It’s great to be back after 10 months after being in a car and it’s good to be back in one for my home race,” Walko said. “A big thanks to Team Pelfrey for the opportunity to try the Mazda car in the series. I hope we can get some more of these cars out on track next year.”
Finishing fourth and the race’s hard charger, Steve Jenks and Tumenas Motorsports went from the back to the front, bouncing back from missing qualifying with an electrical issue on the No. 68 car.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Jenks. “The car was great in the race and it was fun to go by everybody. I race shifter karts and can’t do starts, so I’m used to these charges.”
Completing the top five was the No. 67 machine of Dave Weitzenhof, while Dan Denison was sixth in his return to Polestar Racing. John McCusker went from third to last and recovered to finish seventh, trailed by a trio of drivers from R-Sport: Bob Reid, Rielly Harris – in his series debut – and Tom Fatur.
F2000 repeats its Saturday show on Sunday at Pittsburgh with morning qualifying followed by race two, round 10 of the 2016 season, in the afternoon.
Atlantic
With the green flag in the air, Ryan Norman and Keith Grant led the charge to turn one from the front row, but it was David Grant making it three wide and taking the lead with an aggressive move from third on the grid heading into turn one in the No. 29 Polestar Racing Group Swift 016/Mazda.
Grant was able to hold Norman at bay for the opening of the race after his thrilling three-wide maneuver on the start, taking his second win of the Atlantic Championship Series season in his fifth start in 2016 in round nine of the 14-race season.
“Well I knew I had to get a great start since I didn’t have a good qualifying this morning, so I just went for it,” said Grant. “It stuck. It was a really good day and afternoon. I need to thank Polestar and my family for letting me do this. I also need to thank Keith for the setup help this morning. I was off and he helped.”
Norman looked to extend his points lead with a second place finish over Keith Grant until a mechanical failure ended his day and dropped him through the order, promoting Keith Grant to a second place run in the No. 40 Swift 016/Mazda.
“There was no way of catching (David), he was quick today,” said K. Grant.
After a multi-lap battle, Lee Alexander got the better of teammate Chris Ash to finish third as the Comprent Motorsports drivers followed in third and fourth in the final order.
“It is my first time here and this track is awesome, one of my favorite places. I need to thank Comprent for giving me a great car, as usual,” said Alexander.
It was a good day for K-Hill’s Kirk Kindsfater too, who brought home the No. 32 Swift 016/Mazda in the top five with a strong performance.
In the Atlantic Challenge category, Connor Burke led the opening lap but was forced to visit pit road, handing the lead to his teammate and father, John Burke, in a similarly-prepared Swift 014/Toyota from Company Motorsports.
Burke then had to deal with Bob Corliss, who tracked him down for the class lead by lap eight and took the lead a lap later. That didn’t last, however, as Burke took the lead back by lap 11 and scored the class victory in the No. 55.
“That was an interesting race, it was a lot of fun. My battery died right on the last lap,” said Burke.
Atlantic drivers repeat the day on Sunday, with morning qualifying and an afternoon race to conclude their weekend in Pittsburgh.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com, and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
Photos:
1. Neil Verhagen
2. Steve Bamford
3. David Grant
On the Web:
F1600: www.F1600Series.com | Facebook | Twitter
F2000: www.F2000Series.com | Facebook | Twitter
Atlantic: www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com | Facebook | Twitter
About Formula Race Promotions:
Formula Race Promotions (FRP) operates the F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series. Starting with F2000 in 2006, FRP added F1600 in 2011 and Atlantic in 2012. The Series’ philosophy is to offer a vertical integration between club and professional racing, while offering some of the best race tracks and significant amounts of track time in single-class running. The 2016 schedule is composed of two winter events and seven-points paying weekends. FRP is privately owned and sanctioned by SCCA Pro Racing.
Sources: Monty Mathisen/Formula Race Promotions PR