Portante, Verhagen, Bamford and Norman Win at Road Atlanta

Braselton, GA – Peter Portante, Steve Bamford and Ryan Norman took the first wins of the F1600, F2000 and Atlantic Championship Series 2016 on Saturday afternoon from Road Atlanta, while the second of three F1600 races saw Neil Verhagen drive to the victory later in the day. All three Series have single races scheduled for Sunday for the season-opening Formula Race Promotions event weekend.

F1600 Race 1

In what is shaping up to be another big year for the 21-race F1600 Series, Peter Portante, who started from pole, went from third to first on the last lap of Road Atlanta to win the season opener in his K-Hill Motorsports Mygale.

“These guys are nuts,” said Portante, who won on his Series debut. “The draft was insane. I tried to break away but everyone became friends to catch me.”

Team Pelfrey’s Phillippe Denes finished second while Steve Bamford won the Masters Class with a third place finish for Rice Race Prep. Denes was just inches behind the race winner, while Bamford also led laps and was leading when the white flag came out.

“We almost had it,” added Denes, “it was a close race.”

A solid drive from Neil Verhagen produced a fourth place finish for K-Hill, and the fastest lap of the race which put him on pole for the second race of the day and earned him Championship bonus points.

Calvin Ming completed the top five for Team Pelfrey just ahead of Swan Motorsports driver Max Mallinen, who charged from 17th to sixth over the course of 19 green-flag laps on a cool spring day at Road Atlanta.

The race saw the lead group go from 10 cars to seven as the laps wound down, but it was a usual F1600-style battle with multiple lead changes among the leaders by the lap.

Of note, Exclusive’s Ben Auriemma finished seventh while teammate Trenton Estep led early but was forced to retire.

While Bamford won the Masters Class, it was Douglas Voss and Mike Scanlan in second and third in class.

F1600 Race 2

After falling back to eighth in the opening portion of the second F1600 race of the day, Neil Verhagen caught the lead group with a series of fast laps and pulled off the win with a last lap move, taking his maiden F1600 Series victory in just his second start. Peter Portante and Steve Bamford completed the podium.

“We got a bad start, but I need to thank K-Hill for all the work, the car was phenomenal,” said Verhagen, of his No. 3 Mygale, who tracked down the lead group from more than four seconds behind.

Portante, after winning the earlier race, settled for second and pulls out an early lead in the F1600 Championship standings, although there are 19 races left.

“It was pretty different than the first race,” said Portante, who had also tracked down the lead group from four-plus seconds out, and went from fifth to first at one point in the race in 13 corners. “I had to work my way forward. Once I got to the front, I wanted to be second going on the last lap. I set it up on the second to last lap but no one took the bait.”

Three hours after winning the F2000 race, Bamford settled for third in F1600, winning the Masters Class.

“It was fun out there,” Bamford said. “Everyone was pretty tough but fair. I was leading out of turn 10-b, I had a chance.”

Team Pelfrey’s Phillippe Denes dominated the early portion of the race and finished fourth in the yellow Team Pelfrey Mygale, just .011 seconds behind Bamford. Teammate Calvin Ming was fifth.

It was also an encouraging run for Exclusive’s Trenton Estep, who bounced back from an earlier DNF to finish sixth.

F2000 Race 1

Steve Bamford passed John McCusker for the lead, and then battled with him and Brandon Dixon for a number of laps before separating to take his second career F2000 Championship Series victory, with this win coming in an exciting season opener at Road Atlanta. Dixon would go on to finish second followed by McCusker in third.

“It was enjoyable,” said Bamford, who started seventh in the No. 07 Rice Race Prep entry. “I need to thank the team, we had a broken differential after qualifying. I wasn’t sure we were going to make the race. I was sitting in the car when they were putting the side pods on. We made it to grid at the three minute warning.”

Dixon said: “It’s the first time we are on the overall podium, we are really making progress. This car is a ton better than it was last year.”

The race saw a number of key developments among what turned into a tussle among McCusker’s Van Diemen and the Citations of Bamford and Dixon and a heavy battle for the race lead among the three drivers. David Grant was a spectator from fourth place for the majority of the race, briefly challenging McCusker.

With the green flag out at the start, McCusker got the jump on Dixon from the outside of the front row, taking the lead with Dixon falling back to fourth behind Grant’s Polestar Spectrum and Beasley’s Legacy Autosport Mygale.

“We got a great start and got the lead,” said McCusker. “The car developed a push and the track got greasy, I had to tone it down a bit.”

That lead lasted three laps as 2015 F2000 Series Champion Beasley found his way to the lead, but McCusker wasn’t surrendering as the two drivers battled. Beasley, however, would pit soon after and eventually retired to the paddock with a suspected mechanical issue.

That left McCusker with a narrow lead on Bamford, who closed on him along with Dixon, as a three-car battle started and progressed for a number of laps with just a few tenths over the trio that was running wheel-to-wheel at the high-speed Road Atlanta.

With six laps to go Bamford was able to pull out a safe gap, aided by Dixon’s continuing attack on McCusker for second place. As those two completed the podium, Grant finished fourth as multiple-time National Champion Dave Weitzenhof rounded out the top five, explaining that the car had more potential in it once he works out some over-steer issues.

Atlantic Race 1

Eighteen year old Ryan Norman led flag-to-flag, from pole, to win the first race of the 2016 Atlantic Championship Series season at Road Atlanta. Norman held off an early challenge from reigning 2015 Series Champion Keith Grant, before Grant retired with a mechanical failure. Lee Alexander and Bruce Hamilton completed the Atlantic podium.

“It was a good race, we had a little over-steer but I tried to stay consistent. It’s a great start to the season and K-Hill gave me a great car,” said Norman.

Norman took the lead on the start in his No. 48 K-Hill Motorsports Swift 016/Mazda, but had his hands more than full with Grant, who stayed glued to Norman for the opening laps before white smoke from the back of his No. 40 put an end to his day.

Behind the lead battle, Alexander, driving for Comprent, spent the opening laps of the race behind Zober before he made a move on the Series veteran for third overall, and was promoted to second when Grant was forced to retire his Swift 016/Mazda.

“We had a gearbox issue in qualifying and it was a scramble to make the start,” said Alexander. “I saw cars dropping out in front of me and I’m just happy to finish in second.”

Comprent’s Zober didn’t fall behind Alexander too much, however, as he stayed right with his teammate, also having to deal with a racy Bruce Hamilton, who won the Atlantic Challenge class with his run in the K-Hill Swift 014/Toyota.

Zober was looking to complete the podium in third before he was forced to pit road with an issue with just a handful of laps left in the race. He has traditionally run well at Road Atlanta and hopes to improve during Sunday’s race, round two of a 14-race Atlantic season.

Completing the top five were Johnpaul Ciancimino and Lewis Cooper Jr. The race ran to its full distance and was run without a full course caution.

Full results from all sessions are available on www.F1600Series.com,www.F2000Series.com, and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.

Photos:

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