Verhagen, Reid and Grant Win on Sunday at VIR
Alton, VA – Neil Verhagen, Bob Reid and David Grant won in F1600, F2000 and Atlantic, respectively, on Sunday at VIRginia International Raceway to close out the 2016 Formula Race Promotions season.
F1600
Neil Verhagen capped his F1600 Formula F Championship Series 2016 season with a Sunday morning victory at VIRginia International Raceway. The No. 3 K-Hill Motorsports driver underscored his Championship-winning season with a last lap pass for the win at VIR, taking the victory by .011 seconds head of Calvin Ming with Peter Portante finishing third in another K-Hill car.
“It was about race strategy to put myself in the best position for the end of the race,” said Verhagen, who also won Friday’s race at VIR.
Better yet, Verhagen fell back well off the lead pack mid-way through the race, but a series of fast laps saw him catch the lead group with three laps to go. “It’s been a great year for the K-Hill boys, I have to thank them so much for giving me the best car in each race. We fell off a bit during the race to cool the engine down and then came back through near the end,” Verhagen added.
Ming took home more podium hardware with a second place result.
“Obviously I was trying to stay back and take the win with a run out of the last corner. But Neil got it at the end so congratulations to him,” said Ming, in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey Mygale/Honda, who missed out on the win by inches and led coming to the white flag in the final round of the season, race 21, at VIR. “I’d like to give a huge shoutout to team Pelfrey for giving me a great car all year.”
Portante settled for third after a Saturday victory for K-Hill Motorsports. “We did as much as we could but it wasn’t the best race of all time. We kind of ran for points at the end once everyone got crazy,” said Portante. “It’s good to finish second in the points.”
Phillippe Denes finished fourth in the No. 81 for Team Pelfrey, while Hans Ada completed the top five, bettering two straight sixth place finishes so far in the weekend. For Ada, it’s a solid result to complete his first season of road course racing.
Kaylen Frederick led early, and nearly broke away from the pack, but went off and came back on, finishing in sixth spot in the season finale in the No. 80 Team Pelfrey entry.
A seventh place result earned Joe Colasacco his second Masters Class win of the VIR weekend for Auriana Racing.
F2000
A move on a mid-racerestart gave Bob Reid the race lead, with the R-Sport driver hanging on to take his first career F2000 Championship Series victory in the 2016 season finale race at VIR on Sunday morning. Reid held off John McCusker, who finished second, while Tom Fatur, Reid’s R-Sport teammate, finished third.
For Reid, VIR has been home to career-best finishes, with a pair of fourth places earlier in the year, only bettered by two laps in the lead and a third place finish on Saturday and upped significantly by Sunday’s race victory in the No. 12, the first victory for the Metrik chassis in F2000 competition.
“After all of this it’s so gratifying to bring home the first win for the Metrik,” said Reid. “Everyone on the team did a fantastic job. The team calling the green on the restart really got me the win. We were all stacked up on the restart and I jumped on it, going in the grass to get by. I managed to gap them and hang on.”
For Saturday winner McCusker, it was a hard-earned second place with half the front wing missing. McCusker started from pole and went wheel-to-wheel with his younger brother, Austin, for the F2000 lead on the opening laps. Soon after, however, Austin would retire from the lead while John’s No. 01 Dotworks Van Diemen was wounded.
“We had a little bit of a brake check by an Atlantic car, which knocked my wing off and punctured by brother’s tire. That aside, we finished second in the points so that is good,” said McCusker, who mounted an impressive end-of-season string of results.
After starting in second and leading early, a potential strong result for Austin McCusker in the No. 90 ADSA/Wright Racing Radon was brought to an early end with the punctured tire. McCusker got the call to drive the car on Saturday morning, with the race only being his second-ever session in the No. 90.
Fatur marked his best result of 2016 with a third place finish in the No. 70 R-Sport Van Diemen. “All season has been on and off with some issues, it was really nice to have it all come together and have a good race at the end of the season,” said Fatur.
Peter Gonzalez finished in fourth in the No. 16 Radon, while Nick Palacio rounded out the top five after running for a podium spot earlier in the race.
Despite a visit to the pits during the full course caution, Jenna Grillo finished sixth for K-Hill Motorsports.
Kaylen Frederick was involved in an opening-lap incident with Dave Weitzenhof, with both cars failing to finish.
Atlantic
From pole, David Grant ran a frantic pace in the season finale Atlantic Championship Series race to win a narrow contest over Ryan Norman and Keith Grant at VIRginia International Raceway. Grant took the win in the No. 29 Polestar Racing Group Swift 016/Mazda by six tenths of a second over the 2016 Champion, Ryan Norman, and teammate and brother Keith Grant.
“The car was great today, I need to take the whole Polestar team for the entire year,” said Grant. “I just wish I could have ran the first two weekends (of 2016) so I could have competed for the Championship. It’s a good way to end the year, I hope to see everyone next year.”
Grant not only managed a close race start, but had to fend Norman off a second time on a restart a few laps later.
Following his Saturday win, K-Hill’s Norman finished second to end his Championship season in Atlantic.
“It’s been a great season. K-Hill has given me a great car all year. I need to thank my parents and K-Hill for their support,” said Norman. “I couldn’t be happier.”
Keith Grant completed the podium, just under a second behind the leader in a tight Atlantic race at VIR.
“We had a good start going into turn one and I had to fall in line behind Ryan,” said Grant. “The race was short but we all stayed together and had some quick times.”
Bob Corliss clinched the Atlantic Challenge title with a second place finish in the No. 17 Comprent Swift 014/Toyota. Bruce Hamilton won the race in a Swift 014/Toyota from K-Hill Motorsports.
“Yesterday we lost gears so I only got one lap in qualifying,” said Corliss. “On the first lap today I lost third and second gear, so I drove the entire race in fourth gear. It was great fun racing with Bruce (Hamilton) all season.”
Richard Zober also noted a solid day with a fourth place finish for Comprent Motorsports in the No. 66 Swift 016/Mazda, followed closely after a race-long battle with K-Hill’s Dudley Fleck.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com and www. AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com .
A full 2017 schedule will be announced shortly.
Photos:
1. Neil Verhagen
2. Bob Reid
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