Audette Sweeps at Watkins Glen

“Connery passed me in the bus stop but I got back around him when he spun,” explained Audette, who also set the fastest lap. “I had to get by Chris and Tim after the restart. It’s my first weekend with two wins, so this is awesome.”

Livengood barely made the race after a big crash in qualifying which left the John Walko Racing/Work Racing team just an hour to put the #37 back together.

“After the crash we almost didn’t make the race,” said Livengood. “The team got it together and did a great job, but the car was off through the inner-loop where others were able to eat up time.”

Minor bounced back from being eliminated on the first lap of Saturday’s race to finish third, bringing home yet another Masters Class victory for his Ski Motorsports team.

“On the restart I got a good draft on Remy but he was strong through the inner-loop and used it to his advantage,” Minor said. “Chris and Remy did a great job.”

Angel Benitez finished fourth for Alegra Motorsports ahead of Thomas Schwietz in the Piper chassis.

Robert La Rocca was the first of the RFR cars in sixth position and was looking strong for a podium before a loose wing in the closing stages of the race left him holding on.

Nathan Morcom followed in seventh, on his fourth engine of the weekend in the #2 Primus Racing Van Diemen. Before Sunday morning qualifying Morcom had barely seen any laps around the course.

Ethan Ringel came back from an early morning qualifying incident to finish eighth for McLaughlin Motorsports, ahead of Craig Clawson.

Niki Coello was looking strong in the RFR early but suffered an early-race misfortune to be relegated to the rear of the pack, recovering nicely to finish tenth.

Kyle Connery started from the pole and looked strong early before an off-course excursion sent him to the back of the field. Connery drove the #91 back to 15th before retiring to the paddock.

“The tires came up to temperature too quickly and I spun in the bus stop on the opening lap,” Connery commented. “I ran over debris and cut the front brake lines later in the race. It was disappointing after sitting on pole and setting the track record during qualifying. Now it’s time to focus for Mid-Ohio and beat Remy.”

Zach Craigo and Tim Paul brought out a lengthy full-course caution when they came together in the bus stop. Paul is coming off his best career finish, which happened on Saturday at Watkins Glen when he wheeled the #06 to a fourth place finish for the SMR/GTP Motorsports squad.

Jonathan Scarallo had a front-wheel failure going the uphill after running solidly near the top ten with what he called a “soft motor.”

“The wheel just split in two,” commented Scarallo.

Polestar Racing Group brings home the CellMark Hard Charger, with Dan Denison going from 32nd to 18th. Teammates Mark Defer and Bill Jordan were 12th and 15th and continue to pick up speed under the Polestar awning.

Gustavo Rizzo went off early in the final race of the event and came back to finish 16th for Alegra. Also notable are John LaRue who finished in 13th in the Citation chassis and Charles Finelli, for Fat Boy Racing fielded by John Walko Racing, in 14th.

Tom Fatur missed the start after an incident that heavily damaged the #70 during morning qualifying.

Fabio Orsolon, in the Alegra Motorsports RFR, missed the race after sustaining damage to the #24 during Saturday’s race.

In the race for the title, Audette opens up a 67 point lead over Connery, with Livengood another 28 points back, and then La Rocca and Minor who are tied for fifth position a further eight points back.

The season continues with rounds seven and eight at Mid-Ohio, June 30-July 2.

Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 21 Remy Audette 14 31:32.864 - - 89.731 1:53.104 2 37 Chris Livengood 14 31:34.472 +1.608 +1.608 89.655 1:53.240 3 88 Tim Minor/M 14 31:38.319 +5.455 +3.847 89.473 1:54.269 4 26 Angel Benitez 14 31:40.589 +7.725 +2.270 89.366 1:54.049 5 72 Thomas Schwietz/M 14 31:42.160 +9.296 +1.571 89.292 1:54.297 6 10 Robert La Rocca 14 31:44.931 +12.067 +2.771 89.162 1:54.136 7 2 Nathan Morcom 14 31:45.550 +12.686 +0.619 89.133 1:54.588 8 1 Ethan Ringel 14 31:47.176 +14.312 +1.626 89.057 1:54.644 9 27 Craig Clawson/M 14 31:47.304 +14.440 +0.128 89.051 1:54.412 10 81 Niki Coello 14 31:49.205 +16.341 +1.901 88.963 1:54.242 11 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 14 31:52.938 +20.074 +3.733 88.789 1:55.428 12 8 Mark Defer/M 14 31:53.017 +20.153 +0.079 88.785 1:55.412 13 17 John LaRue 14 31:56.065 +23.201 +3.048 88.644 1:55.635 14 83 Charles Finelli/M 14 32:00.439 +27.575 +4.374 88.442 1:56.993 15 42 Bill Jordan/M 14 32:00.772 +27.908 +0.333 88.427 1:55.753 16 23 Gustavo Rizzo 14 32:01.109 +28.245 +0.337 88.411 1:55.226 17 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 14 32:01.199 +28.335 +0.090 88.407 1:55.830 18 51 Dan Denison/M 14 32:02.150 +29.286 +0.951 88.364 1:55.507 19 86 Jim Hanrahan/M 14 32:09.596 +36.732 +7.446 88.023 1:57.485 20 14 Fred Bross 14 32:12.769 +39.905 +3.173 87.878 1:57.069 21 61 Tom Drake 14 32:14.412 +41.548 +1.643 87.803 1:58.138 22 47 Chris Monteleone 14 32:15.223 +42.359 +0.811 87.767 1:57.298 23 22 Enzo Potolicchio/M 12 27:53.618 2 Laps 2 Laps 86.988 1:54.767 24 90 Robert Wright/M 12 28:08.169 +14.551 +14.551 86.238 1:54.965 25 7 Brent Gilkes/M 10 24:24.913 4 Laps 2 Laps 82.817 1:56.788 26 91 Kyle Connery 9 22:16.660 5 Laps 1 Lap 81.687 1:54.081 27 31 Brendan Puderbach 8 20:27.290 6 Laps 1 Lap 79.082 2:00.769 DNF 06 Tim Paul 3 5:59.263 11 Laps 5 Laps 101.307 1:55.422 DNF 9 Zach Craigo 3 6:00.235 +0.972 +0.972 101.034 1:55.621 DNF 13 Jonathan Scarallo 3 6:05.035 +5.772 +4.800 99.706 1:56.415 DNF 60 Dwight Rider/M 1 2:08.388 13 Laps 2 Laps 94.495 2:03.112 DNS 70 Tom Fatur/M 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 24 Fabio Orsolon 0 -.--- - - - -.---