Bamford Sweeps Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA - Steve Bamford tracked down David Grant, making the pass for the lead on lap 10 of 21 to sweep the F2000 Series weekend at Road Atlanta with two wins in two days, opening up an early but sizable Championship lead with 12 races to go in the season. Grant finished second and John McCusker followed in third place.
"It's a great way to start the season, I can't complain," said Bamford, who also led laps and finished on the podium in all three weekend F1600 races.
Grant took the lead on lap one of the race from the second row on the start, holding down the lead for the opening part of the race and finished second, trailing closely behind Bamford.
"The car was pretty good," Grant said. "We don't have the straight-away speed to keep up with the Citation, it's been like that. But the car was on rails and it was good all weekend."
McCusker, meanwhile, matched his podium performance from Saturday to finish third for Dotworks Racing in the No. 01 Van Diemen, having worked his way past Brandon Dixon mid-race for the final podium spot.
"I struggled a bit today, we made a change and it wasn't the right direction, but it's nice to be on the podium," said McCusker.
Pole-sitter Dixon didn't get the start he needed, falling back early and never quite recovering, but finishing fourth and adding important points to go with his second place run on Saturday in the No. 5 Citation.
"I didn't have quite as good a car today, we struggled for grip," Dixon explained. "The engine cover came loose too and it was flapping around."
Completing the top five with one of his best F2000 drives to date was Steve Jenks in the No. 68 Van Diemen. Jenks was third in the Masters Class with Bamford taking the Masters Class victory and Dixon second in class.
"This was the first checkered flag we saw all weekend," said Jenks. "We thrashed to get the car here and made it through."
Jenna Grillo continued to improve in her debut F2000 weekend for K-Hill Motorsports with a solid drive to a sixth place finish.
Of note, 2015 Champion Sam Beasley led early but he retired after three laps, his second straight DNF in two days in a forgettable Road Atlanta weekend for the F2000 driver.
Full results from all three series are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com, and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
Next up is weekend two of seven, scheduled to take place Watkins Glen International, May 13-15.