Championship Battles Take Shape as FRP Completes Summit Point Event Weekend
It was a trip to the East Coast and Summit Point Motorsports Park as Formula Race Promotions (FRP) entered their first of two events in the month of August. With championship battles taking shape and points on the line, FRP teams, competitors, and staff were forced to adjust the weekend due to weather but provided the most racing action possible. Harbir Dass and David Yabarra were names that were consistently at the front over the weekend as they look to carry that momentum to the next event at Carolina Motorsports Park in a few weeks’ time.
“A huge thanks to all the teams and competitors for toughing it out this weekend,” explained Bob Wright. “We always hate to cancel some track time but due to the weather, were forced to on this occasion. In the end, our Sunday worked out well and the wheel-to-wheel action was plentiful as we hit the season’s homestretch. The next stop, Carolina Motorsports Park and we can’t wait.”
Qualifying for the Atlantic/F2000 field at Summit Point Motorsports Park saw Harbir Dass set the pace in dominant fashion, topping the session in the #4 K-Hill Motorsports Swift 016 with a 1:04.311 to claim both the outright pole and the Atlantic-016 class pole position. R. Bruce Hamilton paced the Atlantic-Open class, qualifying second overall with a 1:07.475, ahead of Robert Albani and Whitney Strickland, the latter piloting a 2025 Ligier JS F3 to fourth on the grid. Austin Holtgraewe, Pierce Krone, and Drew Holtgraewe rounded out the Atlantic-Open front-runners inside the top-seven. In F2000, Robert Wright set the class benchmark with a lap of 1:13.141, edging out Chris Fahan, with Dustin Hodges and Gary Laughlin completing the class order. Ryan Saari was the lone challenger to Dass in Atlantic-016, qualifying tenth overall.
In F1600 qualifying, Cooper Travis edged a tightly packed field to claim pole position with a 1:16.272, just 0.145 seconds clear of David Ybarra's K-Hill Motorsports entry. Christian Menezes and John Dole rounded out the top-four, while K-Hill Motorsports placed two more cars inside the top-seven, as Axel LeRoy qualified fifth and Jake LeRoy seventh, the latter tied on best lap time with sixth-placed Boss Patel before losing out on the second-best lap. Aryan Narola completed the top-eight. In the F1600 Masters class, David Adorno topped the category with a lap of 1:17.704, leading Steve Oseth, Scott Rubenzer, and Phil Kingham, with all four separated by less than a tenth of a second.
In FV Challenge Cup qualifying, Jeff Filipkowski set the pace in his #20 Caruso CBR-1 with a 1:27.895 to claim pole position, edging Mike Lawrence by 0.464 seconds. Matt Clark qualified third, while William Hannum and Chase Johnson were split by just three-thousandths of a second in fourth and fifth. Samuel M. Ryan, Dean Curtis, and Trevor Carmody rounded out the top-eight, as the front of the 25-car field remained tightly bunched throughout the session.
With wheel-to-wheel action set to commence, weather moved into the area forcing series officials to make some adjustment. While the F1600 Heat 1 ran as scheduled, the F2000 and Challenge Cup Heat Races were cancelled due to storms and lightning in the area.
David Ybarra converted his front-row start into victory in F1600 Heat Race 1, taking the win over the 30-minute, 22-lap race at Summit Point. Boss Patel finished second, while polesitter Cooper Travis rounded out the podium in third after being unable to hold off both cars. John Dole crossed the line fourth and set the fastest lap of the race at 1:16.717, with David Adorno leading the F1600 Masters class home in fifth overall, ahead of Axel LeRoy in sixth. Scott Rubenzer, Steve Oseth, Bob Reid, and John Thompson rounded out the Masters class top-five, all inside the top-ten overall. Further back, Christian Menezes turned the third-fastest lap of the race but finished down in 16th.
Harbir Dass continued his weekend of dominance in Atlantic/F2000 Heat Race 2, taking the Atlantic-016 class win and the overall victory, finishing a full lap clear of the field with a best lap of 1:03.862 that bettered his own pole time from qualifying. This is also special because it not only sets a new FRP race record, but also the absolute track record for Summit Point. R. Bruce Hamilton and Robert Albani rounded out the overall podium in second and third, both completing 25 laps, while Pierce Krone led the next group home in fourth. Austin Holtgraewe, Whitney Strickland, and Drew Holtgraewe followed in fifth through seventh to round out the Atlantic-Open class order behind Hamilton and Albani. Ryan Saari was again the closest challenger to Dass in Atlantic-016, finishing eighth overall. In F2000, Chris Fahan led the class home in ninth, turning the tables on qualifying pacesetter Robert Wright, who crossed tenth overall but second in class, with Dustin Hodges and Gary Laughlin completing the class order.
David Ybarra completed the sweep of the F1600 weekend at Summit Point, backing up his Heat Race 1 win with another victory in Heat Race 2 in his Mygale. Boss Patel and Cooper Travis once again followed him across the line in second and third, with John Dole fourth, giving the top-four an identical finishing order to the opening race. David Adorno also repeated his result from Race 1, taking the F1600 Masters class win in fifth overall, with Scott Rubenzer and Steve Oseth completing the top-three in class, and Bob Reid and Phil Kingham following in fourth and fifth. Aryan Narola was the biggest mover inside the top-ten, climbing to sixth after finishing 14th in the previous race, while Axel LeRoy came home seventh for K-Hill Motorsports.
In the FV Challenge Cup Championship Race, Mike Lawrence claimed victory, turning his solid starting position into a race win aboard the #36 Protoform P2. Jeff Filipkowski, who had earned the outright pole position in the weekend's first FV Challenge Cup qualifying session, chased Lawrence home in second and set the fastest lap of the race at 1:29.119, a tenth quicker than the race winner's best lap. Matt Clark completed the podium in third, with Ryan Higgins and Sherman Engler rounding out the top-five. Samuel M. Ryan, Gerard Owen Callaghan, Mark Farnham, Jack Maloney, and Chase Johnson filled out the top-ten over the 15-lap race distance, capping off a tightly contested weekend of FV Challenge Cup action in which the front-running order shuffled between every session.
Harbir Dass capped off a dominant weekend at Summit Point, sweeping every session he entered on route to victory in the Atlantic/F2000 Feature Race. Harbir’s backed up his qualifying pole position and Heat Race 2 win with a start-to-finish victory in the 26-lap feature, claiming the Atlantic-016 class win for the third time in as many opportunities. K-Hill Motorsports enjoyed a strong result across the board, as R. Bruce Hamilton brought the team's second entry home in second overall. Pierce Krone and Whitney Strickland rounded out the top-four, while Chris Fahan led the F2000 class home in fifth, ahead of class rival Robert Wright in sixth. Drew Holtgraewe and Gary Laughlin completed the top-eight. It wasn't a clean day for everyone at the front, though, as Robert Albani, who had qualified third overall, was forced to retire after just three laps, and Ryan Saari, the only other Atlantic-016 entrant to challenge Dass all weekend, did not start the feature due to a mechanical issue.
David Ybarra completed a clean sweep of the F1600 category at Summit Point, adding the Feature Race victory to his wins in both weekend heat races. Ybarra crossed the line first after the race was shortened to 12 laps when an on-track incident brought the session to an early end. John Dole finished second, with Boss Patel and Christian Menezes completing a closely matched top-four. Cooper Travis, Axel LeRoy, and Jake LeRoy rounded out the top-seven, giving K-Hill Motorsports three cars inside the top-seven for the race. Scott Rubenzer led the F1600 Masters class home in eighth overall, ahead of Phil Kingham and Steve Oseth, denying David Adorno a class sweep for the weekend after Adorno, the Masters winner in both heat races, was unable to complete the full distance and finished 19th after just eight laps.
Next up for FRP will be a trip to Carolina Motorsports Park for the penultimate event on the 2026 calendar over the August 28-30 weekend as the series enters the homestretch.
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