championship-to-valet-race-win-to-gooden

“That race … I can’t believe it,” said Valet, driving a Swift/Ford. “It’s the closest to on the edge I’ve ever been. We were going all out, wheels on the grass, wheels interlocked, it was Formula F racing the way it should be. I had to drive way aggressively and keep as many cars as I could behind me.”

Wyatt Gooden commented: “That was another good one. I have the track down 100 percent now and really tried to push myself. Chris (Keller) pressured me on the start but after the restart I pulled a gap and the pressure was off.”

An early race full course caution flew for Chris Keller, who got turned around in the bus-stop chicane and needed to be retrieved. Keller started second.

Ryan Leach finished second for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in the Spectrum/Honda for the third straight race. Jim Goughary came home fourth, with Jeremy Grenier close behind ahead of Kautz, Art Foster, Colin Thompson, Forrest Hull and Steve Oseth.

In the final standings, Valet and Kautz are one and two, followed by Jim Goughary, Art Foster, Colin Thompson, Wyatt Gooden, Caitlin Johnston, Forrest Hull, John Robinson and Steve Oseth.

Kautz, driving the No. 88 Piper/Ford, added: "You can't win them all, that's the way it goes. I did not have the power to run up front, we didn't have the motor to play this weekend."

The race for the SOS Children’s Villages Cup went to Valet, who amassed the most points over four races at Watkins Glen.

The season-long CellMark Paper Hard Charger Award was clinched by Ed Callo, who improved 30 places throughout the season.

Colin Thompson won the end-of-season Alegra Motorsports F2000 Championship Series test award, which goes to the highest placing driver in the final standings under the age of 21. Thompson’s best finish of the year came at Lime Rock Park, where he notched his first career podium in the No. 5 Swift/Honda.

The inaugural season of F1600 competition saw four different race winners, engine equality with both Honda and Ford powerplants, and 50 different drivers scoring Championship points over the 10 race tour.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 17 Wyatt Gooden 12 25:43.447 - - 94.324 1:58.376 102.487 2 16 Ryan Leach 12 25:52.071 +8.624 +8.624 93.800 1:59.028 101.926 3 83 Bill Valet 12 25:53.054 +9.607 +0.983 93.740 1:58.857 102.072 4 7 Jimmi Googlioni 12 25:53.490 +10.043 +0.436 93.714 1:59.149 101.822 5 12 Jeremy Grenier 12 25:54.152 +10.705 +0.662 93.674 1:58.901 102.034 6 88 Tim Kautz 12 25:54.161 +10.714 +0.009 93.674 1:59.046 101.910 7 24 Art Foster 12 25:57.461 +14.014 +3.300 93.475 1:59.508 101.516 8 5 Colin Thompson 12 25:57.641 +14.194 +0.180 93.464 1:59.337 101.662 9 71 Forrest Hull 12 26:15.269 +31.822 +17.628 92.419 2:00.546 100.642 10 72 Steve Oseth 12 26:15.406 +31.959 +0.137 92.410 2:01.235 100.070 11 6 John Grooms 12 26:19.256 +35.809 +3.850 92.185 2:01.904 99.521 12 11 Doug Stout 12 26:19.901 +36.454 +0.645 92.148 2:01.487 99.863 13 4 Bob Detrick 12 26:23.752 +40.305 +3.851 91.923 2:01.818 99.591 14 69 Erik Shepard 12 26:23.832 +40.385 +0.080 91.919 2:01.606 99.765 15 13 Greg Rice 12 26:33.292 +49.845 +9.460 91.373 2:03.494 98.240 16 68 Caitlin Johnston 12 26:35.422 +51.975 +2.130 91.251 2:01.824 99.586 17 18 Dan Pyanowski 12 26:52.560 +1:09.113 +17.138 90.281 2:04.586 97.379 18 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 12 27:01.400 +1:17.953 +8.840 89.789 2:06.653 95.789 19 15 Jim Oseth 12 27:01.547 +1:18.100 +0.147 89.781 2:03.845 97.961 20 44 Ed Callo 12 27:05.038 +1:21.591 +3.491 89.588 2:06.672 95.775 21 31 Chris Keller 11 27:30.262 1 Lap 1 Lap 80.867 1:59.623 101.419 DNS 8 Jacob Carpenter 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 36 Steve Roux 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 64 David Clubine 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 2 Mike Scanlan 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 3 Joe Colasacco 0 -.--- - - - -.--- -