Chastain Conquers Thompson
Thompson, CT – Sam Chastain protected the inside line into turn one and took his first F1600 Formula F Championship Series win with a decisive drive at Thompson Speedway in the No. 27 for Chastain Motorsports. Last lap contact promoted Garth Rickards to second after Jack Mitchell Jr. and Ayla Agren came together. Rickards still finished third in the Pelfrey Mygale/Honda.
Chastain made it a full weekend sweep for his Chastain team following his teammate’s Saturday victory.
“It was a tough race,” said Chastain, who has been fast all year. “We played it smart and ran our race and tried not to let people by.”
Rickards, meanwhile, gained by valuable ground on Agren as the Team Pelfrey teammates continue to battle one another for the Championship as the fight will now go to Watkins Glen in October for rounds 13 and 14 and the season finale.
“It was crazy,” Rickards said. “It was the last lap and there were four cars going for it. The Championship is getting closer.”
Mitchell Jr. made his outside turn one move on Agren stick on the last lap, getting the inside line into the next corner. At that point the two made contact with Agren getting air time. The Pittsburgh race winner brought his No. 93 Exclusive Autosport home third with a bent suspension.
“I went in deep on the outside of turn one and she gave me enough room,” said Mitchell Jr. “I had the inside line on the next corner and we ran out of room, it was a racing incident.”
Nikita Lastochkin finished fourth ahead of Steve Bamford, who took home the Masters Class win.
Bamford tried to take the race lead with eight to go with a late braking maneuver, but both him and Evan Mehan, Saturday’s winner, contested the same piece of real estate and made contact. Mehan led most of the race in his No. 29 Mygale/Honda from Chastain Motorsports along with teammate Chastain. Bamford, who won in June at VIR, ended his day in fifth, and spent the majority of the race in the top three.
Agren, despite her air time, limped her Championship-leading No. 81 home in sixth despite a hard landing after contact with Mitchell Jr. She loses a few points to Rickards in the title-fight, as the two are neck and neck for the Championship.
Augie Lerch, Art Foster, Andrew Hobbs and Will Harvey completed the top ten in an action-packed race.
After the first turn drama, 15-year-old Ryan Bjerke was holding station for multiple laps in seventh, but ended up finishing 15th after a spin in his debut pro weekend in the F1600 Series. Bjerke had among the oldest cars in the field with a 1997 Honda-powered Van Diemen.
The first-turn check-up also ended Jim Goughary’s day with a bent right-rear suspension on the No. 7 Ski Motorsports Van Diemen/Honda.
The F1600 Series season concludes with its final weekend, taking place at Watkins Glen International, October 10-12, and featuring rounds 13 and 14.
Full results are available on www.F1600Series.com under the Results tab.