Chris Miller Drops Record, Takes Pole at Mid-Ohio
Lexington, OH – In his usual fashion, championship points leader Chris Miller took pole for this afternoon’s first F2000 race of the weekend at Mid-Ohio at the last possible second, shattering the standing track record by some eight tenths of a second. Miller turned a lap of 1:24.117 to steal the pole away from Ben Searcy, who was fastest in practice and also set his best time on his final flying lap.
Miller commented: “The changes we made to the car overnight worked out. It was hard to find a gap during the session but right at the end I found one and just went for it. The radio came unplugged during the last stint so I had no idea I had pole. Starting at the front and staying out of trouble will be important, and the three points are huge.”
More importantly, Miller and JDC added three more points to their lead over Matthew Inge, who finds himself starting fourth.
Inge said: “That didn’t go as planned; we made some changes during the session but not enough. The plan for the race is simple. We need to win. I’ve got to get to the front of the field and stay there.”
Remy Audette spent most of the session on top of the charts and will start third.
“We were pushing as much as possible. I spun a couple times in turn seven but I think it will be a good race” said Audette.
The top three cars are separated by less than a tenth of a second. The top twenty cars are within two seconds and the top seven cars were under the track record.
Fabio Orsolon rounds out the top five, starting next to his Alegra teammate, Victor Carbone in row three.
Tim Minor, top Master, Mark Defer, Jerry Szykulski and Chris Gumprecht rounded out the top ten. Masters Class points leader Tom Fatur was 15th, with other Masters Class contenders Robert Wright in 21st and Craig Clawson 25th.
This afternoon’s race gets underway at 2:55pm. The F2000 Series website, www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com, will have live updates as the battle for the 2009 title goes down to the wire.
Grid Order:
Pos No. Name Best Tm Best Spd In Lap Diff Gap 1 85 Chris Miller 1:24.117 96.637 17 - - 2 10 Benjamin Searcy 1:24.176 96.569 16 +0.059 +0.059 3 21 Remy Audette 1:24.209 96.531 8 +0.092 +0.033 4 02 Matthew Inge 1:24.397 96.316 9 +0.280 +0.188 5 26 Fabio Orsolon 1:24.888 95.759 6 +0.771 +0.491 6 23 Victor Carbone 1:24.889 95.758 10 +0.772 +0.001 7 88 Tim Minor/M 1:24.898 95.748 7 +0.781 +0.009 8 8 Mark Defer/M 1:25.192 95.417 13 +1.075 +0.294 9 31 Jerry Szykulski/M 1:25.228 95.377 13 +1.111 +0.036 10 97 Chris Gumprecht 1:25.427 95.155 8 +1.310 +0.199 11 22 Jonathon Scarallo 1:25.440 95.140 12 +1.323 +0.013 12 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:25.562 95.005 8 +1.445 +0.122 13 17 Slade Miller 1:25.581 94.984 12 +1.464 +0.019 14 11 Jesse Yorio 1:25.594 94.969 7 +1.477 +0.013 15 70 Tom Fatur/M 1:25.633 94.926 9 +1.516 +0.039 16 20 Caitlin Johnston 1:25.690 94.863 7 +1.573 +0.057 17 95 Al Giubord, Jr. 1:25.729 94.820 10 +1.612 +0.039 18 89 Rob Nicholas/M 1:25.799 94.742 15 +1.682 +0.070 19 25 Jeff McCusker/M 1:26.000 94.521 9 +1.883 +0.201 20 56 Ted Sahley 1:26.199 94.303 11 +2.082 +0.199 21 90 Robert Wright/M 1:26.252 94.245 8 +2.135 +0.053 22 51 Dan Denison/M 1:26.404 94.079 9 +2.287 +0.152 23 4 Chris Camadella/M 1:26.449 94.030 6 +2.332 +0.045 24 96 Alejandro Munoz 1:26.685 93.774 5 +2.568 +0.236 25 27 Craig Clawson/M 1:26.765 93.688 13 +2.648 +0.080 26 94 Blake Teeter 1:28.329 92.029 8 +4.212 +1.564 27 5 Keith McCrone/M -.--- - 0 - - 28 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M -.--- - 0 - -