Connery First at Mosport

July 22, 2011
Connery leads Livengood and Audette over the line for the win

Bowmanville, ONT – American rookie Kyle Connery took his second straight win and fourth of 2011, vaulting from fourth in the race after starting second to pass Tim Minor, Remy Audette and then Chris Livengood for the lead in the first of two F2000 Championship Series races at Mosport.

“I didn’t get a great start and we were behind Tim (Minor) for a while,” said Connery. “I got past him and then the caution came out so we had a chance to get by Remy; once I saw him I was just thinking championship.”

Connery, driving for CC Autosport and James Lee Racing, continued: “We had to finish ahead of him (Remy Audette) today. And then when I saw Chris (Livengood), I tried to set a pace and was able to put a move on him entering turn eight for the lead. Today was good for the points.”

Connery claws back ten points on Audette in the Championship, now down by only 53 points.

Livengood finished second ahead of Canadian Audette.

“Those two other guys, Remy and Kyle, what an absolutely fantastic race,” said Livengood, who passed Audette for the lead on lap two and gapped the Canadian in a highly entertaining F2000 race at the 10-turn Canadian road course on a warm day in Ontario.

“I battled as hard as I could but didn’t come out on the top step like we wanted,” added the Mid-Ohio winner, driving for Work Racing/John Walko Racing.

Audette led the first lap and a half from pole.

Audette, meanwhile, did lose a few points but came home with another consistent podium finish, and his ninth straight top-seven finish this season.

“I did my job for the Championship,” Audette commented. “We ran a good race; we have to finish well for the points. Tomorrow is another day so we will prepare the car accordingly and I will prepare myself.”

Robert La Rocca was fourth in the RFR chassis for HP-Tech Motorsport. The Florida-based squad also takes home the CellMark Paper Hard Charger award, with teammate and fellow Venezuelan rookie Giancarlo Potolicchio advancing seven positions during the race.

Tim Minor won another Masters Class trophy by finishing fifth overall.

“I got a good start but the car went away rather quickly with some massive oversteer,” Minor explained.

Craigo scored his best result of 2011 in sixth place for Front Range Motorsports

Zach Craigo notched his best result of the year for Front Range Motorsports, finishing sixth ahead of Brent Gilkes, Tim Paul, Angel Benitez and Dan Denison, who completed the top ten for Polestar Racing Group.

Matt McDonough started at the back of the field in the new Radon chassis for development and testing reasons, after qualifying a strong sixth, and was classified 18th at the end of the race, which ended early due to a crash involving Gustavo Rizzo in turn four.

Saturday July 23 sees the F2000 grid qualifying at 9:45 a.m. and conclude the weekend with a 6:05 p.m. scheduled race start. Follow live on www.F2000Series.com and on Twitter @F2000.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 91 Kyle Connery 14 24:29.937 - - 84.312 1:22.015 2 37 Chris Livengood 14 24:30.565 +0.628 +0.628 84.276 1:21.844 3 21 Remy Audette 14 24:31.593 +1.656 +1.028 84.217 1:21.963 4 10 Robert La Rocca 14 24:33.170 +3.233 +1.577 84.127 1:22.016 5 88 Tim Minor/M 14 24:34.242 +4.305 +1.072 84.066 1:22.076 6 9 Zach Craigo 14 24:35.491 +5.554 +1.249 83.995 1:23.060 7 7 Brent Gilkes/M 14 24:36.300 +6.363 +0.809 83.949 1:23.133 8 06 Tim Paul 14 24:36.875 +6.938 +0.575 83.916 1:23.959 9 26 Angel Benitez 14 24:38.774 +8.837 +1.899 83.808 1:23.223 10 51 Dan Denison/M 14 24:39.709 +9.772 +0.935 83.755 1:23.733 11 60 Dwight Rider/M 14 24:40.577 +10.640 +0.868 83.706 1:23.754 12 27 Craig Clawson/M 14 24:41.326 +11.389 +0.749 83.664 1:24.261 13 14 Fred Bross 14 24:42.691 +12.754 +1.365 83.587 1:25.824 14 22 Giancarlo Potolicchio 14 24:43.130 +13.193 +0.439 83.562 1:26.010 15 61 Tom Drake 14 24:44.063 +14.126 +0.933 83.510 1:25.581 16 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 14 24:44.931 +14.994 +0.868 83.461 1:23.499 17 42 Bill Jordan/M 14 24:46.133 +16.196 +1.202 83.393 1:28.452 18 77 Matt McDonough 13 24:53.683 1 Lap 1 Lap 77.045 1:24.883 19 23 Gustavo Rizzo 11 18:43.695 3 Laps 2 Laps 86.657 1:24.101 DNF 90 Robert Wright/M 5 7:17.755 9 Laps 6 Laps 101.111 1:24.298 DNS 71 Francis Kennette 0 -.--- - - - -.---

No items found.
Privacy Settings