Connery Wins at Road Atlanta with Last Lap Pass
Braselton, GA – Kyle Connery made it two wins at Road Atlanta, hunting down Masters Class driver Tim Minor and passing him on the last lap with two corners to go to take his second F2000 Championship Series win in two days at Road Atlanta, and second win in three-ever races. Chris Livengood, Remy Audette and Jonathan Scarallo completed the top five
Connery, a rookie, lost the lead at the start as Minor passed the front row going into the first corner. Minor stretched his lead to some three seconds before Connery ran fast lap after fast lap, eventually catching Minor in the 18-lap race. From there the two exchanged the lead back and forth as the laps wound down.
“That was incredible,” said Connery, thanking his supporters along with James Lee Racing.
“I went after Minor and he was a lot faster than I thought he was. I was able to get by him in Turn 10a, and then he got by me again. I sat there and watched him for a bit and saw where the tires were going off, (I) had a great run coming out of seven on the last lap and set him up at the very last second. I don’t think I’ve been that deep on the brakes at the end of the back stretch all weekend.”
Connery adds three bonus points for pole position, resetting the track record, and another two for setting fast lap in the race, taking home the maximum possible points for the day, 55.
Minor, who finished third in Friday’s race, added: “He raced me clean. I was just trying to keep pace, but he was the faster guy into 10a. Hats off to him, we’ll get him next time, the car was good and extremely consistent.”
Tim Minor was the last Masters Class driver to outright win a race, at Summit Point in 2009.
Chris Livengood finished third, gaining back valuable points lost on Friday when an electrical problem sidelined the #37.
Remy Audette continued to add points to his Championship lead, bringing the #21 Audette Racing Van Diemen home in fourth ahead of Jonathan Scarallo in the Primus Racing #13.
Robert La Rocca continued to be the fastest of the RFR cars, finishing sixth for HP-Tech. Gustavo Rizzo followed for Alegra Motorsports in seventh. Joe Colasacco was next in line with Alegra teammates Fabio Orsolon, in the new RFR, and Angel Benitez in ninth and 10th.
Zach Craigo bounced back from an early race DNF on Friday to finish 11th for Front Range Motorsports.
Tim Paul was running in 10th before a electrical issue required a pitstop. Friday’s Hard Charger rejoined the field after a quick repair, but was quickly back to the pits, finishing in 19th.
Dan Denison and Brian Tomasi both win the CellMark Paper Hard Charger award, improving eight positions from their starting spots.
Nathan Morcom suffered a mechanical failure to finish 23rd. The Australian won at VIR and scored a top five in Friday’s race for Primus Racing in the #2 Van Diemen.
Ethan Ringel missed Saturday’s activities following engine trouble in the #1 RFR for McLaughlin Motorsports.
The F2000 Championship Series continues with Rounds 5 and 6 at Watkins Glen, June 3-5.
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 91 Kyle Connery 18 25:52.380 - - 106.026 1:25.162 2 88 Tim Minor/M 18 25:52.612 +0.232 +0.232 106.010 1:25.318 3 37 Chris Livengood 18 25:57.238 +4.858 +4.626 105.695 1:25.539 4 21 Remy Audette 18 25:59.582 +7.202 +2.344 105.536 1:25.477 5 13 Jonathan Scarallo 18 26:02.192 +9.812 +2.610 105.360 1:25.773 6 10 Robert La Rocca 18 26:09.338 +16.958 +7.146 104.880 1:26.145 7 23 Gustavo Rizzo 18 26:17.970 +25.590 +8.632 104.306 1:26.550 8 3 Joe Colasacco 18 26:21.419 +29.039 +3.449 104.079 1:26.581 9 24 Fabio Orsolon 18 26:23.492 +31.112 +2.073 103.942 1:26.972 10 26 Angel Benitez 18 26:30.380 +38.000 +6.888 103.492 1:26.584 11 9 Zach Craigo 18 26:38.953 +46.573 +8.573 102.937 1:27.367 12 72 Thomas Schwietz/M 18 26:44.092 +51.712 +5.139 102.608 1:27.579 13 8 Mark Defer/M 18 26:50.854 +58.474 +6.762 102.177 1:27.395 14 96 Brian Tomasi 18 26:51.015 +58.635 +0.161 102.167 1:27.591 15 51 Dan Denison/M 18 26:53.027 +1:00.647 +2.012 102.039 1:27.750 16 42 Bill Jordan/M 18 26:53.453 +1:01.073 +0.426 102.012 1:28.004 17 14 Jose Gerardo 18 26:59.169 +1:06.789 +5.716 101.652 1:27.137 18 90 Robert Wright/M 16 24:26.253 2 Laps 2 Laps 99.781 1:27.578 19 06 Tim Paul 14 26:30.746 4 Laps 2 Laps 80.475 1:27.045 20 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 13 19:49.997 5 Laps 1 Lap 99.893 1:27.464 21 60 Dwight Rider/M 11 16:34.897 7 Laps 2 Laps 101.100 1:27.943 DNF 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 3 4:33.936 15 Laps 8 Laps 100.140 1:27.258 DNF 2 Nathan Morcom 0 5.088 18 Laps 3 Laps - -.---