Connery Wins at the Glen, Audette Makes 2011 Title Official
Watkins Glen, NY – A last lap pass on Tim Minor gave Kyle Connery his fifth win of 2011, and Remy Audette finished third behind Minor to make his 2011 Championship official in a morning 12-lap race at Watkins Glen, run after an aborted non-race attempt on Saturday. Connery fell back early but worked his way back to second, closing in on Minor to grab the lead on the last lap.
For Connery, a win at Watkins Glen accompanies victories at Road Atlanta, Mid-Ohio and Mosport.
Connery added: “Today was a great comeback for the team. We gave up more than I wanted at the start but I kept the tires clean during the caution. After that we made some clean passes. I saw the white flag and got a great run on Tim down the backstretch. He gave me room and I took the line.”
Minor is the 2011 Masters Class Champion for the F2000 Series, and also lost the lead to Connery on the last lap at Road Atlanta in May. “We picked up under-steer over the last few laps. It’s missing just a little bit,” said Minor, driving for Ski Motorsports. “Kyle ran me down, he did a good job.”
Audette meanwhile, led early and will start on pole for the final race of 2011, which will take place later today.
“We were missing a bit of straight line speed,” said Audette. “But, it’s still good to finish up front. I hope it rains for the afternoon.”
Chris Livengood finished fourth head of Rob Nicholas, Robert La Rocca, Tim Paul, Thomas Schweitz, John LaRue and Joe Colasacco.
La Rocca was the first of the RFR chassis cars for HP-Tech Motorsport.
CellMark Hard Charger honors go to Peter LeSueur, who improved 18 positions during the race.
Jim Hanrahan and Francis Kennette started at the rear of the field after failing to meet minimum weight rules following qualifying. Tom Fatur missed the start after a crash during Saturday’s aborted race-attempt.
A 37-car grid forced the best cars and drivers in the field to battle it out with those around them for positions as the race went on. The large field made qualifying more important than ever, too.
Race two will commence this afternoon, with grid order set by fastest laps during the first race. Meaning that Audette will start from pole ahead of Connery, Minor, Livengood, La Rocca, Nicholas, Paul, Colasacco and Schwietz.
The race also saw a brief caution period for a fire on the No. 16 Radon chassis of Peter Gonzalez.
The season finale gets going at 3:55 local time. Live updates on F2000Series.com.
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 91 Kyle Connery 12 26:35.785 - - 91.230 1:52.404 107.932 2 88 Tim Minor/M 12 26:36.478 +0.693 +0.693 91.191 1:52.774 107.578 3 21 Remy Audette 12 26:37.524 +1.739 +1.046 91.131 1:52.345 107.989 4 37 Chris Livengood 12 26:38.319 +2.534 +0.795 91.086 1:52.908 107.450 5 89 Rob Nicholas/M 12 26:40.263 +4.478 +1.944 90.975 1:53.329 107.051 6 10 Robert La Rocca 12 26:40.928 +5.143 +0.665 90.937 1:53.318 107.062 7 06 Tim Paul 12 26:45.743 +9.958 +4.815 90.665 1:53.996 106.425 8 72 Thomas Schwietz/M 12 26:51.858 +16.073 +6.115 90.321 1:54.661 105.808 9 17 John LaRue/M 12 26:52.643 +16.858 +0.785 90.277 1:54.854 105.630 10 11 Joe Colasacco 12 26:52.705 +16.920 +0.062 90.273 1:54.254 106.184 11 96 Brian Tomasi 12 26:53.231 +17.446 +0.526 90.244 1:54.670 105.799 12 8 Mark Defer/M 12 26:53.392 +17.607 +0.161 90.235 1:54.865 105.620 13 51 Dan Denison/M 12 26:57.409 +21.624 +4.017 90.011 1:55.455 105.080 14 27 Craig Clawson/M 12 26:57.728 +21.943 +0.319 89.993 1:55.306 105.216 15 83 Charles Finelli/M 12 26:59.204 +23.419 +1.476 89.911 1:55.145 105.363 16 90 Robert Wright/M 12 27:02.119 +26.334 +2.915 89.749 1:56.014 104.574 17 25 Jeff McCusker/M 12 27:10.345 +34.560 +8.226 89.296 1:57.010 103.683 18 05 Peter LeSueur 12 27:11.458 +35.673 +1.113 89.236 1:55.751 104.811 19 42 Bill Jordan/M 12 27:19.494 +43.709 +8.036 88.798 1:57.006 103.687 20 60 John Brumder 12 27:20.093 +44.308 +0.599 88.766 1:57.247 103.474 21 31 Brendan Puderbach 12 27:25.448 +49.663 +5.355 88.477 1:58.941 102.000 22 52 Dean Baker 12 27:26.808 +51.023 +1.360 88.404 1:58.310 102.544 23 14 Fred Bross/M 12 27:27.242 +51.457 +0.434 88.380 1:58.116 102.713 24 86 Jim Hanrahan/M 12 27:27.498 +51.713 +0.256 88.367 1:58.165 102.670 25 2 Nathan Morcom 12 27:36.471 +1:00.686 +8.973 87.888 1:59.292 101.700 26 03 Tim Walsh 12 27:37.297 +1:01.512 +0.826 87.844 1:59.317 101.679 27 77 Blake Teeter 12 27:49.362 +1:13.577 +12.065 87.209 2:00.662 100.545 28 61 Tom Drake/M 12 28:00.723 +1:24.938 +11.361 86.620 2:02.163 99.310 29 71 Francis Kennette 12 28:40.172 +2:04.387 +39.449 84.633 2:04.690 97.297 30 7 Greg Strelzof 12 28:40.292 +2:04.507 +0.120 84.627 2:05.399 96.747 31 73 Vaughn Horvath 11 27:13.509 1 Lap 1 Lap 81.697 1:57.132 103.575 32 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 10 23:00.770 2 Laps 1 Lap 87.864 1:54.962 105.531 33 26 Angel Benitez 6 15:18.889 6 Laps 4 Laps 79.217 1:57.053 103.645 DNF 53 Eric Langbien 5 13:27.547 7 Laps 1 Lap 75.116 2:01.681 99.703 DNF 15 Aaron Pettipas 5 13:34.042 +6.495 +6.495 74.517 2:07.702 95.002 DNF 22 Giancarlo Potolicchio/M 5 13:36.943 +9.396 +2.901 74.252 2:08.311 94.552 DNF 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 1 2:12.728 11 Laps 4 Laps 91.405 2:09.797 93.469 DNS 70 Tom Fatur/M 0 -.--- - - - -.--- -