Elkhart Lake Weekend Notebook
Best Race Ever?
The number of lead changes was hard to keep track of on Sunday as F2000 set a high point for itself. Many claimed it to be the best race of the five-year history of the Series. A four-way drafting battle for the lead eventually emerged (starting as a three-car battle) between four aspiring drivers. What could be better?
R-Sport
What a day for R-Sport on Sunday. It was Jonathan Scarallo’s second podium and first win. Plus a pole and fast lap.
It happened to be McCrone’s first podium finish and the first time the team put two cars on the podium. It was the first win for the gang since 2007 at Mid-Ohio, which is where the Series heads next. Does the R-Sport squad have the money setup for that track too?
Making it even better was the fact the team burned the midnight oil before their double-podium race, staying up literally all-night to prep both cars.
Carbone and the 2010 Title
Lost in Sunday’s epic highlight reel was Victor Carbone, who did everything he needed to do to stay on track for the 2010 title. The young Brazilian drove a heads-up race, protecting the car and coming home in seventh.
And while he did lose a handful of points to Cole Morgan, the performance Carbone delivered on Saturday was perhaps all he needed to do – a runaway win over Morgan, who was falling back with an ill-handling K-Hill Motorsports Van Diemen. Six wins in 12 races isn’t too bad.
The title fight heads now to Mid-Ohio, where 110 points are up for grabs and Carbone and his Alegra team have an 85 point lead without drop. 79 with them.
Erickson
Two second place finishes vaulted Daniel Erickson to third in the point standings (with drops).
Erickson is averaging the highest overall point score when he races, and missed both the Road Atlanta and Mosport rounds.
Erickson can mathematically finish second in the 2010 title race if Morgan has a rough weekend at Mid-Ohio.
Livengood Going to Two Tearoffs
When asked about changes to the car for race two of the weekend, rookie Chris Livengood explained he was going to two tearoffs on his helmet for the race, after only using one for Saturday’s race and his helmet getting really dirty. Check it out on his Twitter: http://tweetphoto.com/37669181
Paddock-neighbor Tim Paul was in ear shot, commenting he doesn’t use any – having come from the sprint and midget car world.
Work Racing = Livengood + Walko
And the #37 rolled off the trailer so well, that the Work Racing bunch never even set up their scale pads. No gear changes, no shock changes, no corner weight adjustments and a very stock Van Diemen aero package.
Wing Wars
The Wing Wars gallery got quite a few hits in an eight hour span. Check it out here. More importantly was the performance of the various aero packages at Road America. The whizzy bits failed to impress as it was the old-school “moustache” wing Van Diemen setup that worked, as seen on Work Racing’s #37 of Livengood and both R-Sport entries.
Road America Facilities
“Wow” would be a good way to put it. The F2000 Championship Series staff would like to send a big thank you to Road America and its staff, along with the local SCCA region for making things seamless. An impressive race control setup rivaled mission control at NASA, with multiple closed circuit security type cameras all around the track.
Not to mention the very professional Road America safety team.
Get Well Soon, Scott!
The F2000 Series community would like to send a shout to Scott Hutchison (Z-Sports) and girlfriend Sandy. Get well soon, Scott! Follow his progress online here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/scotthutchison
And there is more…
- Tim Paul’s “character-building” season continued at Road America in the SMR backup car, codenamed the “bat mobile” (see the cool graphics pictured). The sprint car rookie battled overheating problems in race one and flew up to 12th in race two before a mechanical problem ended his day.
- Just how many starter motors has ADSA/Wright been through this year? Official team count puts it at around eight, but if you count how many times they have actually changed starters…20?..30?...800?
- Series iron-men: the gods may be trying to break the streaks of both Craig Clawson and Robert Wright, who have started every F2000 race to date (since 2006 – when the Series was formed). Clawson battled starter issues that had him coming to the false grid at the last possible second while Wright literally had a starter explode minutes before the first race of the weekend. The ADSA/Wright team was able to “push-start” his Zetec.