Erickson Sweeps Watkins Glen with Second Win

“I got a great start and was able to hold off Carbone,” said Erickson. “Midway through the race the car started to go away on the low speed corners and that’s when he caught me. But the car was great through the inner loop so I was able to hold him off. The last couple laps we were side by side down the back straight and I was defending on the inside. It was great to race with him.”

Carbone’s second place effort extends his championship points lead over Cole Morgan, and Carbone grabs two bonus points for fastest race lap.

“I gave it my best,” Carbone, driving for Alegra Motorsports, said. “At the start we almost got by Daniel (Erickson) and then Chris Livengood was all over me so Daniel was able to get away. I ran him down but his car was much faster through the back part of the track. The last two laps were a lot of fun since we were side by side a ton.”

Cole Morgan had a great first lap in the K-Hill/Liberty entry to vault from ninth to fifth, and two laps later snuck by Alegra Motorsport’s Fabio Orsolon to grab fourth. The American spent the next eight laps running down Chris Livengood for third. Morgan sits second in points, a decent margin back from Victor Carbone.

“We made some changes and the car was perfect. At the start I just threw it in first gear and went,” commented Morgan. “I got up to fifth and eventually ran down Chris (Livengood) for third. The leaders were too far ahead at that point and I didn’t want to throw it off the track trying to chase them down.”

For the second day in a row the 14-lap race at Watkins Glen saw no full course cautions.

Chris Livengood started on pole in the first race of the weekend and notched his first career podium with a second place effort yesterday. The American finished fourth today in the #37 Work Racing Van Diemen.

“This was a really great weekend,” Livengood said. “We proved we can improve with every event and now we’re on the hunt to make up those last couple of tenths.”

Finishing fifth and taking the Masters Class win was R-Sport’s Keith McCrone. Tim Minor followed in sixth ahead of the Race House’s Stevan McAleer, in only his second F2000 start ever.

GTP’s Phil Lombardi was eighth followed by Liberty’s Bobby Caldwell and Alegra’s Fabio Orsolon.

Mark Defer wins the CellMark Paper Hard Charger award by advancing 11 positions to finish 14th for St. Clair Motorsports.

Rounds nine and 10 of the 2010 F2000 Championship Series season continue at Lime Rock Park, with ALMS, July 23-24.

Race 2 Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 2 Daniel Erickson 14 26:39.402 - - 106.195 1:53.315 2 23 Victor Carbone 14 26:40.239 +0.837 +0.837 106.139 1:53.229 3 1 Cole Morgan 14 26:46.882 +7.480 +6.643 105.700 1:53.325 4 37 Chris Livengood 14 26:49.215 +9.813 +2.333 105.547 1:53.756 5 5 Keith McCrone/M 14 26:55.736 +16.334 +6.521 105.121 1:53.741 6 88 Tim Minor/M 14 27:01.995 +22.593 +6.259 104.715 1:54.276 7 14 Steven McAleer 14 27:04.374 +24.972 +2.379 104.562 1:54.079 8 3 Phil Lombardi/M 14 27:09.570 +30.168 +5.196 104.229 1:54.592 9 80 Bobby Caldwell 14 27:10.139 +30.737 +0.569 104.192 1:54.677 10 26 Fabio Orsolon 14 27:14.149 +34.747 +4.010 103.937 1:55.031 11 95 Al Giubord, Jr. 14 27:22.447 +43.045 +8.298 103.412 1:55.392 12 22 Jonathon Scarallo 14 27:25.960 +46.558 +3.513 103.191 1:55.742 13 11 Jesse Yorio 14 27:26.009 +46.607 +0.049 103.188 1:55.634 14 8 Mark Defer/M 14 27:29.226 +49.824 +3.217 102.986 1:55.563 15 27 Craig Clawson/M 14 27:31.620 +52.218 +2.394 102.837 1:55.431 16 97 Chris Gumprecht 14 27:32.936 +53.534 +1.316 102.755 1:55.884 17 83 Charles Finelli/M 14 27:35.633 +56.231 +2.697 102.588 1:55.965 18 28 Ardie Greenamyer/M 14 27:36.218 +56.816 +0.585 102.552 1:55.252 19 70 Tom Fatur/M 14 27:40.683 +1:01.281 +4.465 102.276 1:56.655 20 25 Jeff McCusker/M 14 27:47.413 +1:08.011 +6.730 101.863 1:57.049 21 69 Paul Farmer/M 14 27:52.777 +1:13.375 +5.364 101.537 1:57.659 22 85 Zach Craigo 14 27:53.883 +1:14.481 +1.106 101.469 1:56.733 23 51 Dan Denison/M 14 27:58.859 +1:19.457 +4.976 101.169 1:56.462 24 73 Vaughn Horvath 14 28:26.127 +1:46.725 +27.268 99.552 1:56.811 25 06 Tim Paul 14 28:27.804 +1:48.402 +1.677 99.454 1:56.821 26 12 Bob Reid/M 14 28:28.078 +1:48.676 +0.274 99.438 1:59.613 27 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M 13 26:52.588 1 Lap 1 Lap 97.803 2:00.784 28 90 Robert Wright/M 9 17:57.427 5 Laps 4 Laps 101.341 1:56.656 DNF 89 Rob Nicholas/M 5 9:48.614 9 Laps 4 Laps 103.056 1:55.519 DNF 7 Brent Gilkes/M 5 10:00.376 +11.762 +11.762 101.037 1:57.416 DNS 42 James Winslow 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 4 Chris Camadella/M 0 -.--- - - - -.---