Gooden Takes Maiden Victory at Lime Rock

May 26, 2012
Gooden grabbed his first F2000 win at Lime Rock. (photo: Valet)

Lakeville, CT – Wyatt Gooden took his maiden victory at Lime Rock Park, inheriting the lead after Robert La Rocca first tore off half a front wing dealing with lapped traffic, and Kyle Connery then went off in the late stages of the race, again, while working lapped traffic around the 1.53-mile circuit. Gooden stood on top of the podium after three straight top three finishes in the No. 6 Quantum Racing Services Van Diemen with Niki Coello finishing second in the RFR chassis, and La Rocca somehow coming home third with a missing left front wing.

The race ended under caution, attributed to Connery’s late race incident, giving Gooden his maiden win in just his fifth F2000 Championship Series outing.

“That was a race of attrition,” said Gooden. “There was so much traffic, I had to be careful and smart with it, rather than take risks. We were able to keep up, though, and my first win is great, especially with the added support from Perfect Pedal this weekend.”

Coello made it another strong top five run, finishing second and solidifying his place in the Championship battle.

“It’s another podium and the team did a great job,” said Coello, adding that they made positive changes to the car throughout Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions around the seven-turn Lime Rock.

For La Rocca and HP-Tech Motorsport, who have so far dominated 2012 and the Lime Rock weekend, it was a good points morning at Lime Rock, but not quite what they were expecting following a pole position and fast laps in both practice sessions.

The No. 10 Van Diemen ran solidly second for most of the race, before contact with another car ripped off most of La Rocca’s front wing, leaving him lucky to finish third.

“We’ll see what happens this afternoon,” noted La Rocca, who set fast lap during the race, for two bonus points, and will start from pole in the second race of the day.

Meanwhile Kyle Connery is not expected to make the second and final race of the weekend on Saturday afternoon with significant damage to the No. 91 Van Diemen.

Tom Fatur was fourth, winning the Masters Class for GTP Motorsports. Fatur had a mid-race dice with Tim Minor, but managed to stay ahead, and has always been fast at Lime Rock with many laps around his home track.

Chris Livengood rounded out the top five for John Walko Racing in the No. 37 RFR. Livengood won at Lime Rock in 2011 in a Van Diemen.

Tim Minor was sixth, ahead of Jonathan Scarallo, Tim Paul, who started 16th, Robert Wright, in his best performance to date in the new Radon chassis, and Craig Clawson, completing the top ten after engine issues at VIR in April.

Taking home CellMark Paper Hard Charger honors was Kevin Kopp, finishing 12th after starting last and not turning a single lap at Lime Rock until a brief Saturday morning warmup following mechanical issues on Friday for the Wisko F2000 entry.

Aaron Pettipas missed the start with engine issues, while Peter Gonzalez did not see the green flag, with a mechanical issue on the false grid.

The day continues with the second race of the weekend, scheduled for 33 laps or 30 minutes at 2:45 pm local time. Live audio is available at www.livestream.com/f2000.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 6 Wyatt Gooden 25 25:08.743 - - 91.268 50.618 108.815 2 81 Niki Coello 25 25:10.905 +2.162 +2.162 91.137 50.963 108.078 3 10 Robert LaRocca 25 25:14.066 +5.323 +3.161 90.947 50.308 109.486 4 70 Tom Fatur/M 25 25:15.700 +6.957 +1.634 90.849 51.324 107.318 5 37 Chris Livengood 25 25:16.835 +8.092 +1.135 90.781 51.168 107.645 6 88 Tim Minor/M 25 25:21.047 +12.304 +4.212 90.530 51.660 106.620 7 13 Jonathan Scarallo 25 25:22.384 +13.641 +1.337 90.450 52.090 105.740 8 06 Tim Paul 25 25:22.906 +14.163 +0.522 90.419 51.867 106.195 9 90 Robert Wright/M 25 25:26.676 +17.933 +3.770 90.196 52.567 104.781 10 27 Craig Clawson/M 25 25:27.747 +19.004 +1.071 90.133 52.439 105.036 11 19 John Brumder/M 25 25:28.852 +20.109 +1.105 90.068 52.636 104.643 12 9 Jose Montiel 25 25:29.974 +21.231 +1.122 90.002 52.324 105.267 13 66 Kevin Kopp 25 25:32.474 +23.731 +2.500 89.855 52.075 105.771 14 35 Eric Presbrey 24 25:09.822 1 Lap 1 Lap 87.555 52.182 105.554 15 59 Shaun Miller 24 25:12.084 +2.262 +2.262 87.424 52.749 104.419 16 83 Charles Finelli/M 24 25:12.840 +3.018 +0.756 87.380 51.926 106.074 17 47 Chris Monteleone 24 25:17.962 +8.140 +5.122 87.085 53.007 103.911 18 46 Doug Rocco 24 25:18.822 +9.000 +0.860 87.036 53.864 102.258 19 86 Jim Hanrahan/M 24 25:22.383 +12.561 +3.561 86.832 53.376 103.192 20 02 Fred Bross/M 24 25:25.028 +15.206 +2.645 86.682 54.425 101.203 21 61 Tom Drake/M 24 25:31.196 +21.374 +6.168 86.333 54.996 100.153 22 31 Brendan Puderbach 21 25:15.120 4 Laps 3 Laps 76.342 54.665 100.759 23 91 Kyle Connery 20 17:01.692 5 Laps 1 Lap 107.821 50.314 109.473 24 25 Jeff McCusker/M 19 17:01.367 6 Laps 1 Lap 102.463 52.778 104.362 25 8 Dennis McCarthy 17 16:03.467 8 Laps 2 Laps 97.187 55.094 99.975 26 52 Dean Baker/M 16 26:42.494 9 Laps 1 Lap 54.994 52.827 104.265 DNS 16 Peter Gonzalez/M 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 15 Aaron Pettipas 0 -.--- - - - -.--- -

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