gooden-wins-close-race-at-the-glen
Watkins Glen, NY – After a non-race on Saturday following an opening-lap incident, F1600 Formula F Championship Series competitors got round nine of the 2011 season underway on a cold-but-dry Sunday morning at Watkins Glen. Wyatt Gooden, driving a Van Diemen/Honda for Quantum Racing Services, led from pole for his third win, by just a nose, of 2011, in just three starts, in a shortened race due to a crash on lap seven.
Ryan Leach finished second for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in a Spectrum/Honda, with Bill Valet completing the podium in a Swift/Ford.
In the Championship battle, with Tim Kautz only able to finish seventh, Valet cuts Kautz’s lead to just three points with drops calculated. The season finale, round 10 of 2011, will decide the Championship between those two later this afternoon.
Wyatt Gooden, however, remains perfect in F1600, with three wins in three starts, and also set fast lap during the race – meaning he will start from pole in race two.
“It was a good race, but you had to be in the right place at the right time with the draft, it was a bit strategic,” said Gooden, after a race that saw the leaders run nose-to-tail.
Leach scores his second straight podium in the Australian-built Spectrum, leading a handful of laps, adding: “The car was great, but I didn’t know the race was going to end that early, I think that changed things a bit.” Leach said he was confident for the afternoon’s race where he will line up seventh.
Bill Valet clawed back valuable Championship points and said: “We increased our overall points lead but with drops we are still behind, although we closed the gap. We’ll have to see what happens this afternoon. I’m surprised to see Tim that far back. The car has the pace to run at the front today.”
Tim Kautz said he was not going fast enough to finish higher up, citing an “engine power issue” in his Piper/Ford.
After Valet, completing the top five were Jeremy Grenier and Chris Keller, with Jim Goughary (Jimmi Googlioni) in sixth place.
Gooden will lead the field to the green flag in the season finale, followed on the grid, set by race one fastest laps, by Keller, Valet, Goughary, Grenier, Kautz and Leach.
The season finale gets going at 2:10 local time, follow live updates at F1600Series.com
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 17 Wyatt Gooden 7 14:13.387 - - 99.514 1:59.361 101.641 2 16 Ryan Leach 7 14:13.466 +0.079 +0.079 99.505 1:59.903 101.182 3 83 Bill Valet 7 14:13.948 +0.561 +0.482 99.449 1:59.686 101.365 4 12 Jeremy Grenier 7 14:14.279 +0.892 +0.331 99.410 1:59.798 101.270 5 31 Chris Keller 7 14:14.586 +1.199 +0.307 99.374 1:59.459 101.558 6 7 Jimmi Googlioni 7 14:15.313 +1.926 +0.727 99.290 1:59.781 101.285 7 88 Tim Kautz 7 14:16.182 +2.795 +0.869 99.189 1:59.901 101.183 8 24 Art Foster 7 14:29.552 +16.165 +13.370 97.664 2:01.560 99.803 9 5 Colin Thompson 7 14:29.787 +16.400 +0.235 97.638 2:01.516 99.839 10 71 Forrest Hull 7 14:29.811 +16.424 +0.024 97.635 2:01.582 99.785 11 68 Caitlin Johnston 7 14:30.320 +16.933 +0.509 97.578 2:01.799 99.607 12 72 Steve Oseth 7 14:36.958 +23.571 +6.638 96.839 2:03.094 98.559 13 6 John Grooms 7 14:37.539 +24.152 +0.581 96.775 2:03.508 98.228 14 4 Bob Detrick 7 14:47.927 +34.540 +10.388 95.643 2:05.026 97.036 15 11 Doug Stout 7 14:47.990 +34.603 +0.063 95.636 2:05.083 96.992 16 69 Erik Shepard 7 14:48.082 +34.695 +0.092 95.626 2:04.696 97.293 17 15 Jim Oseth 7 14:55.319 +41.932 +7.237 94.853 2:05.627 96.572 18 13 Greg Rice 7 15:11.765 +58.378 +16.446 93.142 2:07.133 95.428 19 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 7 15:25.791 +1:12.404 +14.026 91.731 2:08.923 94.103 20 44 Ed Callo 7 15:30.652 +1:17.265 +4.861 91.252 2:09.726 93.520 21 2 Mike Scanlan 5 10:36.407 2 Laps 2 Laps 95.316 2:04.806 97.207 DNF 18 Dan Pyanowski 2 4:34.898 5 Laps 3 Laps 88.265 2:13.130 91.129 DNF 8 Jacob Carpenter 0 2.306 7 Laps 2 Laps - -.--- - DNS 64 David Clubine 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 3 Joe Colasacco 0 -.--- - - - -.--- - DNS 36 Steve Roux 0 -.--- - - - -.--- -