vir-race

April 10, 2011
Goughary Leads

Alton, VA – Jim Goughary wrote his name into racing history books by taking the inaugural win in the history of the F1600 Formula F Championship Series in a Piper/Honda by five thousandths of a second in a thrilling side-by-side finish with John Robinson in a Swift/Ford under threatening skies at VIRginia International Raceway.

Goughary started from the fourth position on the 29-car grid which included nine different chassis manufacturers and two powerplants in the new Honda Fit or more traditional Ford Kent.

Goughary went side-by-side with Robinson for most of the last lap as the green and white flags dropped on a restart.

Bill Valet finished third ahead of a hard-charging Tim Kautz and Art Foster.

“It was fun, to be honest, it was extraordinarily close,” said Valet. “I don’t think I’ve ever gone two-by-two through the carousel, the whole way down, two rows deep. It was a good finish too; I can’t believe we are going to do it again tomorrow.”

Kautz leads Beasley

As the race unfolded, the polesitter, Sam Beasley, and standing National Champion Tim Kautz separated themselves from the pack. Beasley, an aspiring 17-year-old driver in his Mygale/Honda and Kautz, in a Piper/Ford ran in tandem, trading the lead back and forth before the two went off in turn five.

Kautz was able to rebound to finish fourth, slicing his way through the deep field from tenth, while damage ended Beasley’s day.

The start

Seventeen-year-old Colin Thompson was sixth, before Caitlin Johnston, Brian Graham, Sean Maisey and Mike Scanlan.

The top ten represented five Fords and five Hondas on an inaugural Series weekend that included much speculation and drama about engine equalization rules.

Follow live action with up-to-the-minute coverage, reporting and photos on F1600Series.com. Action gets started on Sunday at 12:15, with qualifying for the 4:00 green flag. All times are eastern.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 7 Jim Goughary 10 27:02.021 - - 72.576 2:01.540 96.857 2 19 John Robinson 10 27:02.026 +0.005 +0.005 72.576 2:01.542 96.855 3 83 Bill Valet 10 27:02.879 +0.858 +0.853 72.538 2:01.840 96.619 4 88 Tim Kautz 10 27:02.939 +0.918 +0.060 72.535 2:00.914 97.358 5 23 Art Foster 10 27:03.266 +1.245 +0.327 72.520 2:02.939 95.755 6 5 Colin Thompson 10 27:03.313 +1.292 +0.047 72.518 2:01.707 96.724 7 68 Caitlin Johnston 10 27:03.782 +1.761 +0.469 72.497 2:02.633 95.994 8 6 Brian Graham 10 27:05.222 +3.201 +1.440 72.433 2:02.444 96.142 9 99 Sean Maisey 10 27:05.968 +3.947 +0.746 72.400 2:05.244 93.993 10 2 Mike Scanlan 10 27:06.757 +4.736 +0.789 72.365 2:04.767 94.352 11 11 Doug Stout 10 27:08.800 +6.779 +2.043 72.274 2:06.395 93.137 12 53 Russ McBride 10 27:10.920 +8.899 +2.120 72.180 2:06.828 92.819 13 0 Lewis Cooper III 10 27:11.141 +9.120 +0.221 72.170 2:04.402 94.629 14 76 Jim Lee 10 27:11.296 +9.275 +0.155 72.163 2:07.017 92.681 15 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 10 27:11.854 +9.833 +0.558 72.139 2:08.050 91.933 16 60 Dwight Rider 10 27:12.265 +10.244 +0.411 72.121 2:08.273 91.773 17 21 John Butkovitch 10 27:13.126 +11.105 +0.861 72.083 2:09.246 91.082 18 33 Len Amato 10 27:15.233 +13.212 +2.107 71.990 2:06.892 92.772 19 3 Ric Baribeault 10 27:15.957 +13.936 +0.724 71.958 2:09.614 90.824 20 41 Bill Maisey 10 27:17.400 +15.379 +1.443 71.894 2:09.527 90.885 21 18 Dan Pyanowski 10 27:17.497 +15.476 +0.097 71.890 2:07.313 92.465 22 31 Brian Copperthite 10 27:18.303 +16.282 +0.806 71.855 2:10.113 90.475 23 36 Steve Roux 10 27:18.326 +16.305 +0.023 71.854 2:09.545 90.872 24 01 Ryan Leach 9 25:06.980 1 Lap 1 Lap 70.305 2:05.229 94.004 25 13 Jason Generotti 5 10:40.072 5 Laps 4 Laps 91.958 2:04.682 94.416 26 9 Sam Beasley 4 8:11.207 6 Laps 1 Lap 95.862 2:00.919 97.354 27 8 Jacob Carpenter 3 6:27.494 7 Laps 1 Lap 91.139 2:06.168 93.304 28 72 Steve Oseth 1 2:14.574 9 Laps 2 Laps 87.476 2:13.848 87.951 29 07 Steve Bamford 1 2:24.134 +9.560 +9.560 81.674 2:20.999 83.490

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