koykka-wins-lime-rock-race-1
Lakeville, CT – Matias Koykka started from pole and never looked back, leading all 30 laps to his second F1600 Formula F Championship Series victory in three races, driving the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Koykka made it a perfect points morning, setting fast lap, to win over Brandon Newey, who leads the points, and Jeremy Grenier.
Koykka made it look easy, cruising to a win, and coming off a second race at VIR that saw a DNF for the young Fin after wheel to wheel contact while battling for the lead with the two Bryan Herta Autosport cars.
“The start was important to get ahead of Brandon,” explained Koykka. “I knew he was fast but the car was great, the team has done a good job on the car, I hope we can repeat this afternoon.”
Koykka will also start on pole for race two of the weekend, due to setting fast lap in race one.
Newey, meanwhile, in the Mygale/Honda, was a distant distance from Koykka after all 30 green-flag laps. The American started second after missing almost all the practice sessions with problems on his car.
“I got caught up with some lapped cars on the back straight and lost touch with Matias,” Newey said. “I overheated my tires and couldn’t catch up. The car is great on tires that aren’t too hot, hopefully we’ll do better this afternoon.”
Jeremy Grenier rounded out the podium in his best F1600 finish to date in the No. 12 Citation/Honda, making it three different chassis in the top three.
“I got jumped on the start but was able to re-pass a few cars going into turn one,” Grenier noted. “I was right behind the leaders but they stretched the gap out pretty quickly. It was an uneventful race and I’m happy to be on the podium.”
And there were four different chassis in the top four too, as Roberto Lorena came home fourth in a Van Diemen/Honda, also his best effort so far this year.
2011 Lime Rock race winner Art Foster completed the top five in a Van Diemen/Ford, the first of all the Ford entries.
CellMark Hard Charger honors went to a very hard charging Bill Valet, who started last and finished sixth in the No. 83 Swift DB-6/Ford.
Valet suffered gearbox problems in qualifying, didn’t turn a lap, and the defending race winner and Series Championship ran strong, and will start well into the top ten in race two, with a grid based on fast laps.
Completing the top ten behind Valet were Steve Oseth, Joe Colasacco, Bob Detrick and Ross Devoe.
The day continues with the second race of the weekend, scheduled for 30 laps or 30 minutes at 4:00 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 10 Matias Koykka 30 27:24.214 - - 100.498 53.698 102.574 2 98 Brandon Newey 30 27:31.335 +7.121 +7.121 100.064 53.763 102.450 3 12 Jeremy Grenier 30 27:37.167 +12.953 +5.832 99.712 54.637 100.811 4 17 Roberto Lorena 30 27:47.146 +22.932 +9.979 99.115 54.856 100.408 5 21 Art Foster 30 27:51.366 +27.152 +4.220 98.865 54.831 100.454 6 83 Bill Valet 30 27:55.728 +31.514 +4.362 98.608 54.859 100.403 7 72 Steve Oseth 30 27:55.886 +31.672 +0.158 98.599 54.761 100.583 8 3 Joe Colasacco 30 28:08.093 +43.879 +12.207 97.886 55.319 99.568 9 4 Bob Detrick 30 28:17.267 +53.053 +9.174 97.357 55.469 99.299 10 14 Ross Devoe 30 28:26.015 +1:01.801 +8.748 96.857 54.947 100.242 11 97 Garett Grist 29 27:26.853 1 Lap 1 Lap 96.992 54.658 100.772 12 2 Mike Scanlan 29 27:29.181 +2.328 +2.328 96.855 55.825 98.665 13 11 Doug Stout 29 27:54.476 +27.623 +25.295 95.392 56.511 97.468 14 44 Ed Callo 29 28:05.420 +38.567 +10.944 94.773 57.053 96.542 15 99 Sean Maisey 28 27:45.223 2 Laps 1 Lap 92.615 57.375 96.000 16 01 John McCusker 28 27:51.272 +6.049 +6.049 92.279 56.790 96.989