Ming Wins at Watkins Glen
Watkins Glen, NY - Calvin Ming won the morning F1600 race at Watkins Glen on Sunday in the No. 82 Team Pelfrey Mygale, leading the final two laps of the timed event to the checkered flag ahead of Neil Verhagen and Saturday winner Phillippe Denes in an action-packed round five of the 2016 season. Steve Bamford won the Masters Class with a fourth place finish, ahead of Max Mallinen in fifth place.
"I was just trying to keep my head down, keep my marks, and minimize my mistakes," said Ming. "In the end it worked out. It was definitely a good battle. I would like to thank Team Pelfrey on a great car this weekend."
With Denes leading from pole at the drop of the green, Ming moved up from the second row to slot in behind his teammate exiting turn one as the field charged up the hill at Watkins Glen.
The Team Pelfrey duo then worked together to open a gap back to Bamford and Verhagen, who ran third and fourth, respectively, in the opening laps. That lead was brought down to zero, however, when the safety car was deployed for a full-course caution for an incident involving Mike Scanlan, Dan Pyanowski and Ryan Bjerke.
With cleanup done, the green flag came back out, with Ming challenging Denes in turn one, and Bamford taking the inside line, three-wide, and powering into the lead. The shuffling continued with two laps to go, as Ming took the lead back and Verhagen closed and made his way to second for K-Hill. At the white flag, Ming led Denes with Verhagen closely following.
Ming led to the checkered for the victory, while Verhagen got back around Denes for second place.
Bamford and Mallinen, who started 11th, completed the top five. Ben Auriemma raced from 13th to sixth, while his Exclusive Autsoport teammate Will Harvey made his way from 12th to seventh. Of note, Peter Portante retired with a suspension failure.
While Bamford won the Masters Class, Joel Haas and Thomas Schwietz were second and third in the class, respectively.