Minor Paces Thursday Practice

July 1, 2011
Tim Minor was the fastest on the combined time sheets.

Lexington, OH – Masters Class veteran Tim Minor ended up on the top of the combined time sheets after three twilight practice sessions for the F2000 Championship Series at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in his #88 Ski Motorsports Van Diemen. Minor was followed by Championship leader Remy Audette, who was second fastest ahead of Zach Veach, for ArmsUp Motorsports, Kyle Connery and John LaRue.

Tomasi was quick, now back in the Van Diemen

Brian Tomasi is back in the #96 Van Diemen/Zetec after spending the previous rounds in a RFR chassis, and immediately showed his speed posting the seventh overall fastest time. Tomasi paced the opening session of the weekend and was solidly in the top ten for the following two sessions.

La Rocca was quickest of the RFR cars despite this off.

With Tomasi back in the Van Diemen, and Niki Coello not racing this weekend, Robert La Rocca resumed the duties of being the fastest RFR, driving for HP-Tech Motorsport. La Rocca was second fastest in the final session of the day and seventh overall as HP-Tech unveils another round of chassis updates this weekend.

Last year’s Mid-Ohio winner, Chris Livengood, driving for Work Racing with support from John Walko Racing, missed the first session along with Fat Boy Racing teammates Brendan Puderbach and Charles Finelli, after the John Walko Racing tractor trailer encounter problems in Ohio. However, the rig made it in time to put all three cars on the ground for before dark fell in Ohio.

Livengood found enough speed off the trailer for eighth quick ahead of Spencer Pigot and Jonathan Scarallo on combined timesheets.

Polestar Racing Group continued to impress, putting Masters Class veteran Bill Jordan in 12th overall, teammates Mark Defer and Dan Denison were 13th and 16th, respectively.

Morcom got track time in the first session before issues.

Nathan Morcom bounced back from an incredibly rough, four-engine weekend at Watkins Glen to gain some track time in the first session for Primus Racing before sitting out the second and third sessions with continued issues.

“It looks like the problems at Watkins Glen started with some debris from a crack in the first engine block getting into the oil system,” he said.

“The season will only reach the halfway mark here at Mid-Ohio, so there’s still time to come back from sixth in the points,” Morcom explained.

“I’m confident that with trouble-free race weekends I can finish on the podium consistently.”

Meanwhile, Tim Paul battled through overheating problems on the #06 “Batmobile” for SMR/GTP Motorsports. Paul ran well at Watkins Glen, logging his best finish to date, fourth, in race one.

Series officials also took the Thursday practice day as an opportunity to put a stop to some games going on in the paddock. Now, all registered cars are required to have working transponders for all timed sessions.

The much talked about Radon chassis.

Missing from action at Mid-Ohio was again the new Radon chassis. A statement prepared by the chassis manufacturer said that the car is on the ground and rolling. The chassis is expected to make its debut at Mosport, July 22-24, for rounds nine and 10 of the 2011 F2000 season. 2006 F2000 Champion Matt “Fast-Matt” McDonough is confirmed to be the development driver for the Radon chassis. Chassis Rn.10.001 will be driven in the F2000 Championship Series by Blake Teeter.

Friday, July 1 continues with two 25-minute qualifying sessions, at 3:30 and 4:25, and the first race of the weekend 5:20. Series officials will determine if and how to split the field for the qualifying sessions during a morning drivers’ meeting.

Saturday’s schedule mimics the Friday schedule but with a 9:30 a.m. “Town Hall” style F2000 meeting so Series officials can request feedback on the direction of the Championship.

Combined Practice Results:

Pos Name Overall BestTm R1. Best Tm R2. Best Tm R3. Best Tm 1 Tim Minor/M 1:24.407 1:25.524 1:24.407 1:25.402 2 Remy Audette 1:24.651 1:24.983 1:24.651 1:24.991 3 Zach Veach 1:24.675 1:43.375 1:24.675 1:25.072 4 Kyle Connery 1:24.696 1:26.505 1:24.696 -.--- 5 John LaRue 1:24.710 1:26.708 1:24.710 1:25.667 6 Brian Tomasi 1:24.771 1:24.825 1:24.867 1:24.771 7 Robert La Rocca 1:24.791 1:25.910 1:25.335 1:24.791 8 Chris Livengood 1:24.882 -.--- -.--- 1:24.882 9 Spencer Pigot 1:25.267 1:32.161 1:25.842 1:25.267 10 Jonathan Scarallo 1:25.296 1:26.212 1:26.027 1:25.296 11 Joe Colasacco 1:25.387 1:27.154 1:25.387 1:25.702 12 Bill Jordan/M 1:25.442 1:27.332 -.--- 1:25.442 13 Mark Defer/M 1:25.519 1:26.265 -.--- 1:25.519 14 Ethan Ringel 1:25.643 1:27.012 1:25.643 1:26.114 15 Enzo Potolicchio/M 1:25.897 1:27.524 1:26.805 1:25.897 16 Dan Denison/M 1:25.915 1:26.472 1:25.915 1:26.151 17 Tom Fatur/M 1:25.938 1:26.612 1:25.938 -.--- 18 Dave Weitzenhof/M 1:26.140 1:27.078 1:26.140 -.--- 19 Angel Benitez 1:26.141 1:27.633 1:26.141 1:26.175 20 Robert Wright/M 1:26.376 1:27.897 1:26.376 -.--- 21 Gustavo Rizzo 1:26.719 1:29.966 1:26.719 1:27.126 22 Nathan Morcom 1:27.139 1:27.139 1:27.151 -.--- 23 Ardie Greenamyer/M 1:27.258 1:28.754 1:27.258 7:00.345 24 Jeff McCusker/M 1:27.288 -.--- 1:27.288 1:28.573 25 Tim Paul 1:27.404 1:32.559 1:27.623 1:27.404 26 Craig Clawson/M 1:27.438 1:27.438 1:27.972 1:27.824 27 Francis Kennette 1:29.548 1:31.033 -.--- 1:29.548 28 Charles Finelli/M 1:29.606 -.--- -.--- 1:29.606 29 Brendan Puderbach 1:30.432 -.--- 1:41.502 1:30.432 30 Rodin Younessi 1:33.077 1:38.876 1:33.077 1:34.510 31 Sam Yoydanoff -.--- -.--- -.--- -.---

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