Minor Wins on Sunday at Mid-Ohio
Lexington, OH – Tim Minor took the lead from the outside of the front row on the start and managed a one second gap to cruise to another F2000 Championship Series win at Mid-Ohio. The Championship points leader marks a nice recovery from a Thursday testing crash and Saturday third place finish to take the top step of the podium ahead of Thomas McGregor and the Exclusive Autosport Spectrum. John LaRue, Saturday’s Mid-Ohio winner, was third.
"That was a great race, it was real fun," said Minor. "The slower cars were a bit of a problem for McGregor. I had a great start and he hung with me, I was faster in turn one, and he was faster in turn three."
McGregor brought home more hardware for the No. 93 with his second place trophy, although it wasn’t quite the result that saw him win at VIR in June.
"Thanks to Exclusive Autosport this weekend," said McGregor. "We worked really hard. I wanted the win badly but I'll take second and we'll get them next time."
LaRue, in a one off appearance, set fastest lap and was fastest in qualifying, but lost two grid spots with a spin that stopped the session. The veteran driver never quite recovered from the start that saw him drop to fifth, while Minor and McGregor escaped.
Skylar Robinson, who won the opening round of the F2000 season at Road Atlanta, bettered his Saturday finish by one spot, coming home in fourth in the No. 6 Eric Langbein Racing entry.
Jim Libecco charged at the race start, moving from sixth to third, but couldn’t fend off the faster cars, finishing sixth. David Grant followed in seventh in the No. 29 Spectrum for Polestar.
John McCusker held off Tim Paul for eighth, with Paul moving up from his 15th place starting position in the No. 06 Screaming Monkey Racing entry., Jason Rabe completed the top ten, picking off a few cars over 19 laps, improving from 14th to tenth in the K-Hill No. 14.
After laps led and a second place finish on Saturday, Sam Beasley couldn’t quite find the speed in his No. 44, finishing 11th.
After running in contention for the top five early, Kevin Kopp spun and spent most of the race stuck in a gravel trap. Other notes included Robert Wright retiring after three laps and Dan Denison never making the start.
The F2000 Series continues the first weekend of August from Pittsburgh International Race Complex, rounds nine and 10 of the 2014 season.
Race Results:
PosNo.NameLapsBest TmMake/ModelDiff 1 88 Tim Minor/M 19 1:24.346 Citation F2k - 2 93 Thomas McGregor 19 1:24.248 Spectrum 014Z +2.437 3 17 John Larue/M 19 1:24.093 Citation Snipe +3.214 4 6 Skylar Robinson 19 1:24.441 Citation +10.584 5 98 Jim Libecco 19 1:25.155 Van Diemen Rf05 +20.294 6 77 Sergio Pasian 19 1:24.837 Van Diemen Rf +20.667 7 29 David Grant 19 1:24.843 Spectrum 014Z +22.102 8 01 John McCusker 19 1:25.546 Rfr 12 +26.533 9 06 Timothy Paul 19 1:25.520 Van Diemen +27.047 10 14 Jason Rabe 19 1:25.341 Van Diemen +28.224 11 44 Sam Beasley 19 1:25.287 Van Diemen +29.024 12 02 Robert Allaer/M 19 1:25.251 Van Diemen Rf02 +29.638 13 91 Trent Walko 19 1:25.171 Rfr +30.451 14 28 Joey Selmants 19 1:24.732 Van Dieman Rf00 +31.233 15 1 Quinlan Lall 19 1:25.932 Van Diemen +45.795 16 07 Steve Bamford/M 19 1:25.036 Van Diemen Rf08 +52.208 17 27 Craig Clawson/M 19 1:27.138 Van Diemen Rf01 +1:15.373 18 83 Charles Finelli/M 19 1:26.509 Van Diemen RF01 +1:22.137 19 7 Gary Machiko/M 18 1:27.765 Van Diemen Rf98 1 Lap 20 23 Connor Gawry 18 1:27.522 Van Diemen Rf02 +0.173 21 12 Bob Reid/M 18 1:29.643 Rfr +31.902 22 66 Kevin Kopp 15 1:25.255 Van Diemen 4 Laps 23 68 Steve Jenks/M 10 1:27.170 Van Diemen RF 00 9 Laps DNF 31 Brendan Puderbach 5 1:30.811 Rfr 14 Laps DNF 90 Robert Wright/M 3 1:29.918 Radon Rn10 16 Laps DNS 51 Dan Denison/M 0 -.--- Van Diemen RF05 -