Morcom Hangs on for Crazy Win at VIR

Morcom started from fourth, avoiding the first turn melee that erupted behind him to take out some eight cars, and hung on during a lengthy caution period that saw some other competitors go to rain tires as the skies opened over VIR.

“We took a gamble on the slicks, and it was just absolutely radical out there,” commented Morcom. “To win the first race, I couldn’t be happier.”

Robert La Rocca, in the new RFR/Zetec for HP-Tech Motorsports, led for a few laps, hanging on, also on dry tires in his Series debut, to finish second.

“It was crazy on the slicks, there was no grip anywhere,” La Rocca, from Venezuela, commented. “We weren’t sure if it was going back to green or not and then it did, so I just hung on and tried to bring the car back in one piece.”

La Rocca’s HP-Tech teammate, Giancarlo Potolicchio, finished 12th in a solid opening debut for the team in the F2000 Championship Series with the much talked about RFR chassis.

Chris Livengood, who started last after crashing in qualifying, finished third by a nose to La Rocca, as the former race winner’s John Walko Racing/Work Racing team brought him in during the lengthy caution to change to Hoosier rain tires. Livengood takes the CellMark Paper Hard Charger award for moving up 25 positions.

“I just tried not to get involved in the crashes,” explained Livengood. “John’s call to go to rain tires was perfect and the crew did a great job getting it done quickly.”

Remy Audette finished fourth after starting 11th, also going to rain tires during the caution period. Audette has been fast all weekend thus far and will be a factor in Sunday’s second race.

Both Livengood and Audette were able to literally charge through the field on their Hoosier rains before the race ended early due to lightening threatening corner workers around the 17-turn road course.

Ardie Greenamyer was the first of the Masters Class drivers, finishing fifth overall, but had started the race on the Hoosier rain tires. Tim Paul, driving for SMR/GTP Motorsports, was looking good for a podium also after starting the race on rain tires but went off on the last lap, relegating him to 20th.

Steele Guilana, Morcom's Primus teammate, finished sixth ahead of Dave Weitzenhof, Craig Clawson, Gustavo Rizzo, driving for Alegra Motorsports, and Jose Colasacco.

Tim Minor was a force early, taking over the point from La Rocca on the opening lap. However, Minor’s gamble to stay on dry tires didn’t pay off, as the quick Masters Class pilot crashed in turn four late in the race.

The race was marred by opening lap carnage that involved eight cars in the middle of the field, leading to a lengthy caution period for cleanup that produced exciting pitstops as rain continued to pour down and teams made strategy calls.

Jonathan Scarallo was caught up in the opening race incident and had a firsthand view: “Brent (Gilkes) spun in front of me and in avoidance of t-boning him, I dropped a wheel on the wet grass and the car got ripped around, and I just got caught up with Mark Defer.”

Scarallo’s day was done with rear wing and diffuser damage, but the young American hopes to rebound tomorrow to his race-winning form seen last season at Elkhart Lake.

Polesitter Kyle Connery missed the start as heavy damage to the #91 was not repaired in time. Connery will have to bounce back tomorrow as the weekend continues on Sunday with another qualifying session for race two of the 14-race, seven-event 2011 season.

Follow live action with up-to-the-minute coverage, reporting and photos on F2000Series.com and on Twitter @F2000. Action gets started on Sunday at 12:45, with qualifying for the 4:30 green flag. All times are eastern.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 2 Nathan Morcom 20:43.002 - - 56.824 2:21.253 83.340 2 10 Robert La Rocca 20:47.191 +4.189 +4.189 56.633 2:20.455 83.813 3 37 Chris Livengood 20:47.310 +4.308 +0.119 56.627 2:25.730 80.780 4 21 Remy Audette 20:49.671 +6.669 +2.361 56.520 2:21.456 83.220 5 29 Ardie Greenamyer/M 20:50.545 +7.543 +0.874 56.481 2:23.637 81.957 6 13 Steele Guiliana 21:02.361 +19.359 +11.816 55.952 2:30.287 78.330 7 67 Dave Weitzenhof/M 21:02.991 +19.989 +0.630 55.924 2:25.582 80.862 8 27 Craig Clawson/M 21:08.198 +25.196 +5.207 55.695 2:27.592 79.760 9 23 Gustavo Rizzo 21:09.396 +26.394 +1.198 55.642 2:21.440 83.230 10 3 Joe Colasacco 21:23.236 +40.234 +13.840 55.042 2:42.790 72.314 11 42 Bill Jordan/M 21:24.313 +41.311 +1.077 54.996 2:42.878 72.275 12 22 Giancarlo Potolicchio 21:34.230 +51.228 +9.917 54.575 2:25.448 80.936 13 25 Jeff McCusker/M 21:38.348 +55.346 +4.118 54.401 2:25.301 81.018 14 60 Mark Felsen 21:40.660 +57.658 +2.312 54.305 2:53.434 67.876 15 26 Angel Benitez 21:40.787 +57.785 +0.127 54.299 2:38.126 74.447 16 88 Tim Minor/M 21:42.443 +59.441 +1.656 54.230 2:19.775 84.221 17 90 Robert Wright/M 21:42.971 +59.969 +0.528 54.208 2:30.217 78.367 18 72 Francis Kennette 21:49.173 +1:06.171 +6.202 53.952 2:35.606 75.653 19 51 Dan Denison/M 22:17.514 +1:34.512 +28.341 52.808 2:30.236 78.357 20 06 Tim Paul 18:15.616 1 Lap 1 Lap 53.723 2:23.070 82.281 21 89 Rob Nicholas/M 15:45.948 2 Laps 1 Lap 49.779 2:22.435 82.648 22 96 Brian Tomasi 21:09.942 +5:23.994 +5:23.994 37.079 2:34.586 76.152 23 94 Al Guibord,Sr./M 14:17.932 3 Laps 1 Lap 41.164 2:42.077 72.632 24 7 Brent Gilkes/M 1.149 6 Laps 3 Laps - -.--- - 25 70 Tom Fatur/M 1.202 +0.053 +0.053 - -.--- - 26 4 Jonathan Scarallo 1.293 +0.144 +0.091 - -.--- - 27 8 Mark Defer/M 1.744 +0.595 +0.451 - -.--- - DNS 91 Kyle Connery -.--- - - - -.--- -