Robinson Takes Thompson Victory
Thompson, CT – Skylar Robinson took his second win of the 2014 F2000 Championship season, finding a way past Sam Beasley for the lead and pulling out a gap to the checkered flag at Thompson Speedway. Robinson scored the victory, gaining back some valuable points in the title-chase for his No. 6 Eric Langbein Racing Entry. Beasley finished second for Polestar while Thomas McGregor completed the podium for Exclusive Autosport.
“Both Sam and I have been fast this weekend,” said Robinson, who started on pole but lost the lead on the start. “I kept my head down and threw it down the inside in turn one to get the lead back. We have some work to do tomorrow – me on the driving side – to repeat this.”
Robinson gains a few points back on Tim Minor in the Championship chase, but will need a perfect end of season combined with some poor luck for Minor, to challenge for the title. Minor finished fourth in round 11 of the 14-race season.
Beasley couldn’t quite match his double-win performance in the Polestar entry that saw him take two wins in two days at Pittsburgh earlier this month.
“The car was really good at the start but it went away a bit,” said Beasley, who looks to move ahead of McGregor to third in the Championship standings.
Beasley was nearly run down by McGregor, who had his Spectrum entry come alive late in the race and quickly caught the No. 44.
“The balance came to me,” noted McGregor, who won at VIR earlier in the year. “We’ve had a tough August but today is a good base for the last three races.”
Winning the Masters Class, Minor moved closer to clinch his second-straight Championship with a fourth place finish in the No. 88 Citation.
John McCusker was looking good for fourth until Minor found a way by late in the race, with McCusker settling for fifth, and he was the first of five RFRs that took the green flag.
Completing the top ten were David Grant, Steve Bamford, Kevin Kopp, Trent Walko and Jim Libecco.
Chris Monteleone improved the most positions, going from 18th on the grid to an 11th place finish in the only Pinto-powered car in the field.
Tim Paul ran as high as fourth before a crash. Paul was okay but the incident will leave the Screaming Monkey Racing crew up late on Saturday night.
The race started with a turn-one crash involving Bob Wright and Quinlan Lall. Wright’s No. 90 saw air-time and significant damage, and will most likely be withdrawn for the weekend. Lall’s car escaped with damage to the rear, and Momentum Motorsports should have the car ready for Sunday’s second race at Thompson.
The weekend concludes on Sunday, August 31, from Thompson with a 12:25 p.m. qualifying session followed by a 3:40 p.m. green flag for a 25-lap race, round 12 of the 14-race 2014 season.