Starrantino Wins Despite Last Lap Contact

Starrantino marked his third win of the 2013 Championship for Bryan Herta Autosport team in the No. 98 Mygale/Honda despite the last lap drama. The victory was important for the young Californian, who needs to make up ground in the points to Telitz and Eidson with just four races to go.

“I didn’t have (the lead) off the back straight and Aaron got sideways in turn 11 and I tried to take an opportunity on the inside and in a responsive move I got into the grass a little bit. I got sideways and it was just a racing incident. It was tough,” said Starrantino, who won round eight of the 12-race season at Mid-Ohio. Starrantino was able to get his Mygale off the grass and back on track in time to take the win.

Telitz, driving the No. 13 Mygale/Honda for WISKO Racing, commented: “I got a little loose coming out of turn 12 and got up on the rumble strips and hugged the grass. Adrian just plowed right into the left rear and comes up right up over and into the front tire, breaking the steering. We had a fine race until then.”

Elsewhere in the pack, Eidson recovered despite contact on the opening laps with IndyCar driver Tristan Vautier. Eidson carved his way through the field to salvage points, nearly winning the race and maintaining his Championship lead with a second place finish and the fastest race lap on top of his Saturday win in the rain.

“I got a good start and worked my way up to third,” said Eidson, driving the No. 10 Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. “I had a good run into the keyhole and I think I passed Tristan on the outside and we both drifted out too far and into the gravel and fell back to last. I was surprised the car was okay, the Spectrum held together real well. I saw all the drama with the leaders on the last lap. I almost passed Adrian before the line. That was probably the craziest race I’ve ever been in.”

Bamford took the Masters Class win with a third place result in his Mygale/Honda.

“It was a tough race going back and forth. I saw Jake coming in my mirrors and I made a mistake on the last lap with the oil on the track. Then the two leaders hit each other and I ended up with third,” added Bamford.

The race was run flag-to-flag, with no full course cautions despite the incident involving Eidson and Vautier, who later retired with damage on the No. 16 Quantum Racing Services Van Diemen/Honda. The IndyCar driver started from pole but would not capitalize on either race at Mid-Ohio, finishing sixth after an incident on Saturday, and failing to finish today’s event.

Elsewhere, Sam Chastain and Ayla Agren ran strong in a huge group of cars battling for third until they both went off the track in turn one.

Paul Alspach put in a solid drive in the second WISKO entry to finish fourth ahead of Art Foster, Jim Goughary, Lew Cooper, Scott Rubenzer, Mike Scanlan and Wes Allen.

The F1600 Championship season continues with two of four remaining races at Mid-Ohio, August 9-11.

Race Results:

PosNo.NameLapsBest TmMake/ModelDiff 1 98 Adrian Starrantino 14 1:28.783 Mygale Honda - 2 10 Jake Eidson 14 1:28.400 Spectrum Honda +0.519 3 07 Steve Bamford/M 14 1:28.650 Mygale Honda +0.973 4 66 Paul Alspach 14 1:29.833 Mygale Honda +2.214 5 21 Art Foster/M 14 1:29.712 Spectrum Honda +7.126 6 7 Jim Goughary/M 14 1:29.530 Van Diemen Honda +9.846 7 0 Lewis Cooper III/M 14 1:29.695 Van Diemen Ford +11.183 8 31 Scott Rubenzer/M 14 1:31.290 Spectrum Honda +22.141 9 2 Mike Scanlan/M 14 1:32.161 Swift DB6 Honda +36.179 10 26 Wes Allen/M 14 1:31.443 Piper Honda +36.346 11 55 Ray Phillips/M 14 1:33.113 Van Diemen Honda +1:01.400 12 13 Aaron Telitz 13 1:28.810 Mygale Honda 1 Lap 13 16 Tristan Vautier 13 1:29.377 Van Diemen Honda +30.100 14 75 Don Baggett 11 1:34.707 Swift DB6 Ford 3 Laps 15 97 Sam Chastain 10 1:29.916 Mygale Honda 4 Laps 16 96 Ayla Agren 10 1:30.138 Mygale Honda +0.505 DNF 06 Austin McCusker 4 1:32.804 Van Diemen Honda 10 Laps DNS 18 Dan Pyanowski/M 0 -.--- Swift DB1 Ford -