Starrantino Wins with Last Lap Pass at VIR

 The race was shortened in part by an early full course caution and eventual red flag for Mike Scanlan and Caitlin Johnston, who came together on the opening lap. Both drivers were okay but the crash required extensive clean-up, giving the field just a handful of laps of green flag again around VIRginia International Raceway as the race officials declared a time race (12 laps, or 30 minutes).

When the green flag dropped again, Starrantino, Eidson and Bamford separated themselves from the pack along with Aaron Telitz

After swapping the lead back and forth, Eidson led to the white flag in the Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports while Telitz was looking for the lead as well – but slid off on the last lap in turn one in the WISKO Mygale/Honda. That lead pack also spent time bumpdrafting and interlocking wheels around the 17-turn VIR in another great F1600 race – picking up on where the Series left off in 2012.

“I knew we had a good car,” said the 18-year-old Starrantino, in just his third F1600 start. “With the red flag we adjusted our strategy and then traded the lead back and forth. Jake led to the last lap but I knew I had a shot on the back straight.”

Eidson finished second by less than a car length in his dramatic F1600 debut for Cape Motorsports.

“Every lap we were trading the lead back and forth. It was a matter of positioning on the last lap,” added the American.

Steve Bamford took the Masters Class victory, finishing third in the Rice Race Prep Mygale/Honda, and also competing in the weekend’s F2000 Championship Series rounds.

“It was a busy day with two cars, I think the WISKO car missed a shift on the last lap,” Bamford said. “We were going back and forth for the lead, what a great race.”

Telitz did finish fourth, barely holding off Jeremy Grenier. Art Foster was sixth ahead of Franklin Futrelle for Raceworks. Then it was Ayla Agren, in her Series debut, Lewis Cooper, in the first Ford-powered car for Polestar, and Joe Colasacco was tenth.

Bryan Herta Autosport newcomer Sam Chastain was shuffled to the back of the field on the opening lap and recovered to finish 11th. Tim Kautz also got sent back through the field, hanging on to finish 12th in his No. 88 Piper/Honda.

The weekend continues Sunday, April 14, with qualifying at 1:00pm local time for race two of the 2013 season, followed by a 4:00pm race start. Updates, audio and timing are available on www.f1600series.com.

Race Results

PosNo.NameClassLapsTotal TmDiffGapAvg. SpeedBest Tm 1 98 Adrian Starrantino F16. 9 31:36.140 - - 55.876 2:01.406 2 10 Jake Eidson F16. 9 31:36.458 +0.318 +0.318 55.866 2:01.751 3 07 Steve Bamford/M F16. 9 31:37.627 +1.487 +1.169 55.832 2:01.866 4 13 Aaron Telitz F16. 9 31:37.652 +1.512 +0.025 55.831 2:02.081 5 12 Jeremy Grenier F16. 9 31:42.330 +6.190 +4.678 55.694 2:02.261 6 21 Art Foster/M F16. 9 31:42.841 +6.701 +0.511 55.679 2:02.279 7 9 Franklin Futrelle F16. 9 31:42.843 +6.703 +0.002 55.679 2:02.315 8 96 Ayla Agren F16. 9 31:43.103 +6.963 +0.260 55.671 2:02.279 9 0 Lewis Cooper III/M F16 9 31:43.104 +6.964 +0.001 55.671 2:02.214 10 3 Joe Colasacco/M F16. 9 31:43.882 +7.742 +0.778 55.648 2:02.604 11 97 Sam Chastain F16. 9 31:44.388 +8.248 +0.506 55.634 2:01.904 12 88 Tim Kautz F16. 9 31:46.363 +10.223 +1.975 55.576 2:01.643 13 31 Scott Rubenzer/M F16. 9 31:46.884 +10.744 +0.521 55.561 2:03.015 14 7 Jim Goughary/M F16. 9 31:47.157 +11.017 +0.273 55.553 2:03.505 15 06 Austin McCuster F16. 9 31:48.504 +12.364 +1.347 55.514 2:03.331 16 16 Haru Tanaka F16. 9 32:05.054 +28.914 +16.550 55.036 2:06.389 17 5 Dan Oseth F16. 9 32:06.336 +30.196 +1.282 55.000 2:05.402 18 18 Dan Pyanowski/M F16 9 32:08.699 +32.559 +2.363 54.932 2:06.780 19 55 Ray Phillips/M F16. 9 32:10.051 +33.911 +1.352 54.894 2:08.296 20 36 Steve Roux F16. 5 23:35.168 4 Laps 4 Laps 41.592 2:25.309 DNF 76 Jim Lee F16 2 6:13.281 7 Laps 3 Laps 63.073 2:23.391 DNF 2 Mike Scanlan/M F16. 1 3:47.842 8 Laps 1 Lap 51.667 3:43.377 DNF 68 Caitlin Johnston F16. 1 3:48.063 +0.221 +0.221 51.617 3:43.845