thompson-scores-first-win-in-mid-ohio-shootout

For Thompson, his first F1600 win was scored from pole in round seven of the 12-round 2012 season, although the teenager led just a handful of laps in the No. 5 TTO Motorsports Swift DB6/Honda.

“That was by far the best race I’ve ever been in,” said Thompson. “You had no idea who was going to lead the next lap and there was a bit of a shuffle there at the end. Every lap something was happening. With three to go I got around Garett Grist for fourth, we actually scrubbed wheels, and I went around the outside in madness for the lead when a backmarker got in the way on the inside.”

The Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing duo was second and third in their Spectrum/Hondas, with some decent black tire marks on the nose of both cars.

“That was the best race of the year so far,” said Koykka, from Finland, who finished second, and has won two races already this season. Koykka also closes the points gap on leader Brandon Newey, who finished fifth.

Meanwhile, teammate Davies, from Australia, who won both races at New Jersey in his first ever F1600 appearance, noted that contact halfway through the race left hurt his suspension.

The first of the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/ Agajanian Mygale/Hondas was fourth – Garett Grist, with teammate Brandon Newey rounding out the top five. Both of those cars, however, could have easily won the race.

“With two laps to go a lapped car got in everyone’s way,” explained Newey. “Shae and Matias both hit him and I slammed on the brakes, letting Colin and Garett by. After that Matias was spraying water everywhere the last two laps, making it hard to get by. We had worked our way up to third and I was hoping to be in second or third for the last lap, positioning the car for the win.”

Newey keeps his points lead with the fifth place finish, although his lead to Koykka is now slim, with another round to survive at Mid-Ohio on Sunday. Jeremy Grenier, also in the points battle, failed to finish in his Citation/Honda.

Tim Kautz endured a dual with Roberto Lorena to finished sixth, in his debut 2012 outing in a recently rebuilt No. 88 Piper, now with Honda power.

“It was an insane battle, I just wish it was for first and not sixth,” Kautz noted, pointing to marks on his car left from Lorena. “We were closing in on the leaders but I cooked the front tires in turn one.”

Lorena failed to finish, pulling off with car problems with just a handful of laps left in the all-green-flag race.

Behind Kautz, Steve Oseth, Steve Bamford, newcomer Jesse Lazare and Art Foster rounded out the top ten – surviving a similar entertaining drafting battling behind the lead pack at Mid-Ohio.

CellMark Paper Hard Charger honors went to Steve Bamford, advancing eight places in his Mygale/Honda.

Sunday concludes the F1600 event at Mid-Ohio with 8:00 qualifying and a 11:20 18-lap or 30-minute race. Updates and live audio for qualifying and races will be available on www.F1600Series.com

Race Results

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 5 Colin Thompson 18 27:42.485 - - 88.012 1:28.850 91.489 2 10 Matias Koykka 18 27:43.237 +0.752 +0.752 87.972 1:28.514 91.836 3 9 Shae Davies 18 27:44.022 +1.537 +0.785 87.931 1:29.063 91.270 4 97 Garett Grist 18 27:45.149 +2.664 +1.127 87.871 1:28.723 91.620 5 98 Brandon Newey 18 27:46.353 +3.868 +1.204 87.808 1:29.074 91.259 6 88 Tim Kautz 18 27:55.839 +13.354 +9.486 87.311 1:29.061 91.272 7 72 Steve Oseth 18 27:56.343 +13.858 +0.504 87.284 1:29.461 90.864 8 07 Steve Bamford 18 28:01.491 +19.006 +5.148 87.017 1:29.251 91.078 9 6 Jesse Lazare 18 28:01.946 +19.461 +0.455 86.994 1:29.346 90.981 10 21 Art Foster 18 28:08.321 +25.836 +6.375 86.665 1:29.813 90.508 11 0 Lewis Cooper III 18 28:08.378 +25.893 +0.057 86.662 1:29.565 90.759 12 68 Steve Jenks 18 28:16.394 +33.909 +8.016 86.253 1:29.606 90.717 13 7 Jim Goughary 18 28:30.342 +47.857 +13.948 85.549 1:31.187 89.144 14 11 Doug Stout 18 29:06.760 +1:24.275 +36.418 83.766 1:31.022 89.306 15 12 Jeremy Grenier 17 26:25.156 1 Lap 1 Lap 87.177 1:28.890 91.448 16 3 Joe Colasacco 17 26:27.328 +2.172 +2.172 87.058 1:29.198 91.132 17 18 Dan Pyanowski 17 27:59.462 +1:34.306 +1:32.134 82.282 1:34.276 86.223 18 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 17 28:08.269 +1:43.113 +8.807 81.853 1:34.994 85.572 19 73 Ralph Zuponcic 17 28:18.271 +1:53.115 +10.002 81.371 1:35.718 84.924 20 77 Mike Kolthoff 16 29:06.745 2 Laps 1 Lap 74.459 1:33.496 86.943 21 2 Mike Scanlan 15 24:10.658 3 Laps 1 Lap 84.053 1:32.597 87.787 22 13 Greg Rice 15 24:11.091 +0.433 +0.433 84.028 1:32.632 87.754 23 17 Roberto Lorena 12 18:54.056 6 Laps 3 Laps 86.015 1:29.214 91.116