Valet Wins on Home Turf

September 17, 2011
It was a big points morning for Valet

Lakeville, CT – Bill Valet capitalized on home turf, winning his second race of 2011 in the first of two F1600 Formula F Championship Series races at Lime Rock in his Swift/Ford. Valet takes the points lead (without calculating drops) from Tim Kautz, who failed to finish with mechanical issues. Meanwhile, Art Foster came home second and Colin Thompson drove from dead last to third, even leading a few laps in the late stages of the race.

The margin of victory was three tenths of a second in race seven of the 10 race 2011 F1600 inaugural season.

Valet, a New York-native, won on home turf in front of a big race day crowd at Lime Rock Park.

“That start was definitely interesting, I totally blew it,” said Valet, who is just a few points behind Kautz with points drops calculated. “The throttle was sticking during the race but I was able to use the caution to my advantage. It was a good race with Colin and Art at the end, fun and clean.”

Art Foster followed, also under Ford power, for his best result of 2011.

Foster added: “The track wasn’t in the best condition this morning. There were a few places the car was understeering, that Colin and Bill had better cars, which is what made the race so even.”

Thompson drove under Valet to take the lead, for a bit.

Colin Thompson was the story of the race, however, starting dead last after electrical problems and vaulting into the lead in the closing stages. Thompson easily notches the CellMark Paper Hard Charger honors for the race in his Swift/Honda.

“I passed eight cars in turn one on the start,” commented Thompson. “Then I got clear of the backmarkers and just went through one car at a time. The caution was perfect since it bunched up the field. Then I was able to stick with the guys that ended up on the podium”

Forrest Hull finished fourth ahead of Caitlin Johnston in the Van Diemen/Honda.

Goughary and Leach came together

Early in the race pole-sitter Jim Goughary and Ryan Leach, in the Spectrum/Honda battled for the lead, exchanging the point lap after lap. The two made contact in turn one, with Leach retiring in the Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing entry. Goughary went off later in the race, making contact with the wall in his Piper/Honda.

Round seven of the 2011 season, the second and last race at Lime Rock, follows at 4:45 p.m. local time, stay tuned to F1600Series.com for updates.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 83 Bill Valet 26 30:50.952 - - 77.370 53.876 2 24 Art Foster 26 30:51.270 +0.318 +0.318 77.357 53.959 3 5 Colin Thompson 26 30:51.701 +0.749 +0.431 77.339 53.996 4 71 Forrest Hull 26 30:55.412 +4.460 +3.711 77.184 53.664 5 68 Caitlin Johnston 26 31:00.819 +9.867 +5.407 76.960 54.823 6 72 Steve Oseth 26 31:06.677 +15.725 +5.858 76.718 54.765 7 2 Mike Scanlan 26 31:12.929 +21.977 +6.252 76.462 55.063 8 9 Doug Hobby 26 31:13.782 +22.830 +0.853 76.427 55.280 9 14 Ross Devoe 26 31:16.769 +25.817 +2.987 76.306 55.467 10 47 Jim MacNicholl 26 31:17.004 +26.052 +0.235 76.296 55.349 11 99 Sean Maisey 26 31:17.709 +26.757 +0.705 76.267 55.412 12 93 Glenn Taylor 26 31:18.005 +27.053 +0.296 76.255 55.559 13 3 Ric Baribeault 25 30:55.519 1 Lap 1 Lap 74.211 56.979 14 4 Bob Detrick 23 28:50.257 3 Laps 2 Laps 73.217 55.196 15 44 Ed Callo 23 31:17.003 +2:26.746 +2:26.746 67.493 55.764 16 6 John Grooms 15 20:50.126 11 Laps 8 Laps 66.089 54.844 17 88 Tim Kautz 9 19:46.308 17 Laps 6 Laps 41.787 54.336 18 7 Jim Goughary 6 5:38.678 20 Laps 3 Laps 97.579 54.863 19 16 Ryan Leach 4 8:53.090 22 Laps 2 Laps 41.329 54.914 20 31 Brian Copperthite 3 4:42.351 23 Laps 1 Lap 58.523 1:10.811

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