win-for-gooden-on-series-debut
Lexington, OH – Aspiring racer Wyatt Gooden on his F1600 Formula F Championship Series debut at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, driving a Van Diemen/Honda prepared by veteran outfit Quantum Racing Services. Gooden started from pole and ran the fastest lap of the race, but had to fight his way back into the lead at one point from third, passing fellow aspiring drivers Sam Beasley and Mitch Martin on his way to victory.
“Knowing the track was a huge advantage,” said Gooden, 22 years old. “I knew there was going to be a drafting battle so I tried to position myself strategically. I waited until things settled down and then it just worked out with the lapped car to get into the lead.”
Martin finished second, also on his Series debut, and led a handful of laps for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in the Spectrum/Honda. It was also the Series debut for the new Spectrum F1600 chassis.
“That was my first time ever on a rolling start,” commented Martin, from Australia. “We dropped back a bit back but managed to take the lead. Wyatt got past me in lapped traffic, while we were battling and then we couldn’t catch him.”
Jim Goughary rounded off the podium, making it a Honda one-two-three at Mid-Ohio, and gaining back a few Championship points on leader
“Worked hard to make up time where we were weak,” said Goughary. “But we need to work on the handling tomorrow, the car needs to steer better out of the center of the corners.”
Tim Kautz, who came home in fourth after losing four grid positions due to a qualifying penalty. Kautz was the first Ford in the finishing order.
Jeremy Grenier rounded out the top five ahead of Bill Valet, who sits second in the Championship loses ground to Kautz in the standings. Then it was John Robinson in the Swift/Ford, Art Foster, Steve Oseth and Forrest Hull in positions seven through ten.
Sam Beasley led early in an entertaining drafting battle for the lead with Gooden and Martin, but retired to the pits with an apparent mechanical issue during the race in his Van Diemen/Honda..
Saturday, July 2 continues with practice and qualifying sessions, at 4:00 and 4:55, and the final race of the weekend 6:00.
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 17 Wyatt Gooden 18 27:29.150 - - 88.724 1:28.001 2 16 Mitch Martin 18 27:32.695 +3.545 +3.545 88.533 1:28.341 3 7 Jim Goughary 18 27:43.428 +14.278 +10.733 87.962 1:29.057 4 88 Tim Kautz 18 27:46.469 +17.319 +3.041 87.801 1:28.670 5 12 Jeremy Grenier 18 27:49.439 +20.289 +2.970 87.645 1:29.137 6 83 Bill Valet 18 27:53.403 +24.253 +3.964 87.438 1:29.545 7 19 John Robinson 18 28:02.656 +33.506 +9.253 86.957 1:28.725 8 24 Art Foster 18 28:03.313 +34.163 +0.657 86.923 1:29.764 9 72 Steve Oseth 18 28:03.661 +34.511 +0.348 86.905 1:29.549 10 71 Forrest Hull 18 28:06.645 +37.495 +2.984 86.751 1:29.774 11 2 Mike Scanlan 18 28:09.867 +40.717 +3.222 86.586 1:30.106 12 15 Jim Oseth 18 28:27.898 +58.748 +18.031 85.672 1:30.840 13 68 Caitlin Johnston 18 28:33.506 +1:04.356 +5.608 85.391 1:31.100 14 63 John Grooms 18 28:45.124 +1:15.974 +11.618 84.816 1:31.120 15 69 Erik Shepard 18 28:54.932 +1:25.782 +9.808 84.337 1:31.155 16 99 Sean Maisey 17 27:48.537 1 Lap 1 Lap 82.821 1:31.606 17 44 Ed Callo 17 27:49.023 +0.486 +0.486 82.797 1:33.766 18 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 17 28:58.258 +1:09.721 +1:09.235 79.499 1:34.343 19 4 Sam Beasley 12 18:56.106 6 Laps 5 Laps 85.860 1:28.765 20 13 Steve Bamford 11 18:00.771 7 Laps 1 Lap 82.734 1:31.481 21 8 Jacob Carpenter 8 13:52.288 10 Laps 3 Laps 78.134 1:33.322 22 10 Ryan Leach 4 7:37.404 14 Laps 4 Laps 71.086 1:30.580 DNS 77 Mike Kolthoff 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 18 Dan Pyanowski 0 -.--- - - - -.--- DNS 28 Wes Allen 0 -.--- - - - -.---