wyatt-gooden-sweeps-mid-ohio

“The car went great today and it was a fun race with Mitch,” said Gooden, who becomes the first person to sweep a weekend in F1600 Formula F Championship Series history. “Waited for the right moment to pass Mitch for the lead and we had a great battle before that.”

Mitch Martin finished second for the second straight day in his Spectrum/Honda for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing in a similar fashion, as Friday’s race also saw a major battle for the lead.

“It was a fun race and the Spectrum was just really good,” commented Martin, who ran the fastest lap of the race at 1:28.4. “We tried to set a pace and we did lead the most laps, but Wyatt was able to get past on the oil that was in turn four.”

Neither Martin nor Gooden know if they will compete in the next rounds of the Championship in September at Lime Rock Park in Connecticut.

For Cape Motorsports, it was looking like a double podium as Martin’s teammate, Ryan Leach in a Van Diemen/Honda spun on oil while running third to end his day. Multiple other cars also spun into the gravel on the slick pavement before the caution flags waved at Mid-Ohio.

Tim Kautz recovered from a seventh place starting position to finish third, and extend his points lead over Bill Valet, who could only muster a seventh in his Swift/Ford.

“The car was the best today it’s been all weekend,” commented Kautz, who finished fourth in the first race of the doubleheader weekend at Mid-Ohio. “There was just a ton of oil in turn four late in the race. Overall it was a good race and important for the F1600 title chase.”

Jeremy Grenier and Jim Goughary completed the top five.

Then it was Steven Oseth, Bill Valet, Mike Scanlan, Wes Allen and Steve Bamford rounding off the top ten.

Sam Beasley went off-and-on while running third and finished 23rd, also going off on the oil.

John Robinson finished in 24th losing valuable Championship ground. Robinson’s DNF was a result of a spin while trying to pass Bill Valet that left him stuck in a gravel trap in his Swift/Ford.

The F1600 Formula F Championship Series resumes at Lime Rock Park, September 16-17, with the NASCAR Modifieds.

Race Results:

Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm 1 17 Wyatt Gooden 17 30:48.350 - - 74.764 1:28.578 2 16 Mitch Martin 17 30:49.425 +1.075 +1.075 74.720 1:28.438 3 88 Tim Kautz 17 30:50.761 +2.411 +1.336 74.666 1:29.074 4 12 Jeremy Grenier 17 30:53.025 +4.675 +2.264 74.575 1:29.508 5 7 Jim Goughary 17 30:53.821 +5.471 +0.796 74.543 1:29.885 6 72 Steve Oseth 17 30:54.435 +6.085 +0.614 74.518 1:30.288 7 83 Bill Valet 17 30:55.334 +6.984 +0.899 74.482 1:30.718 8 2 Mike Scanlan 17 30:56.727 +8.377 +1.393 74.426 1:29.946 9 28 Wes Allen 17 30:57.371 +9.021 +0.644 74.401 1:30.842 10 07 Steve Bamford 17 30:58.620 +10.270 +1.249 74.351 1:30.993 11 68 Caitlin Johnston 17 31:00.997 +12.647 +0.877 74.256 1:31.373 12 8 Jacob Carpenter 17 31:02.597 +14.247 +1.600 74.192 1:31.007 13 63 John Grooms 17 31:00.120 +11.770 +1.500 74.291 1:31.003 14 99 Sean Maisey 17 31:02.763 +14.413 +0.166 74.185 1:32.271 15 15 Jim Oseth 17 31:04.605 +16.255 +1.842 74.112 1:32.018 16 44 Ed Callo 17 31:05.322 +16.972 +0.717 74.084 1:33.167 17 77 Mike Kolthoff 17 31:05.847 +17.497 +0.525 74.063 1:31.271 18 18 Dan Pyanowski 16 30:50.164 1 Lap 1 Lap 70.297 1:33.566 19 86 Kevin Brumbaugh 16 30:51.681 +1.517 +1.517 70.239 1:33.931 20 10 Ryan Leach 14 29:56.559 3 Laps 2 Laps 63.345 1:29.004 21 24 Art Foster 13 20:40.750 4 Laps 1 Lap 85.170 1:29.903 22 71 Forrest Hull 12 19:17.386 5 Laps 1 Lap 84.281 1:30.982 23 4 Sam Beasley 12 19:30.548 +13.162 +13.162 83.333 1:29.226 24 19 John Robinson 4 7:00.095 13 Laps 8 Laps 77.400 1:31.060 DNS 69 Erik Shepard 0 -.--- - - - -.---