davies-sweeps-new-jersey
Millville, NJ – Shae Davies continued to impress in his American debut, winning on Sunday at Thunderbolt to complete a sweep of two F1600 Formula F Championship Series races in the No. 9 Spectrum/Honda combination for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing. Teammate Matias Koykka finished second in a similar car, after the two traded the lead back and forth throughout the race. Championship leader Brandon Newey finished third, down by almost 20 seconds, in a Mygale/Honda.
Davies, from Australia, struggled on his first ever rolling start on Saturday, but appeared to learn overnight, starting from pole and not getting shuffled back through the field this time.
“It was close racing there with Matias,” said Davies. “I always want to win but I know he is in the Championship fight and we have to be careful.”
Additionally, the Australian, who drives a Spectrum in an Australia Formula F series, is headed home for another race next weekend, before the 22-year-old commutes back to the States in July for the F1600 races at Mid-Ohio.
Teammate Koykka was a close second place as the two Spectrums checked out on the field for Cape Motorsports to the tune of 20 seconds. Koykka was looking good for a win on Saturday before accidently shutting his No. 10 Spectrum off while in the lead.
“That was a great race with Shae,” Koykka, from Finland, commented. “It showed the speed in the car and I am not use to this very hot weather so it was a big change for me.”
Newey rebounded after a rough weekend to finish third for Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb/Agajanian, keeping a careful eye on his Championship lead which dwindled with a rough Saturday race and DNF for the Mygale/Honda.
“We had gearbox issues and barely made race one,” explained Newey. “The guys worked hard all weekend and fixed it during the night.”
It was a rough weekend for the two factory Mygales, with Newey missing qualifying with problems while teammate Garett Grist failing to start the first race in New Jersey with car gremlins. But, the Herta team rebounded with a reported late night parts delivery that put both cars in good shape for Sunday’s final race.
Grist started last and was picking his way through the field before retiring halfway through the race.
At the conclusion of the F1600 weekend at New Jersey, the standings took a dramatic turn, with Koykka eating into Newey’s points lead as the Finnish driver is now just four points behind Newey, with Jeremy Grenier just three points out of second place in the Championship.
After Newey at the end of the race, it was Grenier in the Eric Langbein-engineered Citation/Honda, who missed out on third by a nose length in a photo finish.
Brazilian Roberta Lorena completed the top five for Quantum Racing Services in the No. 17 Van Diemen Honda.
Colin Thompson was sixth after a second place effort on Saturday, with Steve Oseth, Art Foster, Ross Devoe and John McCusker in positions six through ten.
The F1600 Formula F Championship Series continues with rounds seven and eight at Mid-Ohio, July 26-29.
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 9 Shae Davies 18 25:18.717 - - 96.002 1:23.369 97.158 2 10 Matias Koykka 18 25:19.202 +0.485 +0.485 95.971 1:23.224 97.328 3 98 Brandon Newey 18 25:38.715 +19.998 +19.513 94.754 1:24.198 96.202 4 12 Jeremy Grenier 18 25:38.748 +20.031 +0.033 94.752 1:24.227 96.169 5 17 Roberto Lorena 18 25:48.066 +29.349 +9.318 94.182 1:24.198 96.202 6 5 Colin Thompson 18 25:48.984 +30.267 +0.918 94.126 1:24.635 95.705 7 72 Steve Oseth 18 25:59.032 +40.315 +10.048 93.520 1:25.622 94.602 8 21 Art Foster 18 26:20.624 +1:01.907 +21.592 92.242 1:26.206 93.961 9 14 Ross Devoe 18 26:21.908 +1:03.191 +1.284 92.167 1:26.382 93.770 10 01 John McCusker 18 26:37.314 +1:18.597 +15.406 91.278 1:27.454 92.620 11 2 Mike Scanlan 17 25:26.423 1 Lap 1 Lap 90.211 1:27.967 92.080 12 97 Garett Grist 11 16:36.005 7 Laps 6 Laps 89.457 1:26.777 93.343