foster-wins-at-lime-rock
Lakeville, CT – Art Foster came through to win his first F1600 Formula F Championship Series race at his home track in a Van Diemen/Ford. Foster, a long time racer, found the top step of the podium after an epic yet high-attrition battle among the leaders. Ryan Leach was a career best second in the Spectrum/Honda and Colin Thompson tied his career best finish in third in a Swift/Honda.
“It was a bit slow in the beginning,” said Foster. “I held off a bit saving my tires. It worked.”
Foster wasn’t in the lead most of the race, but was when it mattered for the 30-lap caution-free race around the seven-turn road-course in Connecticut, round eight of the ten race 2011 season.
Ryan Leach bounced back for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing from a DNF in the earlier race to finish second, a career best result for the aspiring racer.
“I took it easy at the start,” Leach commented. “Colin Thompson and Jim Goughary were in front and touched, and that let me move into second. I battled with Art most of the way but got into a bit of oil and lost touch with him.”
Thompson gained valuable points finishing third to become the top contender for the Alegra Motorsports F2000 test, awarded to the top finishing driver under the age of 21 in the points standings.
“On the first couple of laps it seemed everyone was doing their own thing,” Thompson said. “I made a move on Jim Goughary, he seemed to come down on me and we touched.”
That moved Thompson way back through the pack, but the 17-year-old was able to recover for a podium drive.
In the fight for the Championship, Tim Kautz and Bill Valet both failed to finish. Valet cut into Kautz’s lead when he won earlier in the day, and Kautz failed to finish. Valet had an electrical short that cut his race short, while Kautz was well in control of the lead of the race before a massive engine failure in his Piper/Ford.
Pole sitter Jim Goughary failed to finish for the second time in the day in his Piper/Honda, after sitting on pole for both races.
The F1600 Formula F Championship Series concludes its 2011 season with rounds nine and ten, at Watkins Glen, October 14-16.
Race Results:
Pos No. Name Laps Total Tm Diff Gap Avg. Speed Best Tm Best Spd 1 24 Art Foster 30 27:14.993 - - 101.065 53.416 103.115 2 16 Ryan Leach 30 27:15.365 +0.372 +0.372 101.042 53.113 103.703 3 5 Colin Thompson 30 27:15.469 +0.476 +0.104 101.035 52.848 104.223 4 72 Steve Oseth 30 27:15.735 +0.742 +0.266 101.019 53.231 103.474 5 4 Bob Detrick 30 27:43.048 +28.055 +27.313 99.360 54.098 101.815 6 6 John Grooms 30 27:43.542 +28.549 +0.494 99.330 53.872 102.242 7 68 Caitlin Johnston 30 27:45.810 +30.817 +2.268 99.195 54.445 101.166 8 44 Ed Callo 29 27:20.693 1 Lap 1 Lap 97.356 55.499 99.245 9 14 Ross Devoe 29 27:43.670 +22.977 +22.977 96.012 55.539 99.174 10 99 Sean Maisey 29 27:43.984 +23.291 +0.314 95.994 55.563 99.131 11 47 Jim MacNicholl 29 27:46.872 +26.179 +2.888 95.827 56.002 98.354 12 2 Mike Scanlan 28 26:20.221 2 Laps 1 Lap 97.596 54.724 100.651 13 3 Ric Baribeault 28 27:47.684 +1:27.463 +1:27.463 92.478 56.628 97.266 14 88 Tim Kautz 26 23:33.906 4 Laps 2 Laps 101.285 53.037 103.852 15 71 Forrest Hull 24 21:55.336 6 Laps 2 Laps 100.501 53.101 103.727 16 83 Bill Valet 19 20:50.084 11 Laps 5 Laps 83.716 53.588 102.784 17 9 Doug Hobby 14 13:33.630 16 Laps 5 Laps 94.775 55.266 99.663 18 7 Jim Goughary 9 9:48.084 21 Laps 5 Laps 84.294 53.753 102.469 19 93 Glenn Taylor 8 8:22.907 22 Laps 1 Lap 87.619 56.086 98.206 DNS 31 Brian Copperthite 0 -.--- - - - -.--- -