Watkins Glen, N.Y. (July 7, 2013) – The SCCA Eastern Conference Majors Tour capped its season on Sunday from the BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour, settling the unclaimed championships and 14-lap races in 28 classes.
Early on in the opening group, it looked like Rick Kavitski would repeat his E Production runaway in the No. 24 RDK Engineering Mazda Miata. Chris Dryden, running second, showed a burst of speed in his No. 02 Carbotech/PayPal/Team JBS BMW Z3 in the middle stages of the race, setting a new track record with a lap of 2:07.595 and pulling away for the win. A finish by Donald Walsh, of Orrtanna, Pa., secured the Eastern Conference E Production Championship in the No. 47 Classic Auto Mazda RX-7.
Ron Bartell repeated in H Production, sweeping the weekend in the No. 4 Hoosier Tires MG Midget. Kevin Ruck got revenge for Saturday, running away with F Production after a flat tire on the No. 3 Hoosier/Honda/Cobalt Acura Integra robbed him of victory on Saturday.
Eastern Conference GT-1 Champion Dillon Machavern tried to put a last lap move on Amy Ruman’s No. 23 McNichols Co./Cenwald/Goodyear Chevrolet Corvette after Ruman had opened up a lead, but the last-ditch effort backfired. Machavern’s No. 29 Heritage Automotive Group/Riggins Engineering For d Falcon ended in the gravel trap in a checkers or wreckers move, allowing Ruman to sweep the weekend.
Russ Snow put an exclamation point on his season, clinching the GT-2 Championship with a win in the No. 20 M D Racing Chevrolet Corvette. Snow hounded Jim Goughary’s No. 46 Hoosier Tire/Redline Oil Nissan 350Z for most of the race, then moved in front with less than two laps to go. Snow held on to the finish, taking an 11 point title over Jason Lee’s No. 08 Porterfield Brake Pads/Sparco Audi R8 LMS. Lee joined Snow and Goughary on the podium.
Steven Lustig needed just to coax his No. 51 Luna Sueño Tequila/Autosport Automotive Group Acura Integra to a finish to clinch the GT-3 title, and he did just that with a third-place finish. Joe Kristensen swept the class over the weekend with a pair of wins in his No. 4 Acura RSX.
The small formula car battle was hard racing in all three classes.
Formula F eventually claimed the overall win, as Robert Detrick’s No. 4 Boyer Flight Services Van Diemen RF 98, Joe Parsons’ No. 37 Investment Advisors Asset Management Swift DB-6, Ross DeVoe’s No. 14 RED Racing Van Diemen RF-93, and Charles Foster’s No. 27 Foster & Company Piper DF5 all ran in the overall pack and challenged for – or sat in – the lead.
DeVoe dove the to the inside of Detrick’s machine in turn one to start lap 11, but Detrick made a beautiful sweeping move around the outside to hold the point at the exit. One lap later, DeVoe made it stick, but Detrick was back in front as they crossed the stripe with two to go.
With one to go, Parsons took the lead from Detrick in turn one. Coming out of the boot, with all three in striking distance, Parsons ran wide and off course to open the door for Detrick’s final pass.
Detrick took the win, followed by Parsons and DeVoe, by just 0.609-second at the finish. Topping that thriller earned Detrick the GoPro Hero Move of the Weekend.
The Formula 500 top drivers were mixed into the same pack that the Formula F leaders were in, with Michael Brent leading the way in the No. 47 Hoosier Tire/QRE Invader QC-1. Disaster fell Brent on lap 12, however, as he tangled with a slower car and ended his day.
That temporarily handed the lead to David Lapham’s No. 56 QRE/Hoosier Tire Invader QC-1, who was then passed by eventual winner Keith Joslyn’s No. 51 ASI Signage/Trimark QRE QC-1.
Lapham was joined on the podium by his daughter, Katie Lapham, who finished third in the No. 88 QRE Invader. A sixth-place finish in the No. 67 Mitchell Racing Services Scorpion secured the season-long title for Jack Walbran.
Roger Siebenaler outlasted the Formula Vee field for the second consecutive day, garnering a pair of trophies in the No. 72 Autowerks/Hoosier Mysterian M2. Steven Davis’ No. 80 Hoosier/Butler Engines Racer’s Wedge SB-1 clinched the season long title, running ninth on Sunday.
Elivan Goulart pulled a large enough gap from the field in the No. 70 SAC Racing/SCDA1.com Mazda Miata to stay out of the draft and earn the win. Denny Steyn pulled his No. ADEPT Studios/Rossini/ OPM/Traqmate Miata off track a lap shy of the finish, but had previously clinched the Eastern Conference Championship.
Jimmy Simpson drove his No. 36 Swift 016/Mazda to the Formula Atlantic and overall win, but the position battles behind him were deciding the season-long championships. John Burke’s No. 55 Fast Pirate LLC Swift 014a/Toyota chased Simpson early on, and then finished as the runner-up. Coupled with a third place finish by Chris Fahan’s No. 39 Hoosier Tire/MAZDASPEED/Fahan Paving Swift 016/Mazda, Burke edged Fahan by a single point to take the Championship.
Dennis Hanratty made a similar move in D Sports Racing. Needing a lot of help and a great finish to take the title, Hanratty drove to a win in the No. 18 EPIC Cameras/Kinesys Sunscreen West WR-1000/McLaren. When Greg Bell scored no points with a DNF, Hanratty was crowned champion.
Alex Mayer’s third-place finish in Formula 1000 was also enough to take the class championship.
The Spec Racer Ford battle featured a battle, not only for the race win, but for the championship. The only way that defending National Champion Cliff White would fall shy of the Eastern Conference title is if Tray Ayres’ No. 7 Ayres Racing SRF won, while White’s No. 58 Thompson White Racing SRF finished third or lower.
White took care of that himself by battling to the front of a four car rumble for the checkered flag. The two contenders, along with Franklin Futrelle’s No. 1 Meco Inc. of Augusta/Comprent Motorsports/Skip Barber Racing School SRF and Brian Schofield’s No. 6 1PM Racing SRF, swapped positions numerous times over the 14-lap race.
Schofield led under the one to go board, but all three drivers worked past him on the final lap. When the dust settled, White was joined on the podium by Futrelle and Ayres.
The BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour ended with more titles and weekend sweeps. Joe Aquilante’s No. 32 Phoenix Performance/Hawk Performance/Hoosier Chevrolet Corvette repeated in Touring 1, where third-place George Winkler had wrapped up the Championship in the No. 27 Winkler Automotive Service Ford Mustang Boss 302S. Matthew Pullano capped his Touring 2 season in the No. 17 pullanopt.com/Phoenix Performance Chevrolet Corvette with a win and a class crown.
Robert Beede repeated in Super Touring Lite behind the wheel of the No. 21 Bill Fenton Motorsports Honda Civic, and a seventh-place finish for Raymond Philibert’s No.11 M&R Drywall Mazda Miata was enough for a title. David Brand came from way behind in the point standings with a pair of wins this weekend, taking the Super Touring Under title in the No. 06 Krugspeed Racing/BGB Esqs Lotus Exige.
Amy Aquliante swept the weekend in American Sedan in the No. 50 Tom Aquilante Racing Pontiac Firebird, while older sister Beth followed her across the stripe in the No. 61 Tom Aquilante Racing Chevrolet Camaro. The Aquilante sisters joined uncle Joe in taking home trophies in the group.
As part of the BFGoodrich Tire Super Tour, two drivers took home special prizes just for being in attendance. Amy Mills, a Spec Miata driver, was selected to grab a set of BFGoodrich Tires for either her street or race car, while Formula Atlantic driver Shelton Lindsay took home a GoPro Hero3 camera.
More information is available at www.scca.com. Like SCCA on Facebook at Facebook.com/SCCAOfficial, or follow on Twitter @SCCAOfficial. Live timing and notes are available on Sunday at www.scca.com/SCCALive. Watkins Glen, N.Y. - Provisional race winners for Sunday’s SCCA Eastern Conference Majors Tour Round 12 at Watkins Glen International, part of the BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour. Drivers are listed by Class: name, hometown, and car.
American Sedan: Amy Aquilante, Phoenixville, Pa., Pontiac Firebird B-Spec: Jonathan Stocum, Horseheads, N.Y., Ford Fiesta C Sports Racing: Jacek Mucha, Laval, Quebec, JMS016cp/Toyota D Sports Racing: Dennis Hanratty, Mechanicsburg, Pa., McLaren E Production: Chris Dryden, New Freedom, Pa., BMW Z3 F Production: Kevin Ruck, Delaware, Ohio, Acura Integra H Production: Ron Bartell, Madbury, N.H., MG Midget Formula 500: Keith Joslyn, Grand Island, N.Y., QRE QC-1/Rotax Formula 1000: Lawrence Loshak, Grafton, Wis., JDR F1000 Formula Atlantic: Jimmy Simpson, Indianapolis, Ind., Swift 016/Mazda Formula Continental: Douglas Rocco, Sandisfield, Mass., Van Diemen DP02-8/Ford Formula Enterprises: Paul Schneider, Charlotte, N.C., Formula Enterprises/Mazda Formula F: Robert Detrick, New Windsor, N.Y., Swift DB-6 Formula Mazda: Beau Borders, Venice Beach, Calif., Formula Mazda Formula Vee: Roger Siebenaler, North Hero, Vt., Mysterian M2 GT-1: Amy Ruman, Kent, Ohio, Chevrolet Corvette GT-2: Russ Snow, Eden, N.C., Chevrolet Corvette GT-3: Joe Kristensen, London, Ont., Acura RSX GT-Lite: Kyle Disque, Philadelphia, Pa., Toyota Tercel Super Touring Lite: Robert Beede, Greenwich, Ct., Honda Civic Super Touring Under: David Brand, Syosset, N.Y., Lotus Exige Spec Miata: Elivan Goulart, Shelton, Conn., Mazda Miata Spec Racer Ford: Cliff White, Huntsville, Ala., Spec Racer Ford Sports 2000: Vince LaManna, Ontario, N.Y., Tiga/Ford Touring 1: Joe Aquilante, Chester Springs, Pa., Chevrolet Corvette Touring 2: Matthew Pullano, Endicott, N.Y., Chevrolet Corvette Touring 3: Kevin Boehm, Marysville, Ohio, Honda S2000 Touring 4: Mike Collins, Mount Airy, Md., Mazda MX-5
BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour/Double Majors 2013 U.S. Majors Tour
