DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Sept. 26, 2014) – J.R. Osborne, of Englewood, Colorado, was able to bring home his fifth, and possibly final, National Championship title by winning Formula 1000 at the 52nd SCCA Runoffs Presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway. Alex Mayer, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, finished second, while Gary Hickman, of Alpine, California, finished third.
Osborne, in the No. 83 Geartronics/Hoosier/Moons Supercycle Ralph Firman FRF F1000, was able to get the jump on the field from the start of the race. As the field funneled into Turn One, Kevin Roggenbuck’s No. 12 Boston Whaler/Lake Union Sea Ray Ralph Firman Racing RFR1000 ended up on the outside of the two-wide pack. On the exit to the turn, he ran wide and put both right side tires off the track. That caused Roggenbuck to spin and run over the rumble strips backwards.
A puff of black smoke accompanied Roggenbuck’s restart, which was the first hint that all was not well with the machine. As Roggenbuck attempted to catch up to the field, his car started spewing flames from the rear of the car. Roggenbuck was able to pull the car off the track between Turns Three and Four to get the fire put out. Race control elected to have the red flag stop the field on course behind the pace car. Following the cleanup, officials chose to restart the race from the beginning. However, too much time had expired and forced the race up against the 40-minute time limit at the 3.56-mile, 12-turn circuit. In only eight laps, Osborne continuously built his lead and let the rest of the field determine the rest of the finishing order.
“We had a lot of unknowns going into the race,” Osborne said. “We didn’t get it running until about midnight last night. We’ve done two motor swaps this week, one on each car that we have here. We were a little skeptical the engine would even make it. We were a little surprised because we’ve had such rock-solid reliability with these Kawasakis, but we had some issues these two weeks. It just gets harder and harder each year. I left Colorado a week ago, come tomorrow and won’t be home until next Tuesday.
Also, when you think you have something correct, it changes. There’s always that what if. My trap speeds weren’t as good, which is why it was important for me to break away early. If I had gotten stuck behind them, I don’t think I could have broken away. When we got the full-course yellow, it crushed me because I didn’t know what was going to happen. The tires were slicker on the second start than they were on the first. I’m just fortunate to have the car live and make it to the end. It seems like everything that could go wrong did, and I’m just happy we were able to come home with the win.”
Mayer, in the No. 77 Technonects/OMS/JDR Race Cars JDR F1000, tied his career-high second place finish in only his fourth trip to the Runoffs. Mayer was unable to keep up with the pace of Osborne, but was able to hold his second-place position throughout the eight-lap affair.
“Today’s race was pretty good,” Mayer said. “Gary and I had a really good race out there. Both of us were focused on running down J.R. , but we ran out of time and finished second. At first we didn’t know if we were going to just circulate behind the pacecar during a full-course caution, or if we were going to have a red flag. I just sat in pit lane and tried to come up with a new plan of action, because the old plan didn’t fit anymore. That plan was to stay with, and pass, J.R. [Osborne}, but that wasn’t the case.
“Our challenges started a couple weeks ago getting ready for the Pittsburgh Majors. In the first practice, we blew a motor. So, another driver let us borrow their car. Then, we ended up blowing that motor in the race. We were hunting for motors and finally got one two days before leaving for Daytona, and now that we’re here we haven’t had any motor issues. We’ve just been dealing on getting the car dialed in.”
Hickman was able to drive his No. 76 Edge Engineering Inc/Phoenix Race Works Phoenix F1K.12/Suzuki to the gearbox of Mayer and stay as close to him as possible. Hickman said that his gearing choice was one thing that hurt his performance.
“My plan was to lock on to Alex , which I think I did a pretty good job of for most of the race,” Hickman said. “I was geared wrong. We made a gearing change, yesterday, and obviously went the wrong way. About 150 yards before start/finish I was hitting the rev limiter in sixth gear. Each time I tried to pull up into the draft of Alex , I would instantly hit the limiter and the engine would, basically, lay down on me. I could pull up on him, but I could not pass him. I thought I was better in braking than he was.
“I struggled to get around him, but toward the end there I couldn’t remember what lap we were on. I didn’t see the flag and I don’t think Alex did either since we were both racing for about half a lap. I tried really hard to win this thing; at least I kept J.R. in my gun sights. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to run him down, and am totally bummed because he is telling us he is retiring.”
Glenn Cooper, in the No. 5 Hell No Kitty/Hoosier Race Tires Stohr F1000/Suzuki, and John LaBrie, in the No. 33 Bug & Weed Mart Phoenix F1K.12/Suzuki, finished fourth and fifth, respectively.
James Michael, in the No. 37 Berlousche Engineering Stohr F1000/Suzuki, gained nine positions after starting in the 18th grid spot to become the Sunoco Hard Charger.
The 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Daytona International Speedway, Friday, September 25 through Sunday, September 27.
The live broadcast of all 27 National Championship races is available live at SCCA.com, along with live timing and notes. Each race will be on demand at a later date.
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - Provisional results for Saturday’s SCCA Formula 1000 National Championship at the 52nd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Daytona International Speedway, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (1), J R Osborne, Englewood, CO, Ralph Firman RFR F1000, 8.
2, (3), Alex Mayer, Harleysville, PA, JDR F1000, 8.
3, (5), Gary Hickman, Alpine, CA, Phoenix F1K.12 Suzuki, 8.
4, (6), Glenn Cooper, Roswell, GA, Stohr F1000 Suzuki, 8.
5, (9), John LaBrie, Draper, UT, Phoenix F1K.12 Suzuki, 8.
6, (8), Joel Haas, Jupiter, FL, Piper DF5, 8.
7, (14), Jason Slahor, Ellicott City, MD, Citation F1000 Kawasaki, 8.
8, (7), Jeremy Hill, Toronto, ON, Photon VD07 Suzuki, 8.
9, (18), James Michael, Fort Worth, TX, Stohr F1000 Suzuki, 8.
10, (16), Timothy Pierce, Leland, NC, Ralph Firman RFR F1000 Suzuki, 8.
11, (15), Peter Frost, Douglasville, GA, Phoenix F1K.12, 8.
12, (19), William Falatick, Boynton Beach, FL, Astra Cars Summerhawk Suzuki, 8.
13, (10), Jose Gerardo, El Paso, TX, Galmer G-15 Suzuki, 8.
14, (12), Tyler Thielmann, Keil, WI, JDR 012 Suzuki, 8.
15, (20), George Levien, Aventura, FL, Stohr F1000, 8.
16, (13), Rod Rice, Austin, TX, Stohr FB, 8.
17, (4), Jason Bell, Tampa, FL, Citation F1000 Suzuki, 6.
18, (17), Michael Crowe, Chattanooga, TN, Van Diemen RF00, 5.
19, (11), Shane Prieto, Lake Worth, FL, Ralph Firman RFR F1000 Kawasaki, 5.
20, (2), Kevin Roggenbuck, Woodinville, WA, Ralph Firman Racing RFR1000, 0.
Overall Time of Race: 40:14.192
Average Race Speed: 42.469 mph
Margin of Victory: 3.386 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: J.R. Osborne, 1:51.616 (114.822 mph)
Sunoco Hard Charger: #37, James Michael
Lap Leaders: Laps 1-8, J.R. Osborne
Image: J.R. Osborne took home his fifth, and possibly final, SCCA National Championship at the Runoffs at Daytona International Speedway.
Credit: Jay Bonvouloir
