Written by Monty Mathisen F2000 Championship Series 24 July 2011

Remy Audette passed Chris Livengood on a restart and held on for his fourth win of 2011, starting from fourth and avoiding a massive opening lap incident at the front of the field that produced a lengthy caution period. Livengood started from pole and finished second ahead of Dwight Rider for Front Range Motorsports, Angel Benitez for Alegra Motorsports, and Dave Weitzenhof, in the Citation chassis.

“We tried to be smart at the start,” said Canadian Audette. “I went to the outside and saw cars hitting one another. Then on the restart, coming out of turn ten, Chris spun his tires and I was able to get a run on him. From there I never looked back.”

For Audette, it was his fourth win of the season and tenth straight top-seven finish in ten races in 2011, and his second win at Mosport in the F2000 Championship Series, much to the delight of the huge Canadian crowd on hand.

With Kyle Connery failing to finish, Audette opens a huge gap in the points over Livengood, who moves into second ahead of Connery. Without drops, Audette leads the standings by 104 points over Livengood, also setting fast lap during the race for two more points.

Livengood notches another second place at Mosport, matching Friday’s result, and adds bonus points for pole.

“I came around on the restart, got on the gas and the car just understeered,” explained Livengood, who won at Mid-Ohio earlier in July. “I have a hard time keeping pick-up off the tires, it just understeered and Remy drove by. Mosport spoiled what should have been two wins this weekend.”

Dwight Rider rounded off the podium, taking the Masters Class win with a third place effort in the 30-minute time-window race for Colorado-based Front Range Motorsports.

“Going into turn one on the start I was on the inside and there was just enough room to squeeze through, everyone seemed to be getting tangled,” Rider said. “On the restart I pushed as hard as I could but we didn’t have anything for Remy or Chris.”

An opening lap turn one incident triggered a multi-car crash also involving Kyle Connery, Robert La Rocca, Zach Craigo, Tim Minor, Brent Gilkes and Dan Denison and produced an extremely lengthy caution period.

Up until the incident, Craigo was having a banner weekend for Front Range Motorsports, with his best qualifying and race results in F2000 to date. Connery, meanwhile, had cut sizably into Audette’s Championship lead margin with a win on Friday at the 10-turn road course.

Tim Paul, Craig Clawson, Bill Jordan, Fred Bross and Robert Wright completed the top ten.

CellMark Paper Hard Charger honors went to Dave Weitzenhof, who improved 10 positions during round 10 of the F2000 season at Mosport.

Tom Drake missed the start following an engine issue during qualifying.

Matt McDonough continued development work with the Radon chassis, starting from the rear of the pack after qualifying sixth.

The F2000 Championship Series continue with rounds 11 and 12 of 14 at Lime Rock Park, September 16-17 with the NASCAR Modifieds.

Written by Monty Mathisen F2000 23 July 2011

Chris Livengood missed out on a race win to Kyle Connery on Friday at Mosport but bounced back for the Saturday morning F2000 qualifying session to take the Afterburner Pole over Connery by three hundredths of a second with a lap of 1:21.000 around the 10-turn road course.

Livengood took the lead during Friday’s first F2000 race from Remy Audette on lap two before Connery tracked him down in the closing stages to grab his fourth win of the year.
Livengood, driving for Work Racing/John Walko Racing, won his second career F2000 Championship Series race at Mid-Ohio in early July and hopes to continue the momentum at Mosport.

American rookie Connery will line up on the outside of the front row, with a fast lap of 1:21.037 in the #91 CC Autosport and James Lee Racing entry. Connery bagged yet another win at Mosport during Friday’s race, passing Audette for second and then Livengood for the lead. Connery has just five races left to run down Audette from a sizable gap in the Championship.

Robert La Rocca finished fourth on Friday and hopes to find the podium as the weekend concludes in Ontario, as the RFR chassis for HP-Tech Motorsport qualified third.
Championship leader Audette had to settle for fourth in his #21 Audette Racing Van Diemen after leading on Friday from pole on his home turf in Canada.

Tim Minor will line up fifth, the position he finished in during Friday’s race in the #88 Ski Motorsports entry.

Matt McDonough qualified the new Radon chassis in sixth place, but will start from the rear of the field, using the race for more testing miles.

Zach Craigo continued the momentum from his best finish ever on Friday – sixth – to qualify seventh for Front Range Motorsports with teammate Dwight Rider in eighth, Dan Denison in ninth for Polestar Racing Group and Brent Gilkes rounding out the top ten.
Gustavo Rizzo missed the session and will miss the last race of the weekend at Mosport following a crash during Friday’s race.

The weekend at Mosport concludes with a 6:05 p.m. scheduled race start. Follow live on www.F2000series.com and on Twitter @F2000.

Written by Monty Mathisen - F2000 22 July 2011

American rookie Kyle Connery took his second straight win and fourth of 2011, vaulting from fourth in the race after starting second to pass Tim Minor, Remy Audette and then Chris Livengood for the lead in the first of two F2000 Championship Series races at Mosport.

“I didn’t get a great start and we were behind Tim (Minor) for a while,” said Connery. “I got past him and then the caution came out so we had a chance to get by Remy; once I saw him I was just thinking championship.”

Connery, driving for CC Autosport and James Lee Racing, continued: “We had to finish ahead of him (Remy Audette) today. And then when I saw Chris (Livengood), I tried to set a pace and was able to put a move on him entering turn eight for the lead. Today was good for the points.”

Connery claws back ten points on Audette in the Championship, now down by only 53 points.

Livengood set the fastest race lap and finished second ahead of Canadian Audette.

“Those two other guys, Remy and Kyle, what an absolutely fantastic race,” said Livengood, who passed Audette for the lead on lap two and gapped the Canadian in a highly entertaining F2000 race at the 10-turn Canadian road course on a warm day in Ontario.

“I battled as hard as I could but didn’t come out on the top step like we wanted,” added the Mid-Ohio winner, driving for Work Racing/John Walko Racing.

Audette, meanwhile, did lose a few points but came home with another consistent podium finish, and his ninth straight top-seven finish this season.

“I did my job for the Championship,” Audette commented. “We ran a good race; we have to finish well for the points. Tomorrow is another day so we will prepare the car accordingly and I will prepare myself.”

Robert La Rocca was fourth in the RFR chassis for HP-Tech Motorsport. The Florida-based squad also takes home the CellMark Paper Hard Charger Award, with teammate and fellow Venezuelan rookie Giancarlo Potolicchio advancing seven positions during the race.

Tim Minor won another Masters Class trophy by finishing fifth overall.

“I got a good start but the car went away rather quickly with some massive oversteer,” Minor explained.

Zach Craigo notched his best result of the year for Front Range Motorsports, finishing sixth ahead of Brent Gilkes, Tim Paul, Angel Benitez and Dan Denison, who completed the top ten for Polestar Racing Group.

Matt McDonough started at the back of the field in the new Radon chassis for development and testing reasons, after qualifying a strong sixth, and was classified 18th at the end of the race, which ended early due to a crash involving Gustavo Rizzo in turn four.

Saturday July 23 sees the F2000 grid qualifying at 9:45 a.m. and conclude the weekend with a 6:05 p.m. scheduled race start