$10,000 RACE RESULTS AT MID-OHIO JUNE 1 – 3, 2018
First, a huge THANK YOU to Jeremy Swank for providing a major portion of the purse that was evenly divided among all the F5 drivers. This really helped the budget class drivers run this event. The F600 Challenge Series helped bring the purse up to $10,000 AND provided a Friday night dinner, commerative medallions, a payout to the top 6 finishers in each race AND three random drawings ($100, $100 + $67) for the remaining finishers.
Now to the racing – there were 13 entries, the largest so far this season. Unfortunately, Mo Makki, had to leave Friday night as one of his gas stations caught fire. After Friday practice and two qualifying sessions, the Saturday grid was set as follows: Clint McMahan, 2017 Indy Runoffs Champion, at 1:31.921, Sven deVries, 2nd at Indy Runoffs, at 1:32.127, Calvin Stewart, 2015 Daytona Runoffs Champion, at 1:33.010, followed by Tom Diehm, Aaron Ellis, Jeremy Swank, Eric McRee, David Lapham (running a MC car for the first time), Zak Morvik, Tim Friest, David Vincent, Mo Makki and Jeff DeLong.
For the Saturday race, Clint McMahan got a great jump at the start and left everyone behind scrambling for position. By the end, Clint McMahan finished first with a best time of 1:31.005 followed by 2nd Sven DeVries, 3rd Tom Diehm, 4th Eric McRee, 5th Aaron Ellis (ill handling), 6th Jeff DeLong, 7th Zak Morvik (lost fuel pressure), 8th David Vincent (mechanical), 9th Jeremy Swank (broken wheel), 10th David Lapham (also a broken wheel) and 11th Tim Friest (mechanical). Calvin Stewart does not race on Saturday’s.
For the Sunday race, many drivers experienced a reversal of fortune from Saturday – some from bad to good and others good to bad. Sven DeVries got the jump at the start over Clint McMahan and led Clint for several laps until Clint got by. Clint and Sven posted their best times during this close running with Clint at a 1:30.338 (new track record) and Sven close behind with a 1:30.443. On the 15th lap, Sven DeVries lost his chain, ending his race and finishing 8th. Behind them was the best battle of the race among Eric McRee, Tom Diehm and Calvin Stewart. They swapped positions for about 10 laps until there was contact between Tom Diehm and Calvin Stewart allowing Eric McRee to pull away followed by Tom Diehm and further back, Calvin. This order continued until the 18th lap when Calvin Stewart, while entering the turn #12 carousel, was hit in the right rear by a FV that he was passing ending his race right there, finishing 7th. Jeff DeLong, Zak Morvik and Tim Friest, all running their best times of the weekend, got by this accident to finish 4th, 5th and 6th, respectively. In addition to Sven and Calvin suffering race ending issues, 9th place Jeremy Swank had recurring motor issues, 10th place Aaron Ellis had his right rear tire go bad and 11th place David Lapham had a mechanical problem but improved every track session in his new MC car with his best being a 1:35.505. David Vincent could not start the Sunday race due to his mechanical failure in Saturday’s race. At the end, the payouts and the random drawings in impound made the drivers feel even better.
Next up are the June Sprints at Road America, June 15 – 17, 2018
