F2000: Searcy Takes Race One at Mid-Ohio


Searcy took his third win of the year.

Lexington, OH - August 15 2009: Benjamin Searcy and Z-Sports took their third win of the F2000 season at Mid-Ohio, Searcy held second spot for most of the race before a late race spin by leader Remy Audette gave him the lead and ultimately the victory. Tim Minor finished second, coming off a win at Summit Point. Audette recovered to finish third followed by Alegra’s Fabio Orsolon and championship points leader Chris Miller in an all green flag race.

“The start was sure interesting,” said Searcy, who has also notched wins at VIR and Lime Rock this year and currently leads the rookie of the year standings by a healthy margin. “Remy (Audette) got a huge jump and got around Chris Miller. I went around the outside of Miller pretty easily. Then, I slotted in behind Remy and held station. He bobbled in the closing stages of the race and I took the lead. Minor got close and tried to get by but I shut the door.”

Minor, who set fast lap of the race, added: “I got a great start, and went from seventh to third on the opening lap. The plan was to save my tires as it was evident everyone was going to have their tires go away. I was busy keeping Orsolon behind me and keeping Searcy in sight. I closed the gap to Ben (Searcy) as the laps counted down and the lap after Audette spun I tried Searcy on the outside. He came over to block and I had two wheels on the grass.”

Remy Audette spent most of the race in the lead by about a second over Searcy. Audette capitalized on the start to take the lead from Miller going into turn one.

“I finally had a great start,” commented Audette. “I was right behind Chris (Miller) coming to the green and he was slow to get on the gas. I just went to the inside and took the lead. From there everything seemed fine but coming into turn 13 the back-end just slid out and I lost it.”

Fabio Orsolon followed in fourth by just a few hairs over championship contenders Chris Miller and Matthew Inge.

Miller, who extends his points lead to 27 points over Inge with drops calculated, said: “I picked the wrong time to get on it at the start and a bunch of cars got by. Inge was all over me the rest of the race but he never made it by. We went side-by-side through madness lap after lap but he couldn’t make it sick.”

Matthew Inge spent most of the race in his St. Clair Motorsports Van Diemen either glued to the back of Miller’s diffuser or alongside the JDC VanDiemen, but couldn’t find a way by.

“I tried to get past Miller again and again,” commented Inge, who has to hope that Miller has some serious problem's in tomorrow's season finale. “But on the straights he would just disappear. Whether it’s a motor or down force issue, I have no idea.”

Victor Carbone finished seventh followed by Dave Weitzenhof, Jerry Szykulski and Tom Fatur. Fatur rounded out the top ten and keeps a healthy Masters Class points lead over Robert Wright, Craig Clawson and a rapidly closing Tim Minor.

Tomorrow the F2000 field has a 10:35 morning qualifying session followed by the 18-lap season finale at 2:55. Live coverage on www.F2000ChampionshipSeries.com