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| June 30, 2012 News |
| F2000 Championship: La Rocca Continues Dominance in New Jersey |
 | Robert La Rocca extended his championship lead with the Round Five win in New Jersey
(Photo: F2000 Championship Series - Valet) |
Completing an easy day at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Saturday (June 30), HP-Tech Motorsports and championship points leader Robert La Rocca took their sixth win in seven races in dominating fashion, leading from pole to win by a 14 second margin in just a 30-minute race. The No. 10 Van Diemen was followed by the Citation of Tim Minor and Kevin Kopp’s WISKO Van Diemen.
“That was a tough race due to the extreme heat,” said La Rocca, noting 100-plus degree temperatures in New Jersey. “HP-Tech gave me a great car yet again that was consistent to run quick the entire race.”
Minor notched another good result and podium for Ski Motorsports with his second place effort, also winning the Masters Class.
“We had a good car at the start but it went off near the end,” he noted, thanking engineer Eric Langbein, who also engineered a Citation to a third place finish in the F1600 race.
Kopp slotted into the final podium spot, driving Minor’s old Van Diemen, and improving his best result so far of the season with his first career F2000 podium.
“That was a great race, and we made good progress during the test day yesterday,” Kopp commented. “Following Minor was beneficial.”
La Rocca’s closest challenge in the points standings, Niki Coello, ran second early in the race as La Rocca checked out. But, Coello failed to bring home significant points, retiring to the paddock with wing damage on his No. 81 RFR chassis.
“I got on the exit curbing and launched the car,” explained Coello. “The car was off the ground and when it came down it just ripped the front wing off.”
Finishing in fourth position was Colorado’s Zach Craigo, also his best career finish to date, and with a new sponsor on the car for the weekend, Infrascan.
“This is the best I’ve ever done and it’s because of all the support from my family and Front Range Motorsports,” said Craigo. “I had an okay start, but went off and the car was loose the rest of the race, turned out the front wing was barely attached after the off.”
Wyatt Gooden rounded out the top-five, with Tim Paul following in sixth, continuing his streak of all top-10 finishes in the 2012 season for SMR/GTP Motorsports.
“The car was perfect at the start of the race,” Paul said.”I had contact with Colin Daley and went off in turn three, but we rebounded for sixth. We need to get the long-run oversteer out of the car for tomorrow.”
Behind Paul in the results was Jason Rabe, in his first F2000 start for the WISKO F2000 team, Chris Livengood, Nick Palacio, and Colin Daley, also in his first ever start for Group A Racing. Daley is out of the karting ranks and just 15 years-old.
The weekend concludes for the F2000 Championship Series at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Sunday (July 1) with race eight of the 2012 season at 11:35 am local time. The grid will be set from fast laps in Saturday’s race, with La Rocca leading the field to the green flag.
The top-three will be posted following every session on the EFCN Facebook page, and EFCN Twitter page.
F2000 Championship Series
Round 7 - Race Results
June 30, 2012
New Jersey Motorsports Park - Millville, New Jersey
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Diff. | Fast Time| 1. | Robert La Rocca | HP-Tech Motorsports | - | 1:19.425 | | 2. | Tim Minor (M) | Ski Motorsports | 14.653 | 1:20.396 | | 3. | Kevin Kopp | WISKO F2000 | 15.115 | 1:20.525 | | 4. | Zach Craigo | Front Range Motorsports | 19.112 | 1:20.899 | | 5. | Wyatt Gooden | Quantum Mechanics Racing Services | 20.430 | 1:20.329 | | 6. | Tim Paul | SMR/GTP Motorsports | 31.668 | 1:21.194 | | 7. | Jason Rabe | WISKO F2000 | 32.655 | 1:21.105 | | 8. | Chris Livengood | John Walko Racing | 33.004 | 1:21.112 | | 9. | Nick Palacio | Primus Racing | 39.975 | 1:21.449 | | 10. | Collin Daley | Group A Racing | 46.843 | 1:21.404 | | 11. | John Brumder (M) | Front Range Motorsports | 1:04.484 | 1:22.051 | | 12. | Dave Weitzenhof (M) | Weitzenhoff Racing | 1:21.876 | 1:22.264 | | 13. | Doug Rocco | Jaegermeister Racing | 1:22.517 | 1:23.736 | | 14. | Jose Montiel | HP-Tech Motorsports | 1 Lap | 1:22.260 | | 15. | Dennis McCarthy | Jaegermeister Racing | 1 Lap | 1:26.024 | | 16. | Chris Monteleone | Mountain Lion Motorsports | 1 Lap | 1:23.186 | | 17. | Paul Alspach | WISKO F2000 | 2 Laps | 1:21.431 | | 18. | Tom Drake (M) | Alleycat Racing | 2 Laps | 1:29.309 | | 19. | Jeff McCusker (M) | Company Motorsports | 2 Laps | 1:22.486 | | 20. | Bob Wright (M) | ADSA/Wright Racing | 6 Laps | 1:23.570 | | DNF | Niki Coello | Coello Racing | 11 Laps | 1:20.623 | |
(M) = Masters class |
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