RACE: June Sprints Saturday races report

Formula Vee Photo Finish Highlights First Day of SCCA June Sprints Racing

ELKHART LAKE, Wis., (June 23, 2007) -- Brad Stout's photo finish win in Formula Vee highlighted the first day of race action at the Piggly Wiggly 52nd Annual Chicago Region June Sprints at Road America.

Race One:

Brad Stout, of St. Louis, Mo., traded the lead often with polesitter Michael Varacins, of Burlington, Wis., for the first 11 laps of their 12-lap race around the four mile circuit. Their battle allowed the cars of Bruce Livermore and Chris Jennerjahn to join the fight for the lead, and on the last lap, Livermore made a run at Stout coming to the finish. Stout was able to keep his Vortech inches in front.

Stout, already the only three-time winner of the Chicago Region SCCA Triple Crown®, is now one-third of the way to his fourth. He now needs to win his Divisional Points Championship and the SCCA National Championship Runoffs® in Formula Vee.

Brian Novak, of Dearborn, Mich., who started race group one first overall and in Formula 500, breezed away from the field in his Novakar, beating Steve Jondal, of Somerset, Wis., to the checkered flag by 26.228 seconds. Novak also set a new Formula 500 track record with a best lap of 2:24.850.

Race Two

Defending National Champion Jim Goughary Jr., of Jupiter, Fla., survived a pair of restarts to win race two overall and the Formula Mazda class by 0.483-second over Robert Kaminsky, of Homer Glen, Ill. Cliff Johnson, of Leawood, Kan., won the Formula Ford portion of the race after early leader Tony Coello retired after 10 laps. Gerald Barrett, of Edmond, Okla., finished second.

The race was slowed by a pair of cautions, the final one to retrieve the car of Mishael Abbot, of Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Abbot was running fourth in Formula Mazda when her car touched wheels with another and rolled through the turn three gravel trap. Abbot, who is also scheduled to race in C Sports Racing on Sunday, was uninjured.

Race Three

Defending E Production National Champion Lawrence Loshak, of Glendale, Wis., led flag-to-flag to win the day's closer in his Honda Prelude by 7.441 seconds over Tom Thrash, of Houston, Texas. Both drivers overcame engine concerns after qualifying, changing motors before the race began.

Steve Sargis, of Frankfurt, Ill., scored a runaway victory in F Production over the similar Triumph Spitfire of Dieter Griesinger, of Maple Park, Ill. In G Production, defending National Champion Chuck Mathis, of St. Jacob, Ill., recorded his second-straight win at the June Sprints in his Volkswagen Rabbit, topping polesitter Bill Wessel by nearly 12 seconds.

Chris Bovis, of Lawrence, Kan., inherited the GT-Lite lead on the final lap when race-long leader Jim Dentici's Honda CRX fell by the wayside. Bovis' Honda Civic was the only of the five GT-Lite starters to complete all 13 laps. Dentici was classified second, and set a new class track record with a 2:35.920 during the race.

Richard Root, of Kenosha, Wis., won the H Production portion of the race in his Volkswagen Rabbit over John Salisbury Jr., but it was third finishing Dan Meller, of West Allis., Wis., who broke the 22-year old track record, with a fast time of 2:47.469.

The final six races of the Piggly Wiggly 52nd Annual Chicago Region SCCA June Sprints begin at 10:50 a.m. (CDT).

-credit: scca