MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 12, 2014) – If J.R. Osborne, of Englewood, Colorado, finishes his race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs, he usually wins. He was a winner on Sunday in Formula 1000, claiming his fourth career National Championship with a 5.693-second win. Alex Mayer, of Harleysville, Pennsylvania, and Gary Hickman, of Alpine, California, completed the podium.
Osborne led flag-to-flag from the Tire Rack Pole Position, turning the fastest lap of the race on lap six with a 1:24.701 (95.120 mph) behind the wheel of the No. 83 Ralph Firman/Hoosier/GeartronicsMoo RFR 1000/Kawasaki. Osborne was pressured by Mayer’s No. 77 Mayer Motorsports/Autoworks JDR F1000/Suzuki on the start, with Mayer trying to take the lead around the outside, but Osborne got through and set sail to the finish.
The final margin of victory for Osborne was 5.693 seconds, with Osborne averaging 93.790 mph for the 20-lap, caution free race.
Osborne’s fourth National Championship is his first since 2008 at Heartland Park Topeka, bringing is record to four titles, two DNFs, and just one finish that wasn’t a win.
“It’s definitely one of the hottest race days here, and the track seemed very greasy,” Osborne said. “It seemed like most of the cars were loosening up. I pushed really hard to get a little gap and it stayed at seven seconds. Alex did not let up at all, and I couldn’t push any harder without taking a chance of throwing it off. Each lap, it just got a little tougher, rear end wise, and thankfully it was enough and we were able to finish this year. We’ve had such a tough run of it, and it’s brilliant to come here at what I consider my home track, even though I’m from Colorado, this is my favorite place to be.
“You’re here for 10 days, it’s just a big deal. It puts more pressure on you, because you’ve got so much into it that you want something to go well. It’s gutting when you have the whole week and you go out and have a failure of some sort, and I don’t wish that on anybody. On the flip side, those tough days make today that much sweeter.”
Mayer held close to Osborne for a few laps, but, with lap times just tenths slower than the winner, eventually fell to far behind to challenge for the lead. The 20-year-old was also fast enough to work away from the No. 76 Edge Engineering Phoenix F1000/Suzuki of Hickman to bring home the silver medal.
“It was a good start,” Mayer said. “I tried to stay on the outside of J.R. going through Turn Two and it didn’t work quite well. After that, we all separated and had our own races.
“It was a great year, even from the start. At the first race, there was a big wreck on Sunday and we ended up getting caught up in that. After that, we got the car fixed and kept racing through the year.”
Hickman chased the leaders early, but just didn’t have the pace for anything more than third in just his second Runoffs appearance, and first since 1989 at Road Atlanta.
“We made a tire change just before we went out, which may or may not have been a good thing,” Hickman said. “I hung with Alex until probably the eighth or ninth lap and picked up a little bit of an oversteer that just got worse and worse. I could see we were pulling away from everybody because I couldn’t see anybody in my mirrors. So I thought, why not just preserve the car and keep it on the track and roll over in third place. Other than that, it went well. I’d have liked to have done better, but third is good too.
“The last time I was here [at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca] was back in 1982, and it was a different track then. This is just an incredible track. It’s certainly on any racer’s bucket list to come to this track.”
Jeremy Hill kept his No. 00 Photon VD07/Suzuki in fourth after a mid-race battle with Glenn Cooper’s No. 43 Ralph Firman Racing/Hoosier Tires RFR F1000/Kawasaki. Cooper finished fifth. Dore Chaponick improved five positions from the start to finish eighth in the No. 79 Gridsport/Highway Systems/Corby Stohr F1000/Suzuki to win the Sunoco Hard Charger.
Jose Gerardo won the GoPro Hero Move of the Race in the No. 14 General Labels & Printing LLC Stohr F1000 for a sweeping pass through the Corkscrew on the opening lap when he improved from 14th on the grid all the way to 5th, but Gerardo ended his day on the second lap when he flew off the track in turn six and into the gravel.
The 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, Friday, October 10 through Sunday, October 12. The live broadcast of all 27 National Championship races is available live at SCCA.com, along with live timing and notes. Each race will be on demand at a later date on SpeedcastTV.com.
MONTEREY, Calif. -- Provisional results for Sunday’s SCCA Formula 1000 National Championship at the 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, with finish position, starting position in parenthesis, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (1), J.R. Osborne, Englewood, CO, RFR 1000 Kawasaki, 20. 2, (2), Alex Mayer, Harleysville, PA, JDR F1000 Suzuki, 20. 3, (3), Gary Hickman, Alpine, CA, PHOENIX F1000 Suzuki, 20. 4, (4), Jeremy Hill, Toronto, ON, PHOTON VD07 Suzuki, 20. 5, (7), Glenn Cooper, Roswell, GA, RFR F1000 Kawasaki, 20. 6, (6), Lawrence Loshak, Grafton, WI, Astra Summerhawk Suzuki, 20. 7, (5), Larry Vollum, Portland, OR, Stohr F1000 Kawasaki, 20. 8, (13), Dore Chaponick, Miami, FL, Stohr F1000 Suzuki, 20. 9, (8), Jason Bell, Tampa, FL, Citation FB Suzuki, 20. 10, (11), Rod Rice, Austin, TX, Stohr F1000 Kawasaki, 20. 11, (10), Randy Cook, Palo Alto, CA, JDR F1000 Suzuki, 20. 12, (14), John LaBrie, Draper, UT, Phoenix F1K.12 Suzuki, 20. 13, (16), Duane Eitel, Casa Grande, AZ, Phoenix F1K.12 Suzuki, 4. 14, (12), Jose Gerardo, El Paso, TX, Stohr F1000, 2. 15, (9), Tyler Thielmann, Kiel, WI, JDR JDR-012 Suzuki, 1. DNS, (15), Ross Wolf, Sammamish, WA, Stohr F1000 Suzuki, . Overall Time of Race: 28:38.048 (93.790 mph) Margin of Victory: 5.693 seconds Fastest Race Lap: 1:24.701 (95.120 mph) Sunoco Hard Charger: #79 Dore Chaponick Lap Leaders: #83 JR Osborne, 1-20
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
