MONTEREY, Calif. (October 12, 2014) – Brian Novak, of Dearborn, Michigan, took all the marbles as he won the Formula 500 Championship at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs® at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Wiley ‘Clint’ McMahan, of Covington, Georgia, and Jeff Jorgenson, of San Francisco, California, completed the podium.
Driving the No. 73 Hoosier/NovaRace/AiM NovaKar J360/Rotax, Novak did no wrong at Mazda Raceway as to won the F500 title by leading all 20 laps from the Tire Rack Pole Position. He paced the race at an average speed of 84.819 mph around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile course.
This win marks the third National Championship for Novak. Dating back to his maiden attempt in 2001, he has made every Runoffs except for the 2008 running.
“We were pretty pleased to get that Tire Rack pole,” Novak said. “It’s my first career pole at the Runoffs. It makes things so much easier when you can just make your start and hold the inside line. The whole plan was to try and create a five- or six- second gap and maintain that throughout the race.
“We did a pretty decent job cruising the car out there until the handling went away. For a while, I needed to steer the car with the throttle and then it got better. All of a sudden the car got bad again and we had to do what we could do to keep the car on course to the end.”
McMahan, at the controls of his No. 36 Metalloid/Formula 600 Challenge Maverick Nova/Suzuki, finished second, tying his career-high Runoffs finish. From the third spot on the starting grid, McMahan made an outside pass in Turn Two stick on the second lap.
“It was a tough battle for second,” McMahan said. “Going into the race, Jeff and I had an agreement that weren’t going to battle each other through Turns One and Two on the opening lap. We stuck to the agreement and the game was on. On the second lap my right-front suspension started to go down a little bit, forcing me to lose some turning.
“We looked a little loose since the car just was not turning. We pushed for 18 or 19 hard laps while doing that. It’s a long ride back to Georgia, and I won’t question myself if there was anything more we could have done on track.”
Jorgenson won an extremely close battle to finish third in his No. 84 Veskimo Cooling Quadrini Racing Invader QC1/Rotax. As the field took the white flag, Jorgenson was behind Calvin Stewart’s No. 77 NovaKar Novakar Blade F600/Suzuki. Heading into Turn Two, Jorgenson made the pass work. At the Corkscrew, Stewart, of Novi, Michigan, set up on the outside of Turn 8a before dropping down the hill. That move didn’t stick, but a pass up the inside of the final corner did. However, Jorgenson didn’t give up, and negotiated a perfect over-under move to retake the position on the corner exit.
“On lap 19, I had too much rear brake going into Turn Two and Stewart got past me,” Jorgenson said. “I would try to run him down and catch him, but couldn’t make the pass. I got by him in Two, and led him up to the Corkscrew where he tried to get around me.
“He finally got by me on the inside of Turn Nine. I was able to get a nose ahead of him going into 11, but he beat me to the corner under braking. So, I cut behind him and had enough up the straight to get him. It was some great racing. He is still talking to me, so I don’t think it was dirty. It was just a lot of fun.”
After the last-lap heroics by Jorgenson, Stewart finished the race in fourth.
Completing the top-five positions was Jack Walbran, of St. Louis, Missouri, at the wheel of his No 67 Mitchell Racing Services Scorpion S1/Rotax.
Fred Edwards, of Sturgis, Michigan, was named the Sunoco Hard Charger after finishing eighth in the No. 121 Metalloid/Formula 600 Challenge Maverick F500 Suzuki, a four-spot improvement.
The 51st SCCA National Championship Runoffs®, The Pinnacle of American Motorsports, will crown 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 500 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), Brian Novak, Dearborn, MI, NovaKar J360 Rotax, 20. 2, (3), Wiley McMahan, Covington, GA, Maverick Nova Suzuki, 20. 3, (2), Jeff Jorgenson, San Francisco, CA, Quadrini Racing Invader QC1 Rotax, 20. 4, (4), Calvin Stewart, Novi, MI, Novakar Blade F600 Suzuki, 20. 5, (6), Jack Walbran, Saint Louis, MO, Scorpion S1 Rotax, 19. 6, (7), Lance Spiering, Beaverton, OR, KBS MK VII Rotax, 19. 7, (8), Ryan Barth, Sturgis, MI, Falcon Falcon 0.5 Suzuki, 19. 8, (11), Fred Edwards, Sturgis, MI, Maverick F500 Suzuki, 19. 9, (5), Jeremy Morales, Indianapolis, IN, Scorpion S1 Rotax, 19. 10, (10), Herb Noble, Marion, IA, Scorpion S1 Rotax, 18. 11, (9), Thomas Edwards, Sturgis, MI, Maverick 00-003 Suzuki, 9.
Overall Time of Race: 31:39.761 Average Race Speed: 84.819 mph Margin of Victory: 16.052 seconds Fastest Race Lap: Brian Novak, 1:33.941 (85.764 mph) Sunoco Hard Charger: #19 Fred Edward Lap Leaders: Laps 1-20, Brian Novak
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
