(Revised Oct. 12 at 1:45 p.m. PDT) MONTEREY, Calif. (Oct. 12, 2014) – Fabian Okonski, of Los Gatos, California, was crowned the Prototype 2 Champion at the 2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs after David Ferguson and Mark Mercer were each penalized one position.
Ferguson, of Paso Robles, California, took the checkered flag first, by 15.981 seconds over Mercer, of Aurora, Colorado and Okonski. Following the race, a review revealed that both Ferguson and Mercer had passed under yellow, drawing a penalty that moved Okonski to first.
On the track, the third-starting, Okonski picked up a spot on the start by successfully avoiding a spinning car, but the incident brought out the first of three full-course cautions in the P2 race. “Those of us who run here a lot know about the Turn Two mayhem that happens here almost every start,” Okonski said. “Maybe we just have a sixth sense about it, but I knew it was going to happen. I tried to stay on my line and watch out for the people around me. Fortunately, the mayhem happened on the outside of me, so I was free to go.” A Runoffs Rookie, Okonski was impressive in the 20-lap race’s multiple restarts. His No. 4 SimplicityinSoundMobileAudio/GDRE Stohr 01D Suzuki twice took over the race lead from Tire Rack Pole Winner Robert Kazen during such occasions. His mastery of the restart earned him the Go Pro Hero Move of the Race Award.
“I didn’t do anything that I don’t normally do,” Oconski said. “Robert seemed a little sluggish on his restarts for some reason, so we just had really good restarts. I did change the gearing on my car for restarts, so maybe that made a little difference. It went well for me.”
On the second restart, Okonski made another pass on Kazen but then had a mirror full of Ferguson. When Okonski slowed up for yellow flags at Turn Nine, both Ferguson and Mercer went past. The order remained that way until the finish, but race officials later acknowledged the passes under the local yellow, penalizing Ferguson and Mercer a position each, giving Okonski the P2 title.
Ferguson’s No. 75 Veracity Racing Data/Mazda Mazda Van Diemen RFS-03 deftly avoided the chaos of both the start and the first restart, to move into third by the second full-course caution period. It was shortly after the second restart that Ferguson was into the race lead. “I was still looking for the few laps to learn how to drive the track fast,” Ferguson recalled. “The fact that I fell back a little bit and let them get ahead was really me using my training time that I didn’t feel like I got in qualifying. Then, when I was ready to go, I tried to get in close behind Fabian. It looked to me like he slowed down a bit as I went around on nine, there might have been some flag situation.” Shortly thereafter, the final full-course caution period of the race was issued. Ferguson had no trouble holding off Mercer on the restart and began to pull away from the pack. He pulled out an insurmountable lead over Mercer and Okonski, crossing the finish line with a 15.981-second margin on the track before the post-race decision relegated him to runner-up and his best career finish.
Like Ferguson, Mercer admitted he was still learning the 11-turn, 2.238-mile track even come race time and was pleasantly surprised with the performance of his No. 34 Hoosier Tire/Ferenco Lola 90 Mazda.
“I took the car out for one day this year, and I ran it one time, and I thought ‘this car is pretty fast,’” Mercer said. “I didn’t know what I was up against with the motorcycle cars, so I thought we’ll go, and just try it. My engine’s got 23,000 miles on it, I bought it off eBay, threw it in there. I had a rough year with my family and couldn’t race much, so it was tough. This morning I said, you know what, I’m going to go out and try to learn the track. I’ve never been here before. I just settled down and said to myself I’m going to follow Dave, he knows the track, and maybe I can stay with him. That was my strategy, and it seemed to work pretty good.”
Okonski appeared to be catching Mercer near the end of the race, but realized his pace could be putting his podium in jeopardy. In hindsight, it also preserved a win for the Runoffs rookie.
“It wasn’t going to happen (catching Mercer),” Okonski said. “I was trying quite hard, and starting to make some mistakes. I was afraid I was going to throw away a podium spot. There was no one for a long way behind me, so I just figured after trying for a while and getting a little close, I recognized it was probably for naught. I was going to wait for to make a mistake, and of course, there’s not a lot of mistakes happening.”
Anders Graff, of Kohler, Wis., finished fourth in his first Runoffs appearance and earned the Sunoco Hard Charger Award for advancing eight positions. David Arken, of San Jose, Calif., completed the top five.
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. -- Final results for Saturday’s Prototype 2 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, (3), Fabian Okonski, Los Gatos, CA, Stohr 01D Suzuki, 20. 2, (6), David Ferguson, Paso Robles, CA, Mazda Van Diemen RFS-03 Mazda, 20. 3, (7), Mark Mercer, Aurora, CO, Lola 90 Mazda, 20. 4, (12), Anders Graff, Kohler, WI, Prince LSR Kawasaki, 20. 5, (11), David Arken, San Jose, CA, AMAC AM7 Kawasaki, 20. 6, (13), Jack Donnellan, Chickasha, OK, Lola B07/90 Ford, 20. 7, (15), Roger Nuttall, Fresno, CA, Carbir CS2 Ford, 20. 8, (14), Doug Piner, Chapel Hill, NC, Dauntless MX-1 Suzuki, 20. 9, (16), Bruce Gurney, Honolulu, HI, Carbir CS-2 Ford, 20. 10, (1), Robert Kazen, Fallbrook, CA, West WR1000 Kawasaki, 13. 11, (8), Sherman Chao, Palm Beach, FL, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 10. 12, (9), Richard Colburn, Northbrook, IL, Nostendo 2 Suzuki, 8. 13, (4), Paul Decker, Petaluma, CA, Decker MK-1 Suzuki, 8. 14, (5), Kevin Mitz, Campbell, CA, Stohr WF1 Suzuki, 4. 15, (10), Mike Reupert, Hubertus, WI, Nostendo 1 Arctic Cat, 3. 16, (2), John Bosso, Dublin, CA, Fox RF3 Suzuki, 0. Overall Time of Race: 37:43.401 (avg 71.192 mph) Margin of Victory: 15.981 seconds Fastest Race Lap: 1:27.930 (91.627 mph) Sunoco Hard Charger: #03 Anders Graff Lap Leaders: #12, laps 3-8; #4 laps 2, 9; #75 laps 10-20
2014 SCCA National Championship Runoffs
