LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 23, 2016) – Michael Varacins, of Burlington, Wisconsin, won his fifth-career and second-straight Formula Vee National Championship Friday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB.
Starting second in the 39-car field in his No. 65 Speed Sport Engineering Speed Sport AM-5, Varacins took the lead on the second lap of what turned out to be a timed 40-minute race.
Once up front, Varacins managed to steadily gap the field, avoiding any wheel-to-wheel battles and steering clear of several incidents that knocked other top competitors from contention. His winning margin of victory was 4.390.
“These things are never easy,” Varacins said. “It was just a matter of clicking laps off. I was a little concerned we would have a full course yellow. I was trying to manage the tires a little so I would have something left. I knew these guys were fast and I wanted to have something left if we had a yellow. If we got bunched up I didn’t know exactly how I was going to handle it.”
Debuting Runoffs driver Flinn Lazier, of Vail, Colorado, prevailed in a race-long battle with Gary Blanarik, of Baden, Pennsylvania, to finish second in the No. 42 Tivoli Lodge/Bell Helmet Vortech Lazier.
Lazier is the 17-year-old son of 1996 Indianapolis 500 winner Buddy Lazier and the grandson of former SCCA National Champion Bob Lazier.
“It was great,” Flinn Lazier said. “We started off the week just slowly getting better and better and had a pretty decent start in the race. It became the three of us out in front, and Gary and I started working together, but it just wasn’t enough to catch the lead.”
Blanarik stayed with Lazier as long as he could in his No. 3 Sewickley Car Store Silver Bullet AR1 as the pair frequently swapped second place in the middle part of the race.
“For a little bit, I thought I was going to be quicker than Flinn, so I tried to lead, but then I realized he was quicker than me, so I let him take the point,” Blanarik said. “Then I just started to lose grip and couldn’t stay with Flinn, he pulled a little bit of a gap and we stayed in that order to the finish.”
Varacins won the 2015 Formula Vee National Championship in the Runoffs at Daytona International Speedway in addition to earning three national titles at Road America in 2009, 2012 and 2013.
“It’s definitely a lot of work,” Varacins said. “It feels like a fulltime job apart from my fulltime job. We work at it pretty hard, my Dad and I, and we are just trying to stay a step ahead of everybody. In this field there is a lot of great drivers out there and a lot of times you have to do development in the car stuff to give yourself that advantage. We work hard at it and we are looking forward to keep doing it.”
Andrew Whitston, of Neenah, Wisconsin, finished fourth the in the No. 12 Rocket Motors/Subway Protoform P2 while Roger Siebenaler was fifth in the No. 72 Autowerks/Hoosier Mysterian.
The Sunoco Hard Charger award was earned by Stuart Delaney, in the No. 74 Noble/LRE Caracal D-SB, finishing 20th from 33rd of the starting grid.
The 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB, the Pinnacle of American Motorsports, crowns Sports Car Club of America’s Club Racing National Champions this year at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, from Friday, September 23 through Sunday, September 25.
While the live broadcast of all 28 National Championships is available live at SCCA.com, each race will be on demand in the coming weeks.
LEXINGTON, Ohio -- Provisional results for Friday’s Formula Vee race at the 53rd SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (2), Michael Varacins, Burlington, WI, Speed Sport AM-5, 22.
2, (3), Flinn Lazier, Vail, CO, Vortech Lazier, 22.
3, (5), Gary Blanarik, Baden, PA, Silver Bullet AR1, 22.
4, (4), Andrew Whitston, Neenah, WI, Protoform P2, 22.
5, (6), Roger Siebenaler, North Hero, VT, Mysterian, 22.
6, (11), Andrew Abbott, Livonia, MI, Vector AM-7, 22.
7, (8), Dale Rader, Reading, PA, Swift DB1, 22.
8, (7), Gary Kittell, Tully, NY, Caracal Caracal D/SB, 22.
9, (9), Brandon Abbott, Farmington Hills, MI, Vector AM-1, 22.
10, (1), Alex Scaler, Flemington, NJ, Mysterian CM2, 22.
11, (17), Laura Hayes, Fletcher, NC, Vorscha GB4, 22.
12, (13), Gavin Sweeney, Brooklyn, NY, Protoform P2, 22.
13, (14), Andrew Pastore, Watertown, MA, EV3, 22.
14, (15), Ron Whitston, Neenah, WI, Protoform P2, 22.
15, (21), Jeffrey Loughead, Darien, IL, Vortech CR04, 22.
16, (24), Alexander Bertolucci, Mount Prospect, IL, Citation XTC-41, 22.
17, (18), Brian Farnham, Medina, OH, Citation B, 22.
18, (30), William Hannum, West Grove, PA, Caracal D, 22.
19, (26), Dennis Andrade, Silverlake, WA, Vortech FV, 22.
20, (33), Stuart Delaney, Plymouth, MI, Caracal D-SB, 22.
21, (32), David Satterley, Belleville, MI, Protoform P2, 22.
22, (25), John Petillo, Acton, MA, Speed Sport V, 22.
23, (34), James Hannum, West Grove, PA, Caracal D, 21.
24, (37), Lisa Noble, Topeka, KS, Vortech FV, 21.
25, (28), Robert O'Connor, Woodbridge, VA, Vortech FV, 21.
26, (35), Ron Wake, Lafayette, CA, Mysterian M4, 16.
27, (27), Mark Richardson, Pekin, IL, Mysterian M3, 16.
28, (12), Jonathan Weisheit, Baltimore, MD, J.K Technologies LLC XP1, 14.
29, (39), Daniel Grace, Naples, FL, VDF-2 2, 10.
30, (10), Richard Shields, Bridgeville, PA, VDF-2, 9.
31, (20), Donnie Isley, Fletcher, NC, Agitator 16, 9.
32, (38), Charles Turner, Mission Viejo, CA, Vortech FV, 9.
33, (22), Sherman Engler, Adger, AL, Protoform 94V, 9.
34, (29), Gregory Bruns, Moore, SC, Vorscha GB3, 7.
35, (36), Ray Qualls, Reisterstown, MD, Protoform P3, 6.
36, (16), Stevan Davis, Danielsville, GA, Racers Wedge SB1, 2.
37, (19), Robert Neumeister, Pueblo, CO, Lynx Querida, 1.
38, (31), Kimberly Madrid, Rancho Cucamonga, CA, Mysterian M4, 1.
39, (23), Quinn Posner, Camas, WA, Protoform P3, 0.
Length of Race: 50 miles
Overall Time of Race: 40:56.251
Average Speed: 72.808 mph
Margin of Victory: 4.390
Fastest Race Lap: No. 42 Lazier 1:38.066 (82.891 mph)
Lap Leaders: No. 12, lap 1; No. 65, laps 2 – 22
Sunoco Hard Charger: No. 74 Stuart Delaney
Image: No. 65 Michael Varacins won his fifth career and second-straight Formula Vee National Championship Friday in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Credit: Jay Bonvouloir
