US Formula First Rounds 9 & 10 at Mid-Ohio September 5 & 6, 2009

September 7, 2009 - Originally, this event was to be held at Blue Grass Motorsport Park, but due to weather related construction delays, the event was moved to Mid-Ohio and the Autumn Classic hosted by OVR. We were all really impressed with OVR and the length they had gone to make this one of the smoothest run events we have attended. Most of the attending FST drivers agreed that future US FST season ending races should held at Mid-Ohio.


Carl Middelegge takes a fourth and seventh at MO to wrap up Championship

Round #9 : Saturday Qualifying:
The US Formula First racers took to the track with a combined 30 cars in group 3 (FST, FF, CFF, FV and F5) around 9:30 am. Rice, Middelegge and Nash were all under the old race record. Rice would take the pole position with a 1:40.897. Unfortunately during qualifying, Dave Blevins got into an argument with a turn 1 tire wall and the tire wall won. Dave would repair his car, but not in time to start the afternoon race. The first 6 FST’s were all gridded together to set up for a fun afternoon battle.

Saturday Qualifying Results:

  1. Greg Rice - Mysterian SM2 ... 1:40.897
  2. Carl Middelegge - Campbell Evolution ... 1:41.399
  3. Jim Nash - Mission MR-09 ... 1:41.434
  4. William Bonow - Campbell Evolution ... 1:42.356
  5. Doug Seim - Mysterian M5.1 ... 1:42.581
  6. Robert Clark - Campbell Evolution ... 1:42.905
  7. Aaron Deer - Campbell Evolution ... 1:47.311
  8. Dave Blevins - Caracal MTV III ... 1:51.383
  9. Greg Schings - Campbell Evolution ... 2:32.251


Round #9 : Saturday Race (Club Course):
At the green flag, Rice got a strong start and separated himself from the battle ensuing behind. Early on, the race for second was between Middelegge, Nash, Bonow, Seim and Clark. Seim dropped out on lap 5 with mechanical troubles. As the race progressed, Schings made up a ton of ground from his 26 OA qualifying spot to join in on the battle. In the process, Schings turned a blistering lap of 1:38.993 to reset the track record. At the flag, Rice was unchallenged for the win with a 7.544 second margin of victory.

Round #9 : Race Results:

  1. Greg Rice - Mysterian SM2 ... 1:40.578
  2. Greg Schings - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.993**
  3. William Bonow - Campbell Evolution ... 1:39.621
  4. Carl Middelegge - Campbell Evolution ... 1:40.640
  5. Jim Nash - Mission MR-09 1:40.727
  6. Robert Clark - Campbell Evolution 1:40.658
  7. Aaron Deer - Campbell Evolution 1:44.186
  8. Doug Seim - Mysterian M5.1 1:41.744
  9. Dave Blevins - Caracal MTV III DNS

**Fast lap of race
Saturday Night Party:
In seasons past, we always had a dinner party on Saturday night to celebrate our racing, talk about how to grow and improve the series and just enjoy each others company. We were only able to do this twice this season and Mid-Ohio was the second opportunity. Thanks to Doug and April Seim who hosted a pork tenderloin feast that was second to none. We all agreed that next season would see the return of the Saturday night party at every event, it just makes the weekend of racing complete.




Round #10 : Sunday Qualifying:
Sunday saw a close grid get closer. Rice again was at the point, but the top 5 cars were separated by .5 seconds. It was going to be a close race.

Sunday Qualifying Results:

  1. Greg Rice - Mysterian SM2 ... 1:38.341
  2. Robert Clark - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.479
  3. Carl Middelegge - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.591
  4. Greg Schings - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.670
  5. Doug Seim - Mysterian M5.1 ... 1:38.781
  6. William Bonow - Campbell Evolution ... 1:39.315
  7. Jim Nash - Mission MR-09 ... 1:39.809
  8. Aaron Deer - Campbell Evolution ... 1:42.218
  9. Dave Blevins - Caracal MTV III ... 2:39.653


Round #10 : Sunday Race (Pro Course):
The race started clean, Rice out front with Middelegge, Schings, Bonow, Nash, Seim and Clark in tow when on lap 4 an FV lost an oil drain plug coating the track with a nice slippery surface. Cars were spinning everywhere at every corner. The race was black flagged for about 15 minutes while the track was cleaned up. At this point, Schings retired with clutch problems and Nash retired with shift linkage issues. At the restart, Rice lead with Middelegge and Bonow chasing. Bonow exchanged the lead with Rice, but in the end, Rice crossed the line .389 seconds ahead of Bonow for his second win of the weekend. Carl Middelegge dropped out on lap 10 with mechanical trouble, but with Rice taking the win, he had locked up the ’09 US Formula First championship.

Round #10 : Race Results:

  1. Greg Rice - Mysterian SM2 .. 1:38.440
  2. William Bonow - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.355
  3. Doug Seim - Mysterian M5.1 ... 1:39.533
  4. Robert Clark - Campbell Evolution ... 1:40.264
  5. Aaron Deer - Campbell Evolution ... 1:43.606
  6. Dave Blevins - Caracal MTV III ... 1:49.989
  7. Carl Middelegge - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.855
  8. Greg Schings - Campbell Evolution ... 1:38.244** / DNF
  9. Jim Nash - Mission MR-09 ... 1:40.772 / DNF

**Fast lap of race
Final series points are posted at http://www.formula-first.org/html/2009_points.html