Goikhberg Reigns At Wet Road Atlanta Finale

Subtitle:Lites 1 Champion Earns Ninth Win Of Season

 Mikhail Goikhberg ended the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda championship season in the same place he started – atop the podium.

Goikhberg, from North Vancouver, British Columbia, won the season-ending Round 14 on Friday, Oct. 3 at Road Atlanta by beating Enzo Potolicchio to the finish by 1.533 seconds in a steady rain.

Series champion Goikhberg earned his ninth victory in 14 starts this season in the No. 10 JDC Motorsports entry. He started the season by winning five of the first six rounds, including both races at the season opener in March at Sebring International Raceway.

“Overall, it’s a great way to end the season,” Goikhberg said. “I really wanted to win at least one of the races here, and to do it in these conditions is a great feeling, especially since it’s the last race of the season.”

Potolicchio, from Hollywood, Florida, earned his first podium finish of the season and also was the top Lites 1 Masters’ finisher in the No. 4 8Star Motorsports Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine.

Newly crowned Masters champion John Falb, from Las Vegas, finished third overall and was the second Masters’ finisher in the No. 77 ONE Motorsports car. It was Falb’s second overall podium finish of the season.

Todd Slusher, from Las Vegas, swept both rounds of Lites 2 competition this week with a victory in the No. 62 ONE Motorsports entry.

Goikhberg led from pole in moderate rain at the start of the race. But he spun off track in Turn 10 in the opening minutes under pressure from Madison Snow, handing the lead to Snow in the No. 29 Extreme Speed Motorsports car. Snow, 18, from Lehi, Utah, started sixth but moved up quickly with smooth driving in the wet.

TUDOR United SportsCar Championship GT Daytona driver Snow expanded his lead to 5.071 seconds with 25 minutes left in the 45-minute race and appeared poised for his first career victory in the series.

Goikhberg went off and on the track again between Turns 10 and 11, allowing Snow to build his lead to 8.160 seconds. But the field bunched during a full-course caution with 15 minutes remaining when two 16-year-old young stars – Thursday’s winner Matt McMurry and Snow’s younger brother, McKay Snow – made contact and ended up in the gravel while racing hard for position.

Then heartbreak arrived for Madison Snow. His car lost power on the ensuing restart with nine minutes remaining, and the field sped past. Snow’s race was over.

Goikhberg took the lead and powered away for victory.

“It was a little bit hectic,” Goikhberg said. “We had a big handling issue, so it was a very difficult race in terms of managing the car. I feel bad for Madison (Snow), having some kind of issue there. I would have liked to fight with him.”

The race for the final two spots on the podium raged over the closing laps.

Andrew Novich, from Novato, Calif., was running second in the No. 61 Comprent Motor Sports entry after Snow’s car stopped. But Falb and Potolicchio passed him for second and third, respectively. And then Potolicchio passed Falb for second with just two minutes remaining.

The runner-up finish by Potolicchio was one of the recoveries of the season. He was involved in a spin with two other cars, including his son, Christian, on a restart less than 10 minutes into the race. But he stayed calm and kept all four wheels on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit for the rest of the race to earn a hard-fought podium position.

“I’m looking forward to next year,” Enzo Potolicchio said. “We are getting better and better with the car. We are learning the car very quickly, and I think we have the right setups now for every track.”

JDC Motorsports ended the season as the Lites 1 Team Champions.

Masters

The smooth driving in wet conditions and late-race battle between Enzo Potolicchio and Falb resulted in two Lites 1 Masters competitors landing on the overall podium for the only time this season.

Falb punctuated the Masters championship he clinched Thursday with his second overall podium result and ninth Masters podium result of the season.

“We weren’t sure if it was going to be wet,” Falb said. “A dry line was forming, but it started to come down right at the beginning and it kept raining. But it ended up being a great race.”

Michal Chlumecky, from Windsor, Ontario, finished third in Masters in the No. 31 Eurosport Racing entry. Series veteran Chlumecky ran a partial schedule this season, but he stood on the Masters podium after five of his 10 starts.

Lites 2

Lites 2 pole sitter Slusher earned his third victory of the season and eighth consecutive podium finish since joining the class in mid-July at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

But he didn’t grab the lead until the final lap.

2014 Lites 2 champion Brian Alder led the class and was running fifth overall on the last lap when he made a mistake in Turn 7 in the No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports entry. That miscue allowed Slusher to take the lead, which he kept for the final five turns.

“My main competition, No. 22 (Brian Alder), got around me early in the race,” Slusher said. “Kudos to him, great driver in the rain. But with one lap to go I found a little opening, and I went for it. It worked out all right. I passed him with one lap to go and got the checkered, so I’m pretty stoked.”

Alder, from Marysville, Ohio, ended up second in class. He finished first or second in 13 of his 14 starts this season.

Jerome Mee, from Bellaire, Texas, finished third in the No. 95 Alta Velocita Racing entry for the second consecutive day.

BAR1 Motorsports ended the season as Lites 2 Team Champions.

ROUND 14 POST-RACE QUOTES:

MIKHAIL GOIKHBERG (No. 10 JDC Motorsports, winner): “It was a little bit hectic. We had a big handling issue, so it was a very difficult race in terms of managing the car. I feel bad for Madison (Snow), having some kind of issue there. I would have liked to fight with him. Overall, it’s a great way to end the season. I really wanted to win at least one of the races here, and to do it in these conditions is a great feeling, especially since it’s the last race of the season.”

ENZO POTOLICCHIO (No. 4 8Star Motorsports, second; first, Masters): “We had a great weekend. We are double-duty here. We have our PC team that’s doing well. We’ve won the last two races, and now here in this championship we finished second as a team, and my kid (Christian Potolicchio) finished third amongst drivers. I’m looking forward to next year. We are getting better and better with the car. We are learning the car very quickly, and I think we have the right setups now for every track.”

JOHN FALB (No. 77 ONE Motorsports, third; second, Masters): “We weren’t sure if it was going to be wet. A dry line was forming, but it started to come down right at the beginning and it kept raining. But it ended up being a great race.”

MICHAL CHLUMECKY (No. 31 Eurosport Racing, third, Masters): “It was obviously quite an interesting event. It was challenging to find a constant rhythm because the weather constantly changed, and the dynamics of the track changed from lap to lap. That was consequently very interesting for me, challenging at times, but I’m just happy to have made it through without putting four wheels off the track at any point in the day.”

TODD SLUSHER (No. 62 ONE Motorsports, winner, Lites 2): “I couldn’t see a thing out there, to be completely honest. I was completely blind and felt like I could hit someone any minute and didn’t know where to go or what to do. As the race went on, I started to figure out some markers here and there, but basically not being able to see was the biggest issue. It wasn’t so much the rain; it was all the spray. The race was fantastic, guys passing me, me passing guys. My main competition, No. 22 (Brian Alder), got around me early in the race. Kudos to him, great driver in the rain. But with one lap to go I found a little opening, and I went for it. It worked out all right. I passed him with one lap to go and got the checkered, so I’m pretty stoked.”

BRIAN ALDER (No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports, second, Lites 2): “We had a good car in the rain. We were able to take the lead early, run consistent laps. Unfortunately that last yellow bunched everything up. We were running fifth or sixth overall with a couple of laps to go. Unfortunately I made a mistake going into Turn 7, and Todd (Slusher) got around me on the last lap. It was a good race, and we are glad we could bring home the championship for Top 1 Oil.”

JEROME MEE (No. 95 Alta Velocita Racing, third, Lites 2): “Off-and-on rain, and conditions were horrible. The car actually got better, I felt better over the course of the race, but by that time I got to feeling better, those guys were long gone. So I was just happy with keeping the car intact and coming home.”