Skip Barber Lime Rock Grand Prix Wrap Up
Round 7Isaac Lyons started off the Memorial Day weekend in a dominating fashion, grabbing the polefor round seven and leading almost every lap for the BF Goodrich/Skip Barber NationalPresented by Mazda at Lime Rock Park. As the field took the green, outside pole sitter NickAndries immediately challenged for the lead going around the outside of Lyons in turns one andtwo take the point. Andreas was quickly able to stretch out a car length lead over Lyons and P3starter Dennis Trebing as the field settled in on lap one.
By the start of lap two a heavy battle for top position had commenced as Lyons gained groundand overcame Andries, and for the rest of the lap, the lead seemed to change at every turn. At theend of the lap three, Lyons had a firm grip on the lead and immediately started to create a gapbetween himself and the rest of the field. At the start of lap five Trebing made a move up theinside of Andries for the second position but Andries was un-willing to relinquish the spot andran side by side with Trebing through turns one, two and three. The battle for P2 was all Lyonsneeded to see as he was immediately able to build up a commanding lead. Andries, Trebing,Felix Serralles and Ashley Freiberg managed to separate themselves from the rest of the field.The lead group was soon a pack of six as points leader Spencer Pigot and rookie Trent Hindmanjoined the fray.
With Lyons drawing away, positions two through seven were hotly contested for the rest of therace. Trebing and Andries would trade the second spot for nine laps, neither willing to becontent in P3. Pigot, who started P6, had methodically worked his way through the lead groupand was up to P3 by the half point. The lead group of six cars continued to battle tooth and nailas Lyons was able to stretch out his lead. In lap 23 Pigot was able to take control of second placeover Andries with Ashley Freiberg, who had set a new track record mid race with a time of56.978, moving into fourth over Trebing. The top five would remain the same for the final threecircuits as no one was able to make a move at the checkered. Lyons would go on to take thevictory by a margin of just under three seconds.
Quote from race winner Isaac Lyons, “Basically, I started on pole and just had the plan to try andlead the race as much as possible. Hopefully, I could do it long enough where people started tobattle behind, and it was a great plan, and fortunately worked. I pushed and had nearly perfectlaps, got off into the lead and carried it to the checkered flag.”
Round 8Immediately into qualifying for round eight, Lyons started strong and set the fastest time.However, other drivers, mainly Trent Hindman were not so eager to sit back and let him qualifyP1. Hindman quickly set down a couple fast laps, and a several minute caution threatenedanyone else’s chances of qualifying. Once the track was cleared to run, the cars went back out,and ultimately, Lyons earned the lead starting position, followed by Hindman and DennisTrebing.
Although Isaac Lyons technically led every lap, he was by no means the only race leader.Within the first lap, Lyons gained a two car lead, but Trebing worked his way up and made apass on the outside of Lyons
As the green flag waved the top four settled into a single file line through turn one with Lyons atthe point, Trebing P2, Pigot P3 and Hindman falling back to P4 from second on the grid whilethe rest of the pack was two by two from P5 on back. The top three were able to pull out a smallgap on lap one as the battle for P4 raged on between Hindman, Scott Heckert and AshleyFreiberg. Freiberg was able to take over P4 as Heckert dropped two tires on the outside of oneon lap four. The lead trio of Lyons, Pigot and Trebing continued to battle which allowedFreiberg and Hindman to close making it a five car race for the lead just before the halfwaypoint.
On lap fourteen Freiberg made a move up the inside of Pigot for the second spot into turn one.The Illinois resident just got in a little too hot and turned it around at the apex of one luckilybeing missed by a closely following field. The spin allowed Lyons to grow his lead to a four carlength lead with Trebing second, Pigot third and Hindman fourth. Not wanting a repeat of raceone, Trebing, Pigot and Hindman stayed in line and were able to track down the leader in a fewlaps once again making it a four car battle for the lead.
As the white flag waived it was Lyons out front with Pigot second and Trebing third, the leadtrio had gapped the rookie Hindman and were battling for the lead on their own. Lyons was ableto maintain the lead into one but Pigot was not about to let the lead go that easy. Pigot made abold move up the inside of three that surprised both Lyons and the crowd in turn three to take thelead. Lyons was able to keep his head down and reeled Pigot back in as they came through thefinal corner. Lyons had the run out of the downhill and was able to take the victory at the line byonly .02 of a second over Pigot with Trebing holding down third. Rookie Trent Hindman cappedoff a solid first national weekend by taking fourth with fellow rookie Scott Heckert bringinghome the fifth spot.
Third place, Dennis Trebing, “It was a great race between Spencer, Isaac and I. It depended onwho had the draft and who could make it work going into turn one, and who felt like taking therisk. I didn’t feel like taking the risk, but I had to make my point that I could run up front.”Second place, Spencer Pigot, “I knew I had to pass somewhere so I dove inside to three, and Iwas able to get the lead on Isaac, and down the back straightaway I saw Isaac and Dennisfighting, and thought I’d maybe get a big enough lead, but Isaac got the draft and got me right atthe line.”
First place finisher, Isaac Lyons, “I was ecstatic. I thought it was amazing. It was a really toughrace. I got a little bit of a gap on the start, the other guys started working together and caughtback up. The guys used the leap frog strategy and it seemed to work for them. It was tough fromthen on.”OFFICIAL RESULTS BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by MazdaMay 29, 2010, Round 7 of 14, Lime Rock Park, 7 turn, 1.51 mile road course(Starting position in parentheses)1. (1) Isaac Lyons, Northern Ireland, 26 laps2. (6) Spencer Pigot, Windermere, Fla., 263. (2) Nick Andries, Pinellas Park, Fla., 264. (5) Ashley Freiberg, Homer Glen, Ill., 265. (3) Dennis Trebing, Cape Coral, Fla., 266. (7) Trent Hindman, Wayside, NY., 267. (4) Felix Serralles, Haines City, Fla., 268. (11) Abdul Ahmed, 269. (12) Scott Heckert, Ridgefield, Conn., 2610. (13) Brandon Newey, Indianapolis, Ind., 2611. (8) Mukul Sud, India, 2612. (9) Scott Anderson, Fort Collins, Colo., 2613. (10) Peter Ludwig, New Paltz, NY., 26Race length: 26 laps of 1.51-mile road courseTime of race: 25:00.265 minutesConditions: Dry, cool, and cloudyMargin of victory: 2.924 sec.Lap leaders: Nick Andries 1; Lyons 2; Andries 3; Lyons 4-26Cautions: NoneFastest qualifier: Isaac Lyons 57.006 / 97.253 mphFastest race lap: Ashley Freiberg, 56.978 / 97.301 mph; Lap 16
OFFICIAL RESULTS BFGoodrich/Skip Barber National Presented by MazdaMay 31, 2010, Round 8 of 14, Lime Rock Park, 7 turn, 1.51 mile road course(starting position in parenthesis)1. (1) Isaac Lyons, Northern Ireland, 26 laps2. (4) Spencer Pigot, Windermere, Fla., 263. (3) Dennis Trebing, Cape Coral, Fla., 264. (2) Trent Hindman, Wayside, NY, 265. (8) Scott Heckert, Ridgefield, Conn., 266. (7) Nick Andries, Pinellas Park, Fla., 267. (6) Ashley Freiberg, Homer Glen, Ill, 268. (9) Scott Anderson, Fort Collins, Colo., 269. (10) Felix Serralles, Haines City, Fla., 2610. (5) Brandon Newey, Indianapolis, Ind., 2611.(11) Peter Ludwig, New Paltz, NY, 2612. (12) Mukul Sud, India, 2613. (13) Abdul Ahmed, 26Race length: 26 laps of 1.51-mile road courseTime of race: 24:55.330 minutesConditions: Dry, sunny and hotMargin of victory: .021sec.Lap leaders: Isaac Lyons 26Cautions: NoneFastest qualifier: Isaac Lyons 56.877 / 97.473 mphFastest race lap: Spencer Pigot, 56.695 / 97.86 mph; Lap 182010 Skip Barber National points standings after 8 of 14 rounds, top 10 drivers:1. Spencer Pigot, 2512. Isaac Lyons, 2463. Dennis Trebing, 2214. Nick Andries, 2195. Felix Serralles, 206- Ashley Freiberg, 2067. Scott Anderson, 1868. Brandon Newey, 1679. Mukul Sud, 16610. Luis Michael Dorrbecker, 1502010 Skip Barber Cup points standings after 8 of 14 rounds, top 5 drivers:1. Jim Norman, 1342. Brian Cook, 70- Peter Ludwig, 704. Brian Skinner, 656. John Giddens, 58
