Simpson Dominates Race at Mid-Ohio
05 JULY 2014 Lexington, OH – Jimmy Simpson, Atlantic Creations’ young driver, started second for the beginning of the Atlantic Championship Race at Mid-Ohio on Saturday, quickly taking over the lead on the first lap to take the win.
This marks Simpson’s second Atlantic Championship Series win this season. He has been the only driver to take the top step of the podium aside from K-Hill Motorsports’ Daniel Burkett. “I can’t thank my guys enough, the car was absolutely flawless today. Tire management is the name of the game here and I had a car that didn’t eat the tires”, said the elated Simpson before taking his position on the top of the podium.
Ethan Ringel, COMPREP’s teenage driver, made a return to the podium, finishing the race in second place. Ringel had a great start and was able to get around Polestar’s Keith Grant, pushing him into third place at the start of the race. After a full course caution, Ringel obtained second place by taking advantage of an error made by Burkett.
Ringel has had a third and a second place finish already this season. “The team worked hard to give me a good car to finish second. I am looking for first tomorrow so hopefully we can tweak the setup a bit” explained a hopeful Ringel.
Series front runner, Daniel Burkett, started on pole for Saturday’s race one at Mid-Ohio, the seventh race of the 10 race Atlantic Championship Season. Burkett was not able to hold onto his lead and faced pressure from an eager Simpson, who is only a few points behind Burkett in the Championship. Burkett ran in second for about half the race, before Ringel passed him, causing the Canadian driver to finish third.
The K-Hill Motorsports’ driver knows the championship is all about points, not necessarily on podium finishes. “It was a long shot to clinch the title this weekend and we’ll take third place points”, explained Burkett, who has won five races so far this season.
Simpson expanded on his tire management comment a little later saying: “Mid-Ohio eats your left front tire, so you need to set up your car to accommodate that. I could tell Burkett’s tires fell off around lap five and Ringel’s around lap 10.”
The top three Atlantic cars had a bit of a run on the rest of the field, which was led by Polestar’s Keith Grant. Grant managed to stay at the front of his pack, finishing fourth, with Ringel’s COMPREP teammate, Matt Miller rounding out the top five.
Lewis Cooper Jr. of Lochmoor Promotions, was the top Atlantic Challenge finisher in his Swift 014. Swan Racing’s, Tyler Hunter, finished second in the Atlantic Challenge, followed by Company Motorsports’ Connor Burke.
A familiar Atlantic Championship Series podium face, Conner Kearby, had an unfortunate incident on the first lap of the race, going off into the sand and getting stuck. Kearby was not able to re-join the rest of the field. J.R. Smart, of Pabst Racing Services, also had a rough day, finishing two laps down after a pitstop.
Qualifying for Race 2 starts on Sunday July 6th at 9:40 local time, followed by the race later in the afternoon at 2:10. Both qualifying and the race can be followed via live timing on the Race Monitor App or on the series websitehttp://www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
