DANVILLE, Va. (Aug. 29, 2015) – Two champions have been crowned.
With podium finishes in Rounds 11 and 12 on Saturday, Aug. 29 at VIRginia International Raceway, Kenton Koch clinched the 2015 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda championship and John Falb captured the Lites 1 Masters championship for the second straight year.
“I’m a little bit speechless right now,” Koch said. “I have four championships in a row now. Definitely happy on how this season’s gone. I’ve come out with some great experiences, and hopefully I can bring it into next year.”
Koch, from Glendora, California, entered the weekend with a 54-point lead over JDC Motorsports teammate Clark Toppe. He needed to leave Virginia with a 40-point lead to claim the championship. He left ahead by 52.
The championship-winning Koch also earned the IMSA Scholarship awarded to the Lites 1 series champion to advance to the Prototype Challenge class of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season.
Koch also picked up his ninth win of the season, leading a JDC Motorsports podium sweep of Round 11. Toppe, from The Woodlands, Texas, cut short Koch’s chance for a weekend sweep by taking the Round 12 victory.
Falb, from Las Vegas, won both races for the Lites 1 Masters class, picking up his ninth and 10th victories of the season, respectively.
“Wow, I can’t believe it,” Falb said. “It’s so great to be able to clinch the Masters championship again. I really have to give credit to ONE Motorsports for putting all the time, energy and effort over the last two year to help get us up to speed and get the pace we need to win. It’s a big achievement, and I’m really proud.”
Brian Alder, from Dublin, Ohio, also swept his class, winning Lites 2 in both races.
ROUND 11
Koch pulled off some last-minute heroics to capture his ninth win of the 2015 Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda season. He took the checkered flag with a 7.701-second victory over Toppe.
Koch ran most of the race in second in the No. 60 JDC Motorsports entry behind teammate Matt McMurry.
McMurry, leading from pole in the No. 20 JDC Motorsports car, had a solid start to lead the field through the 14-turn, 2.25-mile road course. He and Koch ran nose-to-tail through the first 27 minutes of the 30-minute sprint race.
With three minutes to go, the two leaders approached lapped traffic going through Turn 1. McMurry drifted wide, Koch went to the outside and dove underneath to take the lead.
“The whole race was very clean,” Koch said. “Matt and I were running nose to tail the entire time, and I couldn’t get him. His car was really rolling through the corners, and he was driving really good. But his car started to fall off there at the end, and I was keeping the tires on my car and I was able to get on the outside and cross him over, and that was it from there.”
McMurry spun trying to get around another car in the next turn, giving up second to Toppe in the No. 10 Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine. McMurry, from Phoenix, finished third to complete the JDC Motorsports podium sweep.
Austin Versteeg, from Sandy, Utah, finished fourth in the No. 16 Performance Tech Motorsports entry. Falb rounded out the top five in the No. 77 ONE Motorsports car. He was also the top Lites 1 Masters finisher.
Alder finished sixth overall in the No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports entry and was the top Lites 2 finisher.
Masters
Reigning Lites 1 Masters champion Falb started from pole and earned his ninth class win in 11 races.
“We had a good start and just tried to keep pace,” Falb said. “We lost a little bit in the first few laps, and then we started to pick up the pace again toward the tail end of the race. We just ran out of time to really give a good fight to the guys up there in front.”
Joel Janco, from Key Largo, Florida, picked up his eighth second-class finish of the season in the No 25 Performance Tech Motorsports entry. Gerhard Watzinger, from Miami, finished third in the No. 32 ONE Motorsports car.
Lites 2
Alder’s Lites 2 victory was his fifth in a row, padding his slim championship points margin over Todd Slusher. He started from pole and led from flag-to-flag.
“It’s so difficult to pass here, and fortunately there was a L1 car between Todd and I the whole race,” Alder said. “So it was a nice buffer, and it let me save a little bit of energy for our second race today.”
Slusher, from Las Vegas, finished second in the No. 62 ONE Motorsports entry, followed by John Salmon, from nearby Lynchburg, Virginia, in the No. 46 ODU Engineering Race Team entry in third.
ROUND 12
Toppe earned his third win of the season with a dominant 8.157-second victory over JDC Motorsports teammate McMurry in Round 12.
“The car was perfect,” Toppe said. “We finally got that balance right. We’ve been working all weekend with JDC to get it right where we needed it to be. And that’s where it was for this race.”
McMurry led the field from pole for the second consecutive race. In Turn 1, he and Toppe made contact. McMurry was pushed sideways, and Toppe took the inside for the lead. McMurry dropped to fourth behind Robert Alon and Koch.
As Toppe extended his lead over the next 45 minutes, Alon, Koch and McMurry battled for the final two podium spots. The three ran within a half a second of each other until 10 minutes to go in the 45-minute sprint race.
Koch, in second, went to the outside of Alon in Turn 1. Alon went wide, and McMurry dove underneath for second place. In the next turn, Koch passed Alon, sealing the weekend podium sweep for JDC Motorsports.
Alon, from Encino, California, finished fourth overall in the No. 00 Performance Tech Motorsports entry, followed by teammate Versteeg.
Falb was sixth overall and the top Lites 1 Masters finisher. Alder finished 10th overall and was the top Lites 2 finisher.
Masters
Falb sealed his second consecutive Lites 1 Masters championship with the class victory in Round 12.
“We had a great start and put our head down and had a good pace,” Falb said. “It wasn’t quite good enough for overall podium, but we had a great gap behind us, and we ran a good race. It was a long race, and I was able to keep my pace through the entirety, so it was a definite victory.”
Watzinger earned his second podium of the weekend with a second-place finish. Stuart Rettie, from Houston, rounded out the podium with a third-place finish in the No. 21 Lion Rampant Motorsports entry. It was Rettie’s first podium finish of the season.
Lites 2
Alder picked up his sixth consecutive Lites 2 victory of the season, taking the win over Salmon in Round 12.
Alder also extended his points lead over Todd Slusher to 10 points, 122-112.
“It feels good to come away with two more victories and extend our points lead,” Alder said. “Todd is a great competitor, and I need as many points as I can, because I know he will be bringing his A game to Road Atlanta.”
Salmon finished second and Slusher third in the second race of the weekend.
Up Next
The final two rounds, Rounds 13 and 14, will be Sept. 30-Oct. 2 at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia.
For more information on Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, visit www.imsa.com, follow the hashtags #CTPL and #MRT24 on Twitter or like IMSA on Facebook.
ROUND 11 POST-RACE QUOTES
KENTON KOCH (No. 60 JDC Motorsports, winner): “The whole race was very clean. Matt (McMurry) and I were running nose to tail the entire time, and I couldn’t get him. His car was really rolling through the corners, and he was driving really good. But his car started to fall off there at the end and I was keeping the tires on my car, and I was able to get on the outside and cross him over and that was it from there. It’s sad to see him spin, but it’s just one of those racing things that happens with lapped traffic.”
CLARK TOPPE (No. 10 JDC Motorsports, second): “I didn’t start off too strong. I was trying to find the balance of the car with the bar and stuff. So I didn’t start as well as I wanted to. I started to find it there at the middle of the race. JDC put together a great car to last through the whole race. I just hung in there, and after Matt spun, I was able to finish second. It was a great podium race and good for points.”
MATT McMURRY (No. 20 JDC Motorsports, third): “We were catching up to lapped traffic, and I was going by a guy into Turn 1. I broke later than I could have and went a little bit wide. Kenton (Koch) came around the outside, and he dove underneath. And that was with a lap left, so there wasn’t a chance to get it back. The car was good today, and we did a good job keeping the car handling the way it was yesterday afternoon.”
JOHN FALB (No. 77 ONE Motorsports, first Lites Masters): “We had a good start and just tried to keep pace. We lost a little bit in the first few laps, and then we started to pick up the pace again toward the tail end of the race. We just ran out of time to really give a good fight to the guys up there in front. But we did well and picked up a spot, and it’s good points.”
JOEL JANCO (No. 25 Performance Tech Motorsports, second Lites Masters): “It was a hard-fought race. Todd (Slusher) was tough, and Gerhard (Watzinger) was really pushing me hard. We had some mechanical issues we were dealing with, so we were grateful to finish second. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
GERHARD WATZINGER (No. 32 ONE Motorsports, third Lites Masters): “That was a particularly hard race for me. In qualifying I was stuck in gear, so I had no qualifying time and had to start from the back. I had to pass eight or nine cars before I could even get to third place. It was a great race, no yellow flags, no resting. And with all the passing I had to do, the time actually went by pretty fast.”
BRIAN ALDER (No. 22 BAR1 Motorsports, winner Lites 2): “We started on pole and really worked to our advantage. It’s so difficult to pass here, and fortunately there was a L1 car between Todd (Slusher) and I the whole race. So it was a nice buffer, and it let me save a little bit of energy for our second race today. It was a very physical race, but the car ran great. Big thanks to the crew and TOP1 Oil.”
TODD SLUSHER (No. 62 ONE Motorsports, second Lites 2): “We had a great start. It was nice to get through Turn 1. For myself personally it wasn’t the best start, so I had a lot of work to do throughout the race. The track was warm and slippery. I had a few close calls out there. I had a couple of good battles going out there – Brian (Alder) and I in the L2 class and then I was racing with a couple of the L1 cars, so it made it very exciting. Got my money’s worth today, for sure.”
JOHN SALMON (No. 46 ODU Engineering Race Team, third Lites 2): “It was wonderful to have such long, green flag racing. I kept waiting for someone to be off in the grass in front of me, but it was just not to be today. But what a great race. Just trying to go as fast as I could. Can’t ask for anything else.”
ROUND 12 POST-RACE QUOTES
CLARK TOPPE (No. 10 JDC Motorsports, winner): “The car was perfect. We finally got that balance right. We’ve been working all weekend with JDC to get it right where we needed it to be. And that’s where it was for this race. It was perfect. We got out front, had a little bit of an incident with Matt (McMurry), which I feel bad about, but it’s just racing and we’ve moved on from it already. It was a great win. Thank you to everybody; thank you to my dad and everyone supporting me.”
MATT McMURRY (No. 20 JDC Motorsports, second): “I feel really good. The car again was great, so that helped. The tires didn’t go away as fast as the last race. Even though I got tapped in Turn 1 on the first lap, I still got to pull back. I had fun racing with Kenton (Koch) and Robert (Alon) for 30 laps or something like that. So it was a great race. I wish I would have had the chance to go for first. But it’s OK. Clark (Toppe) won and that’s great, and I think Kenton clinched the championship, so I’m happy for both of them.”
KENTON KOCH (No. 60 JDC Motorsports, third): “I’m a little bit speechless right now. I have four championships in a row now. Definitely happy on how this season’s gone. I’m not going to treat Road Atlanta any differently even though I already have the championship. We might experiment more with different stuff. Being on this team has been really cool and being with Clark (Toppe) and Matt (McMurry), I’ve learned a lot from them. I’ve definitely learned a bit about aero this year. I’ve come out with some great experience, and hopefully I can bring it into next year.”
JOHN FALB (No. 77 ONE Motorsports, first Lites Masters): “We had a great start and put our head down and had a good pace. It wasn’t quite good enough for overall podium, but we had a great gap behind us and we ran a good race. It was a long race and I was able to keep my pace through the entirety, so it was a definite victory.” (About winning championship): “Wow, I can’t believe it. It’s so great to be able to clinch the Masters championship again. I really have to give credit to ONE Motorsports for putting all the time, energy and effort over the last two years to help get us up to speed and get the pace we need to win. It’s a big achievement, and I’m really proud.”
GERHARD WATZINGER (No. 32 ONE Motorsports, second Lites Masters): “It was very long race today. We had 33-34 laps, so you get a little tired by the end, but I kept it clean, on the track and shiny side up. And that’s what really counts here.”
STUART RETTIE (No. 21 Lion Rampant Motorsports, third Lites Masters): “I’m just glad to be on the podium. I just started racing Cooper Tires Prototype Lites. I came out of SCCA, so I’m really excited to get my first Masters podium today in this race. It was such a long race too in this heat, but it was a lot of fun.”
BRIAN ALDER (No. 22 BAR1Motorsports, first Lites 2): “It feels good to come away with two more victories and extend our points lead. Todd (Slusher) is a great competitor, and I need as many points as I can because I know he will be bringing his A game to Road Atlanta. We had a decent race today. We started second, and we were about four cars behind Todd after the second lap. I was able to get around him for the lead. Unfortunately, I had a spin at the end. Luckily we didn’t hit anything and got the car back on track and brought it home for the victory. I would have liked to have more of a battle with Todd up there, but we’ll take the win and head to Road Atlanta.”
JOHN SALMON (No. 46 ODU Engineering Race Team, second Lites 2): “This is exactly the kind of race I had hoped for. We just put it all together. What a great race, 45 minutes solid. There was something up front, and I ended up behind Brian (Alder). I had no idea where Todd (Slusher) was so I just tried to hang with Brian. I thought I saw Todd at one point in the background, so at that point it was just a matter of pushing hard, but not making mistakes. I managed to pull it off. Exceptional day for me.”
TODD SLUSHER (No. 62 ONE Motorsports, third Lites 2): “It was hard work, but it was fun. We had the restart at the very beginning, and it bunched us all up. I think everybody was little bit more cautious the second time around. I got off to a really good start. There were a couple of guys that spun in front of us, and I was able to maneuver through that and get a pretty good lead over my closest competitor, Brian (Alder). I had a good lead going, but I didn’t get up to speed like I thought I was going to. The track was a little bit slippery. Brian made a nice little pass on me, good racing. I was able to get back up to him and he spun, and I got around him and then spun in the grass. It was just one of those racing things that happens. All in all, it was a great time. We had 45 minutes of racing, and you really can’t ask for more than that. Really happy with the event and looking forward to resting before Road Atlanta.”
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