ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Andrew Charbonneau, of Delray Beach, Fla., took over the Spec Miata National Championship lead just before the final full-course caution period ended the race, earning his first ever title at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Subway at Road America. Steve Gorriaran, of Providence, R.I., and Tony Coello, of East Troy, Wis., completed the Spec Miata podium.
Coello led the field into the first turn in his No. 17 Pouredfoundations.com Mazda Miata from his second spot on the grid, slipping to the outside of Gumout polesitter Gorriaran. Gorriaran’s No. 44 Gorilla Racing/Driven Performance/Racer Motors Mazda Miata pulled back to the front in turn three, and just as the promising battle was taking shape, a multi-car accident in the kink brought out a full-course caution.
The field circulated under yellow until the lap-five restart, where Gorriaran pulled away from the pack with Charbonneau and Coello. The three set sail on a breakaway from the field, running side-by-side through several corners. Official records show that Gorriaran led the first eight laps because he held the lead at the timing stripe each lap, but each driver took a turn at the point.
On lap six, Charbonneau made a pass for the lead into turn 5 in his No. 67 Jacked Up On Mountain Dew Mazda Miata, but gave way to Gorriaran again in turn 12. On lap seven, Gorriaran again took the lead but ran wide in turn five and fell to third. On a three-wide run into turn six, Charbonneau took over the top spot on lap nine for the third time.
The timing of Charbonneau’s pass couldn’t have been better, as soon after his pass for the lead the No. 80 Grey Fox Racing/Fall-Line Miata of John Kachadurian hit the wall at turn 10. The ensuing caution brought the field to the 40-minute time limit attached to each Runoffs race, shortening the race to 10 laps of a scheduled 13.
Charbonneau averaged 61.535 mph on his way to a 1.231-second margin of victory and his first National Championship.
“Running in this class is the best. Running mirror-to-mirror isn’t unusual,” Charbonneau said. “The first four or five laps you’re wondering who’s going to come plowing through and how you’re going to get to the front so you don’t get caught in the back. You have that anxiety. That said, everybody did a good job not piling on top of each other.
“We got into some oil in Turn Five and I was already deep braking, because I was a little farther back. I literally slid off, onto the rumble strips. At that point, I just focused on hitting my marks and I had really good speed through the Kink. I think that’s where I was picking it up on both of these guys [Gorriaran and Coello]. I just had to stay in it.”
Gorriaran and Coello were left to wonder what might have happened had the race gone the full distance, leaving Gorriaran unable to defend his title from a season ago.
“Any of us could have won and that’s what makes Spec Miata racing exciting,” Gorriaran said. “I’ve been racing these things for a while and I think it’s better if you can break away. With the three of us, it just seemed like we kept going back and forth and part of that was my fault. The car, going into Five, kept cutting out. It’s an electrical problem we’ve been having all week. Andrew would go by me and then Tony would go by me. So, part of that was my fault, that we couldn’t just get in line and get away from everybody. Had we, I think we could have checked out easily. That would have been the smart way to run it.
Coello saw a caution end his Runoffs for the second season in a row without a win. In 2009, Coello was battling for the Formula F title on the race’s final corner when contact ended his day and left third-place to claim the crown.
“First of all, my car was perfect the whole way from the beginning to the restarts,” Coello said. “My family does a great job as a group getting the car ready. I came back from Formula Ford to race Spec Miata because Mazda does a great job with their support program. It doesn’t get much better than this-being able to race with 60-something cars and really go at it.”
Chip Van Vurst, of Pompano Beach, Fla., kept his No. 02 Autotechnik/Matthew Van Vurst Miata in front of a train of nearly 10 cars in a battle for fourth position. Aaron McSpadden, of Round Rock, Texas, finished fifth in the No. 75 Teamsillustrated.com Miata.
Matt Reynolds, Blake Clements, Jeff LaBounty, James York and Shawn Slattery completed the top 10.
The Spec Miata race began with 60 cars taking the green flag, the largest single field in the history of the SCCA Runoffs.
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. - Provisional Results from Friday's Spec Miata National Championship Race, part of the 47th SCCA National Championship Runoffs at Road America with finish position, starting position in parenthesis, driver, hometown, car and laps complete.
1, (4), Andrew Charbonneau, Delray Beach, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
2, (1), Steve Gorriaran, Providence, RI, Mazda Miata, 10.
3, (2), Tony Coello, East Troy, WI, Mazda Miata, 10.
4, (14), Chip Van Vurst, Pompano Beach, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
5, (16), Aaron McSpadden, Round Rock, TX, Mazda Miata, 10.
6, (19), Matt Reynolds, Boerne, TX, Mazda Miata, 10.
7, (6), Blake Clements, Singapore, 0, Mazda Miata, 10.
8, (9), Jeff LaBounty, Cape Coral, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
9, (10), James York, Destrehan, LA, Mazda Miata, 10.
10, (15), Shawn Slattery, Chicago, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
11, (20), Voytek Burdzy, Algonquin, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
12, (18), David Bednarz, Ann Arbor, MI, Mazda Miata, 10.
13, (24), Luke Bickham, Dallas, TX, Mazda Miata, 10.
14, (21), Chris J Puskar, Charlotte, NC, Mazda Miata, 10.
15, (25), Thomas Sager, Naperville, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
16, (29), William Collings, Austin, TX, Mazda Miata, 10.
17, (8), Mark Trent Pombo, Duluth, GA, Mazda Miata, 10.
18, (27), Dennis Bize, New York, NY, Mazda Miata, 10.
19, (0), Jim Drago, Memphis, TN, Mazda Miata, 10.
20, (23), Timothy Jacobs, Mount Airy, MD, Mazda Miata, 10.
21, (22), Michael A Collins, Mount Airy, MD, Mazda Miata, 10.
22, (39), Kyle Watkins, Broomfield, CO, Mazda Miata, 10.
23, (32), Harry Manning, Racine, WI, Mazda Miata, 10.
24, (34), Daniel Bender, Glencoe, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
25, (37), Shawn Young, Bensenville, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
26, (33), Neil O'Rourke, Baltimore, MD, Mazda Miata, 10.
27, (38), Sam Henry, Republic, MO, Mazda Miata, 10.
28, (53), Jeff Luckritz, Saint Joseph, MI, Mazda Miata, 10.
29, (48), Theodore Cahall, Ashburn, VA, Mazda Miata, 10.
30, (31), Christopher Ash, Parker, CO, Mazda Miata, 10.
31, (51), Matt Jensen, Sheboygan, WI, Mazda Miata, 10.
32, (45), Benjamin K Schaut, Commerce Township, MI, Mazda Miata, 10.
33, (49), Manny DaSilva, Morristown, NJ, Mazda Miata, 10.
34, (3), Sam Valafar, Las Vegas, NV, Mazda Miata, 10.
35, (46), Aaron Kaplan, Evanston, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
36, (36), Michael Anzaldi, Oak Park, IL, Mazda Miata, 10.
37, (40), James Randall, Excelsior, MN, Mazda Miata, 10.
38, (42), Thomas Kraft, Des Moines, IA, Mazda Miata, 10.
39, (50), Erik Brumme, Fernandina Beach, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
40, (55), James Suhr, Springboro, OH, Mazda Miata, 10.
41, (54), Phil Cummings, Colorado Springs, CO, Mazda Miata, 10.
42, (61), James Simaras, Oconomowoc, WI, Mazda Miata, 10.
43, (62), Bobby Boileau, Monument, CO, Mazda Miata, 10.
44, (60), Jack J Randall, Naples, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
45, (56), Pax Lemmon, Sebring, FL, Mazda Miata, 10.
46, (63), Christopher O Collins, Germantown, MD, Mazda Miata, 10.
47, (44), Tom Brown, Muskego, WI, Mazda Miata, 10.
48, (13), Craig Berry, Tyler, TX, Mazda Miata, 9.
49, (47), Brett J Fenske, Appleton, WI, Mazda Miata, 9.
50, (57), Robert T MacDonald, Strongsville, OH, Mazda Miata, 9.
51, (30), John Kachadurian, Chicago, IL, Mazda Miata, 8.
52, (28), David Palfenier, Naperville, IL, Mazda Miata, 8.
53, (35), Derek Edward Jones, Philadelphia, PA, Mazda Miata, 6.
54, (7), L Patrick Sandlin, Cordova, TN, Mazda Miata, 5.
55, (11), Danny Steyn, Fort Lauderdale, FL, Mazda Miata, 5.
56, (12), Albert Naon, Miami, FL, Mazda Miata, 5.
57, (17), Alexander J Bolanos, Miami, FL, Mazda Miata, 5.
DNF, (26), Jerret Gerber, Dodgeville, WI, Mazda Miata, 1.
DNF, (41), Chris Edens, North Little Rock, AR, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNF, (58), David Jacobs, Bethesda, MD, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (43), Yiannis Tsiounis, New York, NY, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (52), Ken Payson, Rutland, MA, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (59), Mark Boden, Winnetka, IL, Mazda Miata, 0.
Time of Race: 39:00.117
Winner's average speed: 61.535 mph
Fastest race lap: #79 Shawn Slattery, 2:46.801 (88.330 mph)
Lap Leaders: 1-8 #44 Steve Gorriaran, 9-10 #67 Andrew Charbonneau
Sunoco Hard Charger: #76 Jeff LuckritzTime of Race: 35:22.987
Winner's average speed: 88.178 mph
Fastest race lap: #07 Chad Gilsinger, 2:37.275 (91.559 mph)
Lap Leaders: 1-7, #34 Kevin Fandozzi, 8-13, #07 Chad Gilsinger
Sunoco Hard Charger: #34 Kevin Fandozzi
