O’Keefe Strikes at Mid-Ohio

Tricky, twisty Mid-Ohio played host to nearly 900 sim-racers during Week Ten of the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series.

Week Ten brought the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, located in Lexington, Ohio, USA.  The tricky 13 turn, 2.25 mile (3.62 km) circuit attracted sim-racers from across the globe, with 866 drivers competing in a race, 397 turning a qualifying lap, and 168 completing a time trial.  This high race participation brought some of the highest points paying races of the season.

Kenneth O’Keefe (Eastern Canada) led the way in the week’s standings, scoring 237 points, once averaged between the 3928 and 3773 SOF races in which he competed.  O’Keefe started from the pole position in both races, and lead from flag-to-flag to take both victories with a maximum of one incident point.  He also competed in six other races throughout the week where he scored five victories and one second place finish.

Tommaso Carla (Italy) was next in the week’s standings, scoring 199 points once averaged between his 3928 and 2825 SOF races.  Carla beat-out Petteri Kotovaara (Finland) in a hard battle to finish second in his highest scoring race, 5.862 seconds behind the leader at the line.  He held on for the victory over a hard charging Riku Alatalo (Finland) in his second counted race.  Carla also competed in six other online races throughout the week where he scored one victory, one second, two thirds, and a DNF.

O’Keefe took time-off from his iRN writing duties to score a couple of wins at Mid-Ohio and top the weekly point standings.

Paul Ezerski (Midwest) was next in the week’s standings, scoring 196 points in the 3172 SOF race which he started from the third position, moved to second on lap two and took the lead on lap four.  Ezerski never looked back, checking-out to a 4.786 second lead by the finish with a zero incident race. Ezerski also competed in the highest SOF race of the week, where he placed fourth, also with zero incident points.

The remainder of the top ten for Week 10 include, Ari Härö (Finland), Jon Tanko (Iberia), Petteri Kotovaara (Finland), Danilo Jacobs (Iberia), George Streetley (England), Francois Boulianne (Eastern Canada), and Kevin Vaughn (Texas).

The overall standings saw a lead change this week, with Ramon Sprecher (DE-AT-CH) taking the lead with 1530 points.  Tommaso Carla (Italy) has now moved into second place closely followed by Norbert Sulzer (DE-AT-CH).  Next are Luca Zanetti (Italy) and Paul F Grillo (Celtic), with George Streetley (England) following with only seven weeks counted.  This makes George one to watch in the two remaining weeks as he has a good shot to make a big jump in the standings. Finishing-off the top ten are Kevin Vaughn (Texas), Paul Ezerski (Midwest), Victor Nandez (Iberia), and Ermanno Palumbo2 (Italy).

This championship is still very much alive as we watch for drivers with fewer weeks counted to make a big jump and others to improve on their drop weeks.

Next week we will head to The Netherlands’ Circuit-Park Zandvoort.  The 2.671 mile (4.299 km) track will be loved by some and despised by others (including yours truly).  Be sure to check back next week for coverage of the iRacing.com Skip Barber Series from Zandvoort.  Also keep your eyes on inRacingNews.com for updates on other series throughout the service, and many other informational articles to please the interest of any race fan!

Source: http://www.iracing.com/inracingnews/iracing-news/okeefe-strikes-at-mid-ohio

Bill Holland Jackie Holmes Bill Homeier Kazuyoshi Hoshino Jerry Hoyt