By: Mike Sullivan/RaceCanada.ca
August 2 2016

On the surface, looking at the results of this past weekends Toyo Tires F1600 race, it would seem it was a pretty quite, uneventful weekend. 2 wins and a second for Michael Adams, 1 win and 2 seconds for Trenton Estep and 3 thirds for Roman De Angelis.

But the results are very misleading. The triple header race format this weekend was some of the best racing I've seen in a long time.

All three drivers took turns leading the race, all three drivers took turns running in second, and all three drivers took turns running in third. No position was ever safe, or ever lasted much more than a lap. In fact, out of the 44 total race laps throughout the weekend, you could count on one hand the number of laps that didn't see the top three drivers swapping places.

With Estep leading the final lap of the final race, the three came around nose-to-tail into turn 10 one last time. We've seen Adams and Estep make contact in this situation before, last corner, last lap, but this time traffic was in the way, and Estep was careful to make his move into turn ten in such a way that Adams had no chance to get past, and Estep went on to claim his first win in the series, but likely not his last.

This was also a huge breakthrough weekend for Brian Graham Racing's Roman De Angelis. De Angelis has a win in the books in the series, but it came at Shannonville when first lap contact between Adams and Estep eliminated the Exclusive Autosport driver on the spot, and Adams, who crossed the line first, was penalized for the contact and dropped to 5th.

The 15 year old karting star proved this weekend that he & his BGR Piper are now as fast as the two drivers in front of him, and he has the confidence to mix it up with the two front runners. A full on win, on the track is only a matter of time for the young, rising star.

While a great weekend in almost every way, it got off to a scary start, with contact in the opening practice session on Saturday morning between Graham Lobban and Sean Thomaselli at the end of the back straight, coming into turn 8.

The two drivers made contact, sending Lobban into a frightening series of rolls, ultimately coming to a stop on his side. After a careful extrication due to concerns about back pain, Lobban was taken to hospital in Bowmanville for a precautionary check up. Lobban would be back at the track, looking to be otherwise OK. Looking at the condition of the car on the back of the tow truck, it was a great relief to hear Lobban was ultimately OK.

I hate seeing these kinds of accidents. Watching the extraction from turn 8 brought back altogether too many memories of my trip down to Bowmanville hospital, following after my F1600 driver who had a similarly massive crash, jut a couple of corners earlier, at turn 6. Kris took a big hit and did not return to the track, but was able to get back doing some kart racing the following year and some oval track racing over the next couple of years.

The good news is, that Formula Ford chassis seem to be pretty strong, and good a protecting their drivers, even as the car looks to be almost destroyed. Who knows, maybe next year we'll finally get our 1600 back together and out on track again.

The Toyo Tires F1600 series moves to Calabogie on August 20-21, then returns to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for the series finale Sept 17-18. If you don't want to miss what promises to be an incredible finale, then you're in luck, you can download your free tickets HERE, and join us for the weekend.

Below is the podium press conference after the final race, with Michael Adams and Trenton Estep.  

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