Skerlong finishes 4th in Atlantic race at Road America

Published 4:22 pm Saturday, August 9, 2008

ELKHART LAKE, Wis.– In the first race of a Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda doubleheader at the Road Race Showcase, Carl Skerlong rallied from his worst starting position of hte year to just miss climbing the podium..

Skerlong, of Mukilteo, Wash., started ninth in the No. 14 King Taco machine for Pacific Coast Motorsports and avoided trouble to finish fourth on Saturday, Aug. 9 at Road America.

Prior to Saturday’s race, Skerlong had not started outside of the top five this season. He rebounded to record his fourth top-five result in six races this season . It was also his second straight top-five run at Road America, as he finished third in last year’s Atlantic finale in Elkhart Lake.

“I didn’t have a great start at the beginning of the race, but I was able to stay clean and avoid the incidents. After 20 minutes, we had only raced two laps due to two cautions right at the beginning of the race,” Skerlong said. “I’ve been struggling the past couple days, but I had two good restarts and was able to race the King Taco car all the way up to fourth. I scored a good amount of championship points, too, which I definitely want and need. Thanks to my team for giving me such a great car. I’m hoping for the same great car for tomorrow’s race.”

Jonathan Bomarito became the series first two-time winner of the season on Saturday. Driving the No. 26 Del Taco/Stone Brewing/Discount Tire/RLM Investments machine for Mathiasen Motorsports, Bomarito took the lead in the race’s standing start and led all but one lap en route to a 0.411-second victory over polesitter Dane Cameron.

It was Bomarito’s fourth career Atlantic victory and was also his second win at Road America, where he claimed his first victory in the series in 2006. The result allowed Bomarito to move into third place in the championship standings and with 130 points, he now trails second place Markus Niemela by two points and he is just nine points in arrears of leader James Hinchcliffe.

“It feels amazing,” Bomarito said. “I love this track. There’s so much history and the racing always is amazing here. It feels great to be back up here. To be the first guy to win two races this year feels amazing. Hopefully, it’s not my last. Hopefully, we’ll keep this momentum going.”

In the No. 19 MAZDASPEED/Finlay Motorsports/Lynx Racing machine for Genoa Racing, Cameron was the only other driver in the field to lead a lap on Saturday, which he did thanks to an outstanding move in the famed Canada Corner (Turn 12) on Lap 10 of the 18-lap race. However, Bomarito managed to return the favor on the next lap and Cameron was not able to mount another challenge.

Nevertheless, the second-place performance by Cameron was a career-best for the Atlantic rookie, eclipsing a previous-best performance of fourth in Race #1 of the doubleheader at Edmonton two weeks ago. It was also the fourth consecutive top-five result for the 2007 Star Mazda champion and the performance moved him into a tie for fifth in the championship with Skerlong.

In his first Atlantic start since last year’s season finale at Road America, Tonis Kasemets charged from eighth on the grid to finish third in the No. 17 Genoa Racing entry for TK Motorsports Inc. and also earned the bonus point for turning the race’s fastest lap at 2:00.942 (120.494 mph) on Lap 14. It was the first Atlantic podium for Kasemets since a second-place run in the 2005 season finale at Montreal, and Kasemets also won the 2005 race at Road America.

“It feels very good,” Kasemets said. “The race was a little bit crazy in the beginning. Obviously, all of the guys are a little bit calmer in the beginning, but we settled down and everybody got a rhythm going. My car was really good, and I was waiting and passing where I could make a clean pass. I caught up to the leaders and then I thought third place would be great for a start. That’s what I did.”

Hinchcliffe managed to retain the series points lead with a fifth-place performance after starting fifth in the No. 3 Indeck/Tire Rack/NOCO machine for Forsythe/Pettit Racing. It was Hinchcliffe’s fifth consecutive top-five result and he has now finished inside the top 10 in all six races thus far in 2008.

Earlier Saturday, Skerlong qualified in the fourth position for Sunday’s closing race of the Road America doubleheader. Bomartio won the pole, with Kasemets second.

Saturday at Road America,

(Start position in parentheses)

1. (2) Jonathan Bomarito, 18 laps.

2. (1) Dane Cameron, 18.

3. (8) Tonis Kasemets, 18.

4. (9) Carl Skerlong, 18.

5. (3) James Hinchcliffe, 18.

6. (6) Markus Niemela, 18.

7. (11) David Martinez, 18.

8. (7) Junior Strous, 18.

9. (4) Simona De Silvestro, 18.

10. (14) Luis Schiavo, 18.

11. (16) Frankie Muniz, 18.

12. (17) Greg Mansell, 18.

13. (20) Leo Mansell, 18.

14. (10) Kevin Lacroix, 18.

15. (13) Douglas Soares, 18.

16. (18) Dominick Muermans, 18.

17. (12) Daniel Morad, 8, contact.

18. (19) Henri Karjalainen, 3, contact.

19. (5) Jonathan Summerton, 0, contact.

20. (15) Tom Sutherland, 0, mechanical.

Race Statistics

Time of Race: 45 minutes, 2.334 seconds.

Average Speed: 97.068 mph.

Margin of Victory: 0.411 seconds

Caution Flags: 2 for 6 laps

Points Standings

1, Hinchcliffe 139. 2, Niemela 132. 3, Bomarito 130. 4, Strous 110. 5 (tie), Skerlong and Cameron 107. 7, Summerton 103. 8, De Silvestro 86. 9, Lacroix 81. 10, Garza 74.