SCCA: Linn earns H Production win
Saturday, 24 September 2016
Brian Linn earned the H Production win on Saturday at Mid-Ohio. Credit: Jay Bonvouloir
Hermosa Beach, California-native Brian Linn earned his second SCCA National Championship Runoffs presented by Garmin VIRB win in as many years on Saturday at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Unlike 2015, he and back-to-back runner-up Jason Isley, of Coto De Caza, California, were pointed down the track and moving forward. Ron Bartell, of Madbury, New Hampshire, finished third in an emotional podium.
Linn drove his No. 21 Hoosier/Carbotech/Red Line Oil MG Midget to a slim 0.697-second win in 39:54.854, averaging 67.886 miles in the time-shortened race that was slowed by a five-lap full course caution.
At the 2015 Runoffs at Daytona International Raceway, Linn and Isley, along with A.J. Hulse made contact on Daytona's fast tri-oval and slid across the finish line, with Linn taking the win. At Mid-Ohio, Linn skipped the theatrics and drove superbly for the victory.
"It feels great," Linn said. "I came here, going to run two classes. SportsCar kind of put it out there that it may be too tall of a task for me, and I fell behind in F Production because of it. After that, I had to focus on my best chance, and that was H.
"The last lap, going down the backstraight, Jason closed up the gap a bunch, and he was coming. I went to the inside, and then we came through and I didn't know it was the last lap. And my crew said 'congratulations,' and I saw the corner worker give me a thumbs up.
"Last year, I had the car that had the highest speed capability. It wasn't as much driver there as it was car potential. Jason clearly had a handle on the infield there, better than I was driving. I screwed up on the last lap there but was fortunate to come back and get it. But this, no drama."
Isley's No. 99 TRD/Hoosier/RACER.com Toyota Yaris moved from the second row to the lead on the start, using the straight line speed of his front-wheel drive machine to slide around the outside.
"I figured I'd have the legs on the start, but I was deathly afraid that people in the back would have a head of steam and it would be a yard sale behind us. I just wanted to feel it out and see.
Unfortunately, during qualifying, I didn't make a practice start, so I had no idea where the brake point would be. So I figured I would wait for them to brake, and brake later, and it worked. But there was no point in leading from that race because I knew I was just going to heat the tires up and I wanted to save them for the end of the race. I wanted to show them that I could do it and I was hoping that we could get a small breakaway, but it just didn't pan out."
Isley gave the lead back to the No. 71 DJRace/West MI-Imports/Goodyear/RCRace Triumph Spitfire of Tire Rack polesitter Tom Feller, but the race was on from there. Feller led the first 12 laps officially, but both Linn and Isley led corners in that time frame.
Feller slipped back as the race progressed with a mechanical issue, eventually fading to sixth, as Bartell's No. 4 Hoosier Tires MG Midget stayed in the mix. Bartell moved to second and challenged Linn before landing behind Isley at the checkered flag.
"It's been a real rollercoaster week," Bartell said. "We struggled in the early stages. We had some transmission trouble. We knew we were capable of setting some fast laps, but we were never able to finish the lap. When we finally got a gearbox under me, we almost put it on the pole. During the race, I tried my best. I swapped some positions with some of the guys, and I feel bad for Tom Feller. He certainly would have been in there, but without the full course caution, he would have been gone.
"I have a little bit of a heavy heart. I found out yesterday that my dad passed away. It was not unexpected, but it still hits you like a ton of bricks. So we strapped in a little bit with a heavy heart."
Vesa Silegren hung just behind the lead pack for the full 20 laps, neither falling behind in the No. 60 Hoosier/Honda HPD/svtek.com Honda CRX nor having quite enough to challenge the leaders, finishing fourth. Dan Meller drove his No. 61 Core Consulting LLC Nissan 210 to fifth.
Johannes Krauss improved his No. 46 Hansa Reenen Volkswagen Scirocco 12 positions from the start of the race, finishing 20th, to earn the Sunoco Hard Charger award.