Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Callum Hedge was the driver to beat in Formula Regional Americas’ third round at Mid-Ohio, where only nine drivers raced.
Rain meant qualifying was cancelled and the field lined up in order of their championship position for race one, with Hedge starting from the pole position slot. He converted that into his fifth straight win, with a rolling start marking the beginning of the race.
Shehan slotted in behind Hedge on the opening lap and remained there until the finish, while Cooper Becklin had to resist Oliver Westling through the opening lap for third.
Westling had an off on lap two that sent him tumbling down the order, and although he recovered to sixth by the finish he was almost a minute off race-winner Hedge. Shehan lost ground to Hedge through the race as he had to hold off the challenge of Becklin, who then switched to tyre conservation mode and the podium trio ended up being split by 26 seconds.
Shehan had pole for race two, but Hedge led every lap of the race as he passed Shehan before they even got to turn one. But Shehan did not let Hedge run away with the win, keeping him within his sights but also having to defend from Becklin.
And when Shehan was finally close enough to attempt a move for the lead and it did not work, it only left his second place more vulnerable. However he held on, and actually got one more chance to attack Hedge and finish 0.289s behind.
Becklin was just a second back in third, while there wa a gap of 11.389s to Westling in fourth.
Hedge beat Shehan to the race two fastest lap by 0.016s, which put him on pole for the final race of the weekend. He once again made the most of it to win, with Shehan keeping close and particularly through a yellow flag period to finish only 0.660s behind.
Results
Race 1 (25 laps)
1 Callum Hedge Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport 34m03.238s
2 Ryan Shehan Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +13.073s
3 Cooper Becklin Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +26.586s
4 Manuel Roza Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +34.550s
5 Hayden Bowlsbey IGY6 Motorsports +35.393s
6 Oliver Westling Jensen Global Advisors +57.345s
7 Austin Hill Austin Hill Motorsports +58.732s
8 Cole Kleck VRD +1m11.338s
9 Max Hewitt +1m12.189s
Fastest lap: Shehan, 1m20.891s
Race 2 (26 laps)
1 Hedge 35m25.887s
2 Shehan +0.289s
3 Becklin +1.006s
4 Westling +11.389s
5 Bowlsbey +11.877s
6 Roza +12.707s
7 Kleck +15.098s
8 Hill +30.345s
9 Hewitt +32.345s
FL: Hedge, 1m20.856s
Race 3 (24 laps)
1 Hedge 36m09.122s
2 Shehan +0.660s
3 Becklin +1.423s
4 Roza +4.779s
5 Hill +4.997s
6 Bowlsbey +8.128s
7 Kleck +11.400s
8 Westling +28.350s
Ret Hewitt
FL: Hill, 1m22.070s
Championship standings
1 Hedge 198 2 Shehan 173 3 Becklin 123 4 Roza 82 5 Westling 75 6 Bryon Morris 62 7 Nick Persing 52 8 Bowlsbey 39 9 Hill 29 10 Hewitt 24