Photo: Gavin Baker Photography
Titus Sherlock, Michael Costello and Alex Berg won the three United States Formula 4 races at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport’s Jesse Lacey topped qualifying, pipping Doran Motorsports Group’s Berg by 0.071 seconds and points-leading team-mate Patick Woods-Toth by 0.143s.
Berg pressured Lacey through the opening laps of race one, and on lap six of 21 they went side-by-side for the lead. After a grassy moment, Berg then had contact with Lacey. It sent the latter spinning down the order and left Berg with a big lead. He finished 12.811s ahead of Woods-Toth, but both recieved penalties post-race.
Half a minute was added to Berg’s race time for forcing Lacey off, and Woods-Toth got a 10s penalty for forcing Costello off.
That promoted Sherlock to victory by 1.72s over Daniel Cara, who had to take avoiding action when Lacey spun, and Bacon Zelenka. Costello finished fourth, Woods-Toth’s penalty dropped to fifth and Berg still scored points in eighth.
Carl Bennett finished ninth on-the-road, but also got a 30s penalty for causing a collision and he dropped to 15th.
New Fernando Alonso protege Costello set the fastest lap and so took pole for race two, ahead of Cara, Woods-Toth, Sherlock and Berg. He converted pole into victory by 1.755s over Woods-Toth, while Cara pipped Sherlock to third. Cara had run in second until contact with Woods-Toth, and shortly after ran off track and picked up damage.
Berg finished seventh but with fastest lap, meaning he got pole position for race three. He showed similar pace to race one, winning by 2.627s over Sherlock. Woods-Toth slightly extended his championship lead in third, and he now sits 36.5 points ahead of Costello who finished fourth.
Results round-up
Race 1 (21 laps)
1 Titus Sherlock Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport 30m23.582s
2 Daniel Cara Cara Origin Motorsports +1.720s
3 Bacon Zelenka Bacon Racing +2.050s
4 Michael Costello JHDD +2.647s
5 Patrick Woods-Toth Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +8.207s
6 Kekai Hauanio New’T Racing +9.499s
7 Logan Adams JHDD +11.795s
8 Alex Berg Doran Motorsports Group +15.396s
9 Jesse Lacey Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +19.364s
10 Tyke Durst Gonella Racing +20.013s
Pole: Lacey, 1m24.095s
Fastest lap: Costello, 1m25.115s
Race 2 (19 laps)
1 Costello 31m03.393s
2 Woods-Toth +1.755s
3 Cara +4.471s
4 Sherlock +4.813s
5 Lacey +4.986s
6 Luciano Martinez Scuderia Buell +9.122s
7 Berg +14.449s
8 Zelenka +17.241s
9 Durst +24.523s
10 Michael Boyiadzis JHDD +25.925s
FL: Berg, 1m24.337s
Race 3 (15 laps)
1 Berg
2 Sherlock +2.627s
3 Woods-Toth +3.318s
4 Costello +3.762s
5 Cara +15.789s
6 Alex Benavitz Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +15.837s
7 Lacey +16.180s
8 Martinez +18.847s
9 James Lawley Atlantic Racing Team +20.319s
10 Hannah Greenemeier Crosslink/Kiwi Motorsport +22.163s
FL: Berg, 1m25.084s
Championship standings
1 Woods-Toth 178.5 2 Costello 142 3 Sherlock 112 4 Berg 109.5 5 Lacey 95.5 6 Cara 71.5 7 Hodgson 55.5 8 Jimmie Lockhart 50 9 Soto-Schirripa 50 10 Mossman 45.5