Tag: New Jersey Motorsports Park

Callum Hedge returned to his winning ways in Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) during race two at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Sunday afternoon. The Auckland, New Zealand native climbed from fourth on the grid to take the race lead by Turn 3 and never looked back.

Cooper Becklin (No. 19 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) secured the pole for Sunday morning’s race with the fastest lap in Saturday’s race one. For just the second time in his career, he led the field down the starting grid with Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport) to his outside. When the lights went out, Shehan got a solid jump, pulling side-by-side with Becklin before taking the preferred racing line to enter Turn 1. Meanwhile, Hedge (No. 17 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) had started the race from the fourth position, but he timed his jump perfectly to overtake both third-place starter Oliver Westling (No. 1 JENSEN Ligier JS F3), as well as Becklin.

From there, Hedge set his sights on Shehan, but Shehan was able to make the block as they entered Turn 1. Hedge knew he needed to be both quick and tricky to get around Shehan, so he began looking for unexpected places to attempt the pass. As they entered Turn 3, Hedge found just that, diving to the inside of Shehan and overtaking the top spot.

In a race that stayed green from lights to checkered, both Hedge and Shehan settled in, hitting their marks and running consistent laps. By lap five, both drivers attempted a flier to secure the pole position for the final race of the weekend—Shehan had it, but then Hedge bettered it. From there, it was back to conservation mode, ensuring that they’d have enough tire left to complete not only the current race, but another 30-minute race later in the afternoon.

Becklin had fallen as far back as fourth before they made it to Turn 1 on the first lap, but he kept his eye on Westling, waiting for the right opportunity to regain the spot. While working lap three, Westling spun in Turn 5, allowing Becklin to drive by, picking up the third position. As the clock ticked down, the gap between first-place Hedge and second-place Shehan was slowly growing, but the gap between Becklin in third and Westling in fourth was shrinking. With under three minutes left, Westling had closed in to within a second of Becklin. However, there weren’t quite enough laps to get it done, and they crossed the finish line in the same order they had spent the majority of the race.

Hedge led Shehan, followed by Becklin and Westling. Max Hewitt (No. 39 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) rounded out the top five.

“It’s great to get the win today,” said Hedge after climbing from the car. “We didn’t quite get it done yesterday. I didn’t get a good enough start, but I made sure I looked over the data last night to analyze what happened, what I did wrong, and then made sure I didn’t do it again today.”

Hedge went two for two on Sunday in Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) competition at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). Leading the field from lights to checkers, Hedge amassed his ninth victory in the season’s 12 races to extend his lead in the driver’s championship point standings.

With the fast lap in race two, Hedge led the field to the starting grid. Once cars were in position, Hewitt signaled a stall to pit road officials, aborting the usual standing start. Instead, the field proceeded behind the safety car before making one more lap to come down the front straightaway for a two-by-two rolling start. With Hedge in control, the 19-year-old brought the field within yards of the start line before stepping on the gas to get the race underway. Shehan started the race on the outside of the front row and held it side by side all the way through Turn 2, but it was Hedge who emerged with the advantage.

With Hedge and Shehan settled into place, the real action was taking place further back in the pack. Hayden Bowlsbey (No. 22 Save22 Ligier JS F3) had started the event in the seventh position, but was quickly racing his way through the field, moving into fifth by the completion of lap two and into fourth by lap three. Bowlsbey kept his head down and focus forward to overtake Westling for the third position while working lap six.

Westling had started the race from the third position, but spent the opening laps jockeying for position with Becklin. With Bowlsbey making his way around both of them, he settled into a groove, chipping away at the gap to Shehan in second place. Reaching Shehan’s gearbox, Bowlsbey was within a tenth of the two-time FR Americas winner as the race reached its halfway point. Still searching for his own first victory, Bowlsbey remained calm, looking for the right opportunity to make his way around Shehan. Finally, with just minutes left on the clock, Bowlsbey decided to make his move in Turn 1. Unfortunately, his front wing made contact with Shehan’s rear wheel, sending the nose of Bowlsbey’s Ligier JS F3 upward. The contact slid Bowlsbey through the gravel, where he flipped and ultimately came to a rest upside down and over the tire barrier.

Shehan was able to drive away from the incident, but surrendered his second-place running position and rejoined the field in sixth. Bowlsbey was unharmed in the incident and was evaluated and released by the on-site medical team.

The field was shown the checkered flag with Hedge out front. As a result of the incident, Westling had moved up to second, and Becklin took over third.

With his impressive drive throughout not only the third event, but the whole weekend, Bowlsbey was awarded the Omologato Perfectly Timed Move of The Race and was presented with a bespoke timepiece.

“To be honest, it wasn’t really that eventful of a race,” said Hedge on the podium. “But the main thing is that Hayden and Ryan are okay. To see the car upside down—I was like, ‘That’s not ideal.’ We never want to see that.”

The FR Americas action will resume at VIRginia International Raceway October 5-8. Tickets for the event are on sale now at VIRnow.com. Be sure to follow FR Americas on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

RACE 2 RESULTS

RACE 3 RESULTS

Michael Costello earned his third-career win in Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) competition on Sunday morning at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). After setting the fast lap en route to a fourth-place result during Saturday’s race one, the driver had a clean launch off the starting grid and sailed away to victory.

Just a couple minutes into the race, the safety car was deployed for a full-course caution, as two competitors spun in Turn 5. With one car unable to drive back to pit lane, safety workers swiftly cleared the wreckage to get the race back underway. Cars lined up one by one and Costello led the field to green, perfectly timing his launch toward the starting line. Once again solidly out front, Daniel Cará had no choice but to settle into second with Patrick Woods-Toth behind him. While Cará’s gap to Costello fluctuated slightly, staying just under or just over a second, Woods-Toth was slowly making forward progress to close in on Cará.

With just a few minutes left on the clock, Cará and Woods-Toth found themselves in a heated battle for second. There was slight contact between the two, but later in the lap, Cará went off track and damaged his wing pulling back on to the circuit. The slip-up was just enough to allow Woods-Toth to pick up the position and drop Cará to third.

When they crossed the line after 30 minutes, it was Costello who led Woods-Toth, followed by Cará. Titus Sherlock, Saturday’s winner, finished fourth, while Saturday’s pole sitter, Jesse Lacey (No. 16 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4), rounded out the top five.

“It feels awesome,” said Costello after climbing from the car. “I mean, just to be able to win at my home track and have my family here—there’s nothing like it. I want to thank everyone at ProGuard Warranty for helping me throughout my career and helping me get to F4 U.S. I’d also like to thank A14 Management for being an amazing management company—I’m so grateful to be a part of their program. I’d like to thank Jay Howard Driver Development for keeping the hard work up, especially when it was so hot here earlier in the week. Without them, I wouldn’t be here. I’d also like to thank my mom and dad for everything.”

After a post-race steward’s decision cost him the win in race one, Alex Berg got his first Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) win in race three at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Sunday afternoon. The driver set fast lap in Sunday morning’s race to lead the field off the starting grid and immediately take command of the race. An incident on the track at the end of the first lap led to a red flag for cleanup before the race resumed as a 20-minute sprint to the finish. Berg relinquished the lead for a few corners, but reclaimed the top spot before the field made it back around to the line and went on to open up a 2.627s lead before the checkered flag waved.

With a good jump off the starting block, Berg’s pace was slowed just one lap in when Logan Adams (No. 20 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) and Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N.E. Where Transport Ligier JS F4) made contact on the front stretch while racing inside the top 10 and sent Adams flipping through the grass. The red flag was immediately displayed, bringing cars down pit road while safety crews worked to clean up the debris.

Michael Boyiadzis (No. 3 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) had started the race third and held the position until the red flag was displayed. However, rear wing damage observed by pit road officials during the stoppage resulted in his car being pulled out of line and brought to the attention of his crew for repairs. He restarted the race in 21st and was only able to rebound to 13th by the time the checkered flag waved.

Meanwhile, with the race effectively split into two parts, race director Scott Goodyear called for a 20-minute sprint to the finish when the green flag waved. As they took the green, the top five cars crossed the line with less than a second separating them. Cará had a great restart from third, driving past both Woods-Toth in second and Berg to overtake the lead going into Turn 1. Now back to second, Berg knew he didn’t want to wait long before making his move to retake the top spot. With Cará leaving the door open entering Turn 6, Berg drove deep into the corner and took control of the race.

With 15 minutes left on the clock, Sherlock moved into third after starting the race in the eighth position. The 18-year-old was quietly gaining on second place, picking away at Woods-Toth nearly a half second per lap. With just one lap to make the pass, Sherlock had a good run at Woods-Toth heading into Turn 1, but the driver of the No. 27 covered the inside. The move forced Sherlock to drive deep into the corner and out-brake Woods-Toth while driving around the outside to claim the second position.

When the checkered flag waved, Berg led Sherlock and Woods-Toth to the line. Costello finished fourth after winning race two earlier in the day. Cará rounded out the top five.

The stewards voted to pick the driver who they felt had the best performance throughout the weekend, awarding Berg with the Omologato Perfectly Timed Move of the Race and a bespoke timepiece.

“I am extremely happy with this result today,” said Berg. “I started on the pole. We had a safety car restart, and I dropped down to second for a couple corners, but I was able to come back up to first. Then I was just able to bide my time, conserve my tires, walk the line and end up with over a 2s lead. I’m over the moon right now; I’m really happy. It’s definitely a weekend to remember.”

The F4 U.S. action will resume at VIRginia International Raceway, October 5-8. Tickets for the event are on sale now at VIRnow.com. Be sure to follow F4 U.S. on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for the latest news and updates.

RACE 2 RESULTS

RACE 3 RESULTS

Oliver Westling secured his first-career Formula Regional Americas Championship Powered by Honda (FR Americas) win with a breakthrough performance in race one at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Saturday. The Swedish-born driver had a perfect launch from the starting block to take the race lead by the time the field entered Turn 1 and never looked back in a race that stayed green from lights to checkered. The victory was not only Westling’s first-career victory, but it was also the first win for his team, JENSEN.

Notes

Saturday marked not only Westling’s first FR Americas win, but his first win in any series on the Road to F1. He began his racing career in 2021, jumping right into formula cars through a testing program with JENSEN. Without any previous karting experience, today was his very first win in motorsports.

Callum Hedge entered the day with seven consecutive victories in FR Americas and was racing to tie the current record of eight straight wins, set by now IndyCar winner Kyle Kirkwood in 2018, and tied by Linus Lundqvist in 2020. With a second-place result, he officially sits third on the list of all-time consecutive wins with seven.

Cooper Becklin recorded his ninth podium of the season when he was promoted to third following a post-race stewards’ decision.

Race recap

Hedge (No. 17 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) led the field off the starting block with his teammate Ryan Shehan (No. 66 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) to the outside, but it was Westling who got the perfect jump off the block. With Hedge in the middle and Shehan on the outside, the driver of the No. 1 had momentum on his side, allowing him to pull to the inside and claim the lead as the field entered Turn 1.

Hayden Bowlsbey (No. 22 Save22 Ligier JS F3) gridded just behind Westling in the fifth position. As Westling took over the point, Bowlsbey stayed on his gearbox to overtake the front-row starters. In second by Turn 1, Bowlsbey was challenged by Hedge and settled into third as the group raced through Turn 2. Nose-to-tail contact in Turn 8 sent Bowlsbey off track and caught the stewards’ attention to review after the race.

Meanwhile, Westling was setting his pace out front. First he led Hedge by a 0.5s, then it was down to just a 0.381s gap, and then back up to 0.5s lead—all in a matter of laps. With just over six minutes left on the clock, attention started to turn to weather, as a storm was about 25 miles away and headed for the track. Fortunately, the clock was able to outpace the clouds and Westling continued to lay down consistent times lap after lap. Opening up to as much as a 1.208s advantage with four minutes left, Westling held off Hedge’s continued advances and crossed the finish line 0.516s ahead of the seven-time race winner.

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With Westling first and Hedge in second, Shehan had quietly run his race and crossed the finish line in the third position. However, contact with Bowlsbey during the opening lap cost the 18-year-old his perfect streak of podium finishes. After the race, the stewards decided that Shehan was wholly responsible for the incident and issued a 30s time penalty, which dropped Shehan to fourth on the official results.

“That felt really good,” said Westling after climbing from his car. “It felt like I was dreaming the whole race; it was really good. I’m usually not that good at starts, but this one just clicked for me. By Turn 1, my coach said, ‘You have the inside. You’re all clear. Eyes forward.’ Something must have happened behind me, so I was going solo for a little bit. Later on, I made a couple mistakes, maybe my tires weren’t dialed in just yet, but Callum was closing in on us. So, I had to push a little more because the pressure was on. I didn’t have to look too far in my mirrors; we had a pretty good space between us, but I could’ve sworn I drove by the white flag four times. Finally seeing that checkered flag was awesome.”

“This was long overdue,” said team owner Eric Jensen. “We’ve been at this [training Oliver] for almost two years—actually it will be two years in October. This is his first-ever race win; he didn’t do any karting, so this is the first time he’s ever won a race and it’s at a very high level. I couldn’t be prouder. We all couldn’t be prouder—and it’s well deserved. Nobody deserves it more than Oliver.”

FR Americas returns to NJMP’s Thunderbolt circuit again Sunday to contest both races two and three. Lights out for race two is scheduled for 10:45 a.m. ET, followed by race three at 2:40 p.m. ET. Fans can follow @FRAmericas on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates, and use the Race Monitor app for live timing and scoring.

RESULTS

Titus Sherlock secured his first-career Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda (F4 U.S.) win during race one of the New Jersey Lottery SpeedTour at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) on Saturday afternoon. A series of on-track incidents and subsequent stewards’ decisions had major impacts on the official finishing order and resulted in the 18-year-old Prosper, Texas native being declared the winner of the event.

Notes

Previously, Sherlock’s best finish was third, which he recorded during the season-opener at NOLA Motorsports Park.

Daniel Cará entered the weekend with a career-best finish of fourth, which he recorded just last month at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Saturday, he improved that result with a career-best second place, and his first-career podium finish.

Bacon Zelenka (No. 45 Bacon Racing Ligier JS F4) secured his career-best finish and first-career podium with Saturday’s third-place result. A rookie in F4 U.S., the driver had only one previous top-10 finish — an eighth-place result in round six at Road America.

Three teams were represented on Saturday’s podium, including two independent single-car operations. Sherlock drives for Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport, while Cará competes for family-owned Cará Origin Motorsports. Zelenka races with his family-owned team, Bacon Racing.

Race recap

Recording the fastest lap in Saturday morning’s qualifying session, Jesse Lacey (No. 16 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F4) was at the front of the field when the lights went out. The Australian had a clean start, but had Alex Berg (No. 08 MySim.ca / Rohde & Liesenfeld / Easy Drift / Penn Elcom Online / Dae Systems Ligier JS F4) breathing down his neck throughout the opening laps. Unable to stretch the gap beyond just a few tenths, Lacey found himself side by side with Berg as they drove down the front stretch to complete the sixth lap of the race. Berg dropped two wheels into the grass before pulling to the inside as he entered Turn 1 directly next to Lacey. The two made side-to-side contact in the Turn 3 complex, eliminating Lacey from contention and causing the stewards to review the incident following the race.

Berg started the race in second, but kept the pressure on Lacey throughout the entirety of the opening 10 minutes. When the two made contact and Lacey was eliminated from contention, Berg was left with clear sailing at the front of the field. With a green race from lights to checkers, Berg was able to steadily build his lead, opening up a 12.811s advantage and leading the field to the checkered flag. After the race, the stewards reviewed the contact between Lacey and Berg, determining that Berg failed to leave racing room at the apex of turn, forcing Lacey onto the curbing, which caused him to spin. As part of the ruling, Berg was issued a 30s time penalty, which dropped him to eighth in the official results.

Championship points leader Patrick Woods-Toth (No. 27 Crosslink Kiwi Motorsport Ligier JS F3) lined up third on the grid. Holding his position throughout the opening two laps, the driver bottomed out his car while running over a curb and fell back to fifth as the field completed lap three. Once recovered from the incident, Woods-Toth kept his focus forward and continued to hit his marks. He was able to capitalize on the misfortune of some competitors and slid back into the third position as Lacey spun and Cará had to take evasive action to miss the incident.

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Meanwhile, Sherlock started the race from sixth, but kept a steady pace, managing both himself and his Hankook tires in the 90-plus degree temperatures. The Texan was able to climb through the field, racing as high as the second position. As the race neared its halfway point, Sherlock found himself battling with teammate Woods-Toth, who ultimately took the second position, leaving Sherlock to cross the finish line in third.

Qualifying fourth and running third, Cará went from being less than a second behind the leader to the seventh position when he was forced to take evasive action to miss a spin from the leader in front of him. Able to get back into a groove and maintain pace, the 20-year-old climbed his way back through the field to take the checkered flag in the fourth position.

Zelenka capitalized on a lot of race preparation and homework to record his career-best F4 U.S. finish. Making about 4,000 laps at NJMP on his sim and following it up with a day and a half of testing on the circuit, the 17-year-old had a clean race, running as high as second before taking the checkered flag in fifth.

In addition to Berg’s post-race penalty, the stewards also reviewed an incident between Woods-Toth and Michael Costello (No. 19 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4). That ruling determined that Woods-Toth failed to leave racing room at the exit of Turn 3B, forcing Costello off the racing surface. As a result, Woods-Toth was issued a 10s penalty and fell to fifth in the official results.

With both Berg and Woods-Toth falling in the final running order, Sherlock was declared the winner of the race, followed by Cará in second and Zelenka in third. Costello was scored fourth, followed by Woods-Toth in fifth and Kekai Hauanio (No. 29 N. E. Where Transport Ligier JS F4) scored a career-best sixth. Logan Adams (No. 20 Jay Howard Driver Development / CSU One Cure / Lucas Oil / LHP Ligier JS F4) was seventh, followed by Berg in eighth, Lacey in ninth. Tyke Durst (No. 17 Gonella Racing Ligier JS F4) rounded out the top 10.

F4 U.S. returns to the track Sunday for race two at 9:00 a.m. ET, followed by race three at 12:30 p.m. ET. Follow the championship on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, or use Race Monitor to follow live timing and scoring.

RESULTS