STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — The latest Firestone Indy Lights doubleheader at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course couldn’t have seen two more different races.
When Raphael Matos won Saturday’s 40-lap Mid-Ohio 100, it was a flag-to-flag victory as Matos pulled away from the start and won by 4.2603 seconds over Franck Perera.
“It doesn’t get better than this,” Matos said. “I just have to thank the entire AFS/Andretti Green Racing team. It was a great day for us. We’ve turned it around. We’ve had some trouble this year, especially with the ovals. We knew we could be strong on the road courses. We’re doing a consistent job on the ovals, and we've been kind of dominating on the road courses. We did it again. Hopefully, we’ll make the proper changes to the race car for Sunday and try to get another victory.”
Saturday’s race was contested under sunny skies and hot weather, and was a flawless ride to victory by Matos.
By contrast, Sunday’s second race was shortened from 40 to 20 laps and was staged on a wet track after heavy rain on Sunday morning delayed the start. James Davison won the race that saw three different drivers lead the final three laps.
Polesitter Jonny Reid led the first 16 laps before he was passed by Mitch Cunningham, who led laps 17-18 but spun off course with two laps to go. Reid was the leader when the white flag flew, but mistakenly headed to pit lane before taking the checkered.
Davison, who started seventh, was the beneficiary and claimed his first victory.
“I was thinking, ‘Has he made a mistake? I’m pretty sure we haven’t taken the checkered flag, and we need to take it,’” Davison recalled. “I asked, ‘Have I just won this thing?’ And they were like, ‘Yeah, you’re showing P1 on the timing.’”
Wade Cunningham finished second, and Pablo Donoso finished third. Richard Antinucci finished 14th and took a one-point lead in the championship over Matos, who finished 18th.
“I should have won it five times today, but I finished 14th,” Antinucci said. “It’s just one of those crappy days. It was hard. There was a lot of movement all over the place. I spun off, then recovered three places immediately, and then the yellow came out. Then, I went wide, went off, recovered, and gained back another three places. I got put off by (Pablo) Donoso the last time we were put off the track. A lapped car didn’t see us and crashed into us, which was pretty pathetic.
“As for the rest of the championship, we’re still in good shape. We’re going to go out and attack every race.”
It was the third-consecutive victory for Sam Schmidt Motorsports this season, all with different drivers.
The finish:
Showing driver, laps completed and money won:
Race One: 1. Raphael Matos, 40, $22,000; 2. Franck Perera, 40, $17,000; 3. Richard Antinucci, 40, $13,500; 4. Jonny Reid, 40, $11,500; 5. J.R. Hildebrand, 40, $11,000; 6. Jeff Simmons, 40, $10,500; 7. James Davison, 40, $10,000; 8. Arie Luyendyk, Jr., 40, $9,500; 9. Andrew Prendeville, 40, $9,250; 10. Pablo Donoso, 40, $9,000; 11. Bobby Wilson, 40, $9,500; 12. Wade Cunningham, 40, $9,000; 13. Sean Guthrie, 40, $10,000; 14. Ana Beatrz, 40, $7,000; 15. Mitch Cunningham, 39, $8,000; 16. Brent Sherman, 39, $6,000; 17. Cyndie Allemann, 38, $5,750; 18. Dillon Battistini, 38, $5,000; 19. Mark Olson, 37, $4,500; 20. Logan Gomez, 26, $3,500; 21. Daniel Herrington, 15, $3,000; 22. Robbie Pecorari, 4, $2,500.
Race Two: 1. James Davison, 20, $22,000; 2. Wade Cunningham, 20, $17,000; 3. Pablo Donoso, 20, $13,500; 4. Cyndie Allemann, 20, $11,500; 5. Ana Beatriz, 20, $11,000; 6. J.R. Hildebrand, 20, $10,500; 7. Sean Guthrie, 20, $10,000; 8. Andrew Prendeville, 20, $9,500; 9. Jonny Reid, 20, $9,250; 10. Brent Sherman, 20, $9,000; 11. Arie Luyendyk, Jr., 19, $8,500; 12. Mitch Cunningham, 18, $8,000; 13. Robbie Pecorari, 18, $7,500; 14. Richard Antinucci, 18, $6,500; 15. Daniel Herrington, 18, $6,500; 16. Logan Gomez, 17, $6,000; 18. Raphael Matos, 12, $6,500; 19. Dillon Battistini, 10, $5,500; 20. Franck Perera, 9, $6,000; 21. Jeff Simmons, 4, $3,000; 22. Bobby Wilson, 4, $2,500.