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The 2005 Cooper Tires Championship Series is an open-wheel series for Formula 2000 race cars.
The series is sanctioned by Grand American Road Racing. In addition to Grand-Am, the championship is
a support event for the American Le Mans Series, Champ Car and SCCA Pro Racing.
The championship consists of twelve doubleheader weekends, each contested on road courses. The season begins in April at Road Atlanta. In May, the teams travel north for the first of two visits to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. A month later, the series remains in Ohio and competes at the Grand Prix of Cleveland. Next on the calendar are rounds seven and eight at Road America. Then the series returns to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the penultimate race weekend. The season ends with the final two races at Virginia International Raceway. The cars competing in the series are single-seat, rear-engine, open-wheel vehicles constructed with a tube frame chassis. Manufacturers producing series chassis include Carbir, Mygale, Tatuus, Piper, Citation and the most popular choice, Van Diemen. The suspensions are independent – both front and rear. Shock absorbers and sway bars are adjustable. A four-speed, non-synchro gearbox is used. Sequential transmissions are not permitted. There are two championships:
The sponsors and supporters of the series are Ford Racing, Performance Friction Brakes, Carl Haas, Sunoco Fuels, Dynamic Suspension and Racing Radios. Rounds nine and ten at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course were the second visit of the 2005 season for the Cooper Tires Championship Series. It was also the series' penultimate weekend. Drivers would compete in two races around the thirteen-turn 2.258-mile road course for twenty laps.
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The No. 3 Van Diemen, with backing from Bradfords /BRDC / Kenpine / Wood Pine, was driven by Brit Joey Foster. Foster was second in the title chase with a victory in round seven at Road America. He captured the pole, in wet conditions, for the weekend's contest by a margin of over 1.5-seconds and would lead the race flag-to-flag. Foster started round ten on the pole but finished in the runner-up spot. |
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Another Brit, Jay Howard, dominated this year's Cooper Tires Championship Series. Entering the Mid-Ohio weekend, Howard had seven victories in eight starts. He started race one in the fifth position, but by lap-2, he was in second. Howard would finish second by 1.630-seconds. In the weekend's final race, the driver of the No. 22 newhoneys.com Van Diemen RF03 claimed the victory. |
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Earning a pair of third-place finishes at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course was Matthew McDonough. McDonough was running a limited schedule this year and did not participate in rounds seven and eight at Road America. By coincidence, he finished third twice when the series made its first stop of the season at Mid-Ohio. He started second in the weekend's first contest and was gridded third for the finale. |
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Aiken Racing prepared the No. 11 Van Diemen RF05 for Canadian Christopher Guerreri. Entering rounds nine and ten, Guerreri was third in the standings despite twenty-eighth and twenty-fourth place finishes early in the season. He qualified seventh fastest for race one at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and finished fourth. Guerreri ended the weekend with the same race result after starting in the fourth. |
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Texan Nick Boulle drove the No. 2 deBoulle Jewelry Van Diemen RF01. Boulle collected some of his best results of the 2005 Cooper Tires Championship during the season's first visit to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – he earned seventh and eleventh place finishes. When the series returned in August, Boulle surpassed those results. He finished fifth in race one and in the second contest, he claimed a ninth-place result. |
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Jason Byers, the driver of the No. 28 Van Diemen RF03, made his Cooper Tires Championship debut in 2003. But 2005 was proving to be his best season to date. He collected a pair of podium results - second and third-place finishes at Road America. Byers was the eighteenth fastest in the qualifying session for race one at Mid-Ohio but charged to an eighth-place finish. In round ten, he moved from eighth to a fifth-place result. |
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The Cooper Gold Cup category, for cars powered by the older OHC 2.0-liter Ford engine, was dominated by Ricardo Vassmer. Vassmer was piloting the No. 25 Ultra Lub Motor Oil sponsored Van Diemen RF01. The Venezuelan qualified twelfth overall and first in class for round nine and finished fourteenth for the win. In the next race, Vassmer was sixteenth and earned the Gold Cup victory with a fourteenth place result. |
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| FINISH | START | CLASS | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | F2A | Joey Foster | BRDC/Kenpine / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 2 | 5 | F2A | Jay Howard | newhoneys.com / Van Diemen RF03 | 20 | - |
| 3 | 2 | F2A | Matthew McDonough | TASC Technical / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 4 | 7 | F2A | Christopher Guerreri | Aiken Racing / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 5 | 11 | F2A | Nick Boulle | deBoulle Jewlery / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 6 | 8 | F2A | Adam Pecorari | SAI Hydrolics / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 7 | 9 | F2A | Nick Haye | Premier Bank / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 8 | 18 | F2A | Jason Byers | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF03 | 20 | - |
| 9 | 4 | F2A | Chris Meredith | MII Security / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 10 | 8 | F2A | Doug Smith | Packers of Indian River / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 11 | 17 | F2A | Gerry Kraut | Dougherty & Co. / Van Diemen RF03 | 20 | - |
| 12 | 16 | F2A | John Lombardo | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 13 | 10 | F2A | Steve Thomson | Gillund Enterprises / Van Diemen | 20 | - |
| 14 | 12 | GC | Ricardo Vassmer | Ultra Lub / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 15 | 14 | F2A | Ira Fierberg | Personal Injury Law / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 16 | 21 | F2A | Chuck Lessick | ZAT Graphics / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 17 | 23 | F2A | Ben McCrackin | JDC MotorSports / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 18 | 3 | F2A | Cole Morgan | Morgan Homes / Van Diemen RF02 | 19 | - |
| 19 | 29 | F2A | Dick Rose | Head Start Racing / Van Diemen RF03 | 19 | - |
| 20 | 25 | GC | Brian Burke | RFC/Dynamic Metal / Carbir DS-3 | 19 | - |
| 21 | 27 | GC | Craig Clawson | - / Van Diemen | 19 | - |
| 22 | 26 | GC | Brendan Puderbach | Greisiger Motorsports / Van Diemen RF97 | 18 | - |
| 23 | 28 | GC | Barry Haynie | Clearview/PetX / Van Diemen RF01 | 18 | - |
| 24 | 20 | F2A | David Clarke | Jacuzzi / Van Diemen RF05 | 15 | - |
| 25 | 15 | F2A | Ernest Bocchino | Cobalt Friction Racing / Van Diemen RF05 | 8 | Did not finish |
| 26 | 24 | F2A | Dan Denison | Denison Consulting / Van Diemen | 5 | Did not finish |
| 27 | 22 | F2A | Scott Rubenzer | Storage Battery System / Van Diemen RF02 | 3 | Did not finish |
| 28 | 13 | GC | Doug Kniffin | Pioneer Magnetics / Van Diemen RF01 | 2 | Did not finish |
| 29 | 19 | F2A | Dwight Rider | Front Range Motorsports / Van Diemen RF02 | 1 | Did not finish |
| 30 | - | F2A | Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF03 | - | Did Not Start |
| FINISH | START | CLASS | DRIVER | ENTRANT | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | F2A | Jay Howard | newhoneys.com / Van Diemen RF03 | 20 | - |
| 2 | 1 | F2A | Joey Foster | BRDC/Kenpine / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 3 | 3 | F2A | Matthew McDonough | TASC Technical / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 4 | 4 | F2A | Christopher Guerreri | Aiken Racing / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 5 | 8 | F2A | Jason Byers | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF03 | 20 | - |
| 6 | 10 | F2A | Nick Haye | Premier Bank / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 7 | 11 | F2A | Ernest Bocchino | Cobalt Friction Racing / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 8 | 12 | F2A | John Lombardo | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 9 | 5 | F2A | Nick Boulle | deBoulle Jewlery / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 10 | 13 | F2A | Doug Smith | Packers of Indian River / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 11 | 25 | F2A | Scott Rubenzer | Storage Battery System / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 12 | 9 | F2A | Chris Meredith | MII Security / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 13 | 14 | F2A | Steve Thomson | Gillund Enterprises / Van Diemen | 20 | - |
| 14 | 16 | GC | Ricardo Vassmer | Ultra Lub / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 15 | 20 | F2A | David Clarke | Jacuzzi / Van Diemen RF05 | 20 | - |
| 16 | 7 | F2A | Cole Morgan | Morgan Homes / Van Diemen RF02 | 20 | - |
| 17 | 18 | F2A | Ira Fierberg | Personal Injury Law / Van Diemen RF01 | 20 | - |
| 18 | 26 | F2A | Dan Denison | Denison Consulting / Van Diemen | 20 | - |
| 19 | 21 | F2A | Dick Rose | Head Start Racing / Van Diemen RF03 | 19 | - |
| 20 | 22 | GC | Craig Clawson | - / Van Diemen | 19 | - |
| 21 | 28 | GC | Brendan Puderbach | Greisiger Motorsports / Van Diemen RF97 | 19 | - |
| 22 | 24 | GC | Barry Haynie | Clearview/PetX / Van Diemen RF01 | 19 | - |
| 23 | 23 | GC | Brian Burke | RFC/Dynamic Metal / Carbir DS-3 | 18 | Did not finish |
| 24 | 15 | F2A | Gerry Kraut | Dougherty & Co. / Van Diemen RF03 | 16 | Throttle |
| 25 | 19 | F2A | Chuck Lessick | ZAT Graphics / Van Diemen RF05 | 16 | Did not finish |
| 26 | 29 | F2A | Dwight Rider | Front Range Motorsports / Van Diemen RF02 | 14 | Did not finish |
| 27 | 17 | F2A | Ben McCrackin | JDC MotorSports / Van Diemen RF05 | 10 | Battery |
| 28 | 6 | F2A | Adam Pecorari | SAI Hydrolics / Van Diemen RF02 | 7 | Mechanical |
| 29 | 30 | F2A | Fiorenzo Tirinnanzi | NAPA/Denso / Van Diemen RF03 | 2 | Suspension |
| 30 | 27 | GC | Doug Kniffin | Pioneer Magnetics / Van Diemen RF01 | 2 | Accident |
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