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The 2018 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship schedule consists of six race weekends.
Each event would be a tripleheader.
The season kicks off in May at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (CTMP) during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races. In June, the series returns to CTMP as a support event for the VARAC Canadian Historic Grand Prix event. In mid-July, competitors race at Shannonville Motorsport Park during the Peter Jackson Trophy Races. Then the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship makes its third of four stops at CTMP for the BARC Canadian Touring Trophy races. In late August, teams travel to Calabogie Motorsports Park for rounds thirteen, fourteen and fifteen. The BEMC Indian Summer Races is the series’ final weekend of competition and determines class champions. Series entrants are also eligible to participate in the Formula 1600 Super Series, which includes drivers from Quebec. Points toward the Super Series championship are awarded at four events.
The single-seater, open-wheel race cars in the championship are powered by one of two engine options - a four-cylinder, 1600-cc Ford engine or the 1.5-liter HPD Honda L15A7. Both motors produce approximately 120-horsepower. A mixture of European and North American chassis is used by competitors. Minimum vehicle weight is determined by the suspension design and ranges from 1050 to 1125-lbs. Teams are required to use a spec tire – the Toyo Proxes R888. Drivers collect championship points in one of two groups.
The manufacture date for the individual car and not the model is used to determine the year split and whether a vehicle is categorized as F1600A or F1600B. Major news for series competitors was this year’s champion would be awarded a ticket to the $200,000 Mazda Road to Indy USF2000 Scholarship Shootout in December. Winning the Mazda Road to Indy Shootout is the first step to a funded ride in the USF2000 series. As has become a tradition, the 2018 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship’s opening rounds were held during the BEMC Spring Trophy Races at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. Drivers would compete in three races around the ten-turn 2.459-mile road course.
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The opening race of the 2018 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship. Leading the field of twenty-five starters through Moss Corner is the pole-sitter, Marco Kacic, in the No. 95 Exclusive Autosport prepared Spectrum 014. Behind Kacic is his Exclusive Autosport teammate Matthew Taskinen driving the No. 91 Spectrum 014. The leaders are being followed by Jake Craig in the Piper DL7 and the Spectrum of Kellen Ritter. |
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Marco Kacic had good reason to be optimistic at the conclusion of the qualifying session for Saturday’s race. Kacic put the No. 95 Spectrum 014 on the pole by a margin of 0.726-seconds. He jumped into the lead at the start of round one; however, contact in turn-nine on lap-3 with Jake Craig took him out of contention. On lap-8, it went from bad to worse for Kacic as his car caught fire – ending his weekend. |
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Starting the opening round in the fourth position was Matthew Taskinen in the No. 90 Spectrum 014. Taskinen moved up the race order and by lap-2, he was scored in the second position. Contact between the leaders allowed him to inherit the lead and win. In race two, Taskinen battled with Jake Craig before earning the victory. The final contest ended with the same scenario, only this time, the challenger was Kellen Ritter. |
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Joining Brian Graham Racing for this year’s series was Jake Craig, who would drive the No. 4 Piper DL7. Craig was third fastest in the qualifying session for the weekend’s first contest. By the third lap of the race, he caught the leader, Marco Kacic, but contact between the two resulted in a ninth-place finish. In round two, he started on the pole and battled to a runner-up result. In the finale, Craig earned another second-place. |
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While F1600A competitor Matthew Taskinen swept the weekend, Kevin Kapelke did the same in the B category. Kapelke, driving the No. 02 Kapelke Tuned Van Diemen RF93, qualified seventh fastest for Saturday’s contest. He finished race one in fourth place and went unchallenged for the class victory. Kapelke finished down the overall order in the next two rounds but captured a pair of category wins. |
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The No. 90 Exclusive Autosport Spectrum 014 was piloted by Kellen Ritter. Ritter qualified on the outside of the front row for Saturday’s contest and avoided the drama in the race to finish in the runner-up spot. The next day, he was gridded second but lost a position to Matthew Taskinen and finished third. During the finale, Ritter was in the hunt and led the penultimate lap, but a mistake resulted in another third place. |
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After five years of competing in the Toyo Tires F1600 Championship, Graham Lobban earned his first F1600B title in 2017. Lobban returned for another season in the familiar No. 12 Van Diemen RF94. He qualified thirteen fastest for round one and finished a distant second in class B to Kevin Kapelke. During Sunday’s events, he was no match for Kapelke and would capture another pair of runner-up results in F1600B. |
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One of the many competitors making the 2018 Toyo Tires F1600 Championship debut was Missouri’s Spike Kohlbecker. Kohlbecker was gridded in the eighth position for round one. In the race, he wasted little time moving to the front and inherited a third-place finish due to the Marco Kacic and Jake Craig incident. On Sunday, the driver of the No. 55 Margay Racing Spectrum 014 earned a pair of fourth-place finishes. |
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| POS. | START | CLASS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | A-1 | Matthew Taskinen | Spectrum 014 | 8 | - |
| 2 | 2 | A-2 | Kellen Ritter | Spectrum 014 | 8 | - |
| 3 | 8 | A-3 | Spike Kohlbecker | Spectrum 014 | 8 | - |
| 4 | 7 | B-1 | Kevin Kapelke | Van Diemen RF93 | 8 | - |
| 5 | 5 | A-4 | David Taylor | Van Diemen RF99 | 8 | - |
| 6 | 9 | A-5 | Duncan Murdoch | Van Diemen RF99 | 8 | - |
| 7 | 13 | B-2 | Graham Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 8 | - |
| 8 | 15 | A-6 | Logan Cusson | Piper DL7 | 8 | - |
| 9 | 3 | A-7 | Jake Craig | Piper DL7 | 8 | - |
| 10 | 14 | A-8 | Danby Crowder | Spectrum 014 | 8 | - |
| 11 | 6 | B-3 | James Lindsay | Van Diemen RF91 | 8 | - |
| 12 | 12 | B-4 | Mike Lee | Van Diemen RF92 | 8 | - |
| 13 | 1 | A-9 | Marco Kacic | Spectrum 014 | 8 | - |
| 14 | 19 | A-10 | Serge Lacroix | Van Diemen RF01 | 8 | - |
| 15 | 18 | A-11 | Keith Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 8 | - |
| 16 | 16 | A-12 | Jason Sharpe | Mygale SJ14 | 8 | - |
| 17 | 20 | A-13 | Matt Gidman | Van Diemen RF03 | 8 | - |
| 18 | 17 | A-14 | Tony Cove | Van Diemen RF98 | 8 | - |
| 19 | 22 | B-5 | Calvin Coey | EuroSwift SC93 | 8 | - |
| 20 | 21 | A-15 | Steve Wagland | Piper DL7 | 8 | - |
| 21 | 23 | B-6 | Mike Dodd | Van Diemen RF94 | 8 | - |
| 22 | 24 | B-7 | Kieran Murphy | Van Diemen RF91 | 8 | - |
| 23 | 25 | A-16 | Michael Stewart | Piper DF5 | 8 | - |
| 24 | 11 | A-17 | Zachary Vanier | Mygale SJ14 | 6 | - |
| 25 | 10 | B-8 | Steve Bodrug | Van Diemen RF93 | 2 | Did Not Finish |
| POS. | START | CLASS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 3 | A-1 | Matthew Taskinen | Spectrum 014 | 12 | - |
| 2 | 1 | A-2 | Jake Craig | Piper DL7 | 12 | - |
| 3 | 2 | A-3 | Kellen Ritter | Spectrum 014 | 12 | - |
| 4 | 7 | A-4 | Spike Kohlbecker | Spectrum 014 | 12 | - |
| 5 | 4 | A-5 | Duncan Murdoch | Van Diemen RF99 | 12 | - |
| 6 | 6 | B-1 | Kevin Kapelke | Van Diemen RF93 | 12 | - |
| 7 | 11 | A-6 | Zachary Vanier | Mygale SJ14 | 12 | - |
| 8 | 5 | A-7 | David Taylor | Van Diemen RF99 | 12 | - |
| 9 | 14 | B-2 | Graham Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 12 | - |
| 10 | 8 | B-3 | James Lindsay | Van Diemen RF91 | 12 | - |
| 11 | 10 | A-8 | Serge Lacroix | Van Diemen RF01 | 12 | - |
| 12 | 20 | A-9 | Keith Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 12 | - |
| 13 | 18 | A-10 | Jason Sharpe | Mygale SJ14 | 12 | - |
| 14 | 13 | B-4 | Mike Lee | Van Diemen RF92 | 12 | - |
| 15 | 17 | A-11 | Tony Cove | Van Diemen RF98 | 12 | - |
| 16 | 16 | A-12 | Matt Gidman | Van Diemen RF03 | 12 | - |
| 17 | 21 | A-13 | Steve Wagland | Piper DL7 | 12 | - |
| 18 | 15 | A-14 | Danby Crowder | Spectrum 014 | 12 | - |
| 19 | 23 | B-5 | Kieran Murphy | Van Diemen RF91 | 12 | - |
| 20 | 24 | A-16 | Michael Stewart | Piper DF5 | 12 | - |
| 21 | 12 | A-17 | Logan Cusson | Piper DL7 | 12 | - |
| 22 | 19 | B-6 | Calvin Coey | EuroSwift SC93 | 10 | Did Not Finish |
| 23 | 22 | B-7 | Mike Dodd | Van Diemen RF94 | 4 | Did Not Finish |
| - | 9 | A | Marco Kacic | Spectrum 014 | - | Did Not Start |
| - | 25 | B | Steve Bodrug | Van Diemen RF93 | - | Did Not Start |
| POS. | START | CLASS | DRIVER | CAR | LAPS | RETIREMENTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | A-1 | Matthew Taskinen | Spectrum 014 | 15 | - |
| 2 | 2 | A-2 | Jake Craig | Piper DL7 | 15 | - |
| 3 | 1 | A-3 | Kellen Ritter | Spectrum 014 | 15 | - |
| 4 | 8 | A-4 | Spike Kohlbecker | Spectrum 014 | 15 | - |
| 5 | 3 | A-5 | Duncan Murdoch | Van Diemen RF99 | 15 | - |
| 6 | 7 | A-6 | Zachary Vanier | Mygale SJ14 | 15 | - |
| 7 | 5 | B-1 | Kevin Kapelke | Van Diemen RF93 | 15 | - |
| 8 | 6 | A-7 | Danby Crowder | Spectrum 014 | 15 | - |
| 9 | 11 | B-2 | Graham Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 15 | - |
| 10 | 9 | A-8 | David Taylor | Van Diemen RF99 | 15 | - |
| 11 | 10 | A-9 | Logan Cusson | Piper DL7 | 15 | - |
| 12 | 16 | B-3 | James Lindsay | Van Diemen RF91 | 15 | - |
| 13 | 14 | B-4 | Mike Lee | Van Diemen RF92 | 15 | - |
| 14 | 13 | A-10 | Keith Lobban | Van Diemen RF94 | 15 | - |
| 15 | 17 | A-11 | Tony Cove | Van Diemen RF98 | 15 | - |
| 16 | 18 | A-12 | Matt Gidman | Van Diemen RF03 | 15 | - |
| 17 | 15 | A-13 | Jason Sharpe | Mygale SJ14 | 15 | - |
| 18 | 20 | A-14 | Steve Wagland | Piper DL7 | 15 | - |
| 19 | 21 | B-5 | Mike Dodd | Van Diemen RF94 | 15 | - |
| 20 | 23 | A-15 | Michael Stewart | Piper DF5 | 15 | - |
| 21 | 22 | B-6 | Kieran Murphy | Van Diemen RF91 | 15 | - |
| 22 | 12 | A-16 | Serge Lacroix | Van Diemen RF01 | 6 | Did Not Finish |
| - | 19 | B | Calvin Coey | EuroSwift SC93 | - | Did Not Start |
| - | - | A | Marco Kacic | Spectrum 014 | - | Did Not Start |
| - | - | B | Steve Bodrug | Van Diemen RF93 | - | Did Not Start |
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