Minneapolis, MN (17 August 2009) Benajamin Searcy - 2009 F2000 Championship Series Rookie of the Year
Minneapolis, MN (17 August 2009) Mid Ohio Performance Caps Successful Sophomore F2000 Season
ZSports Midwest drivers Benjamin Searcy and Caitlin Johnston closed the 2009 F2000 Championship Season for ZSports Midwest in fine fashion, scoring a win and 2 top tens. More.....
Minneapolis, MN (12 July 2009) Trying Events Test ZSports Mettle
Mosport and Watkins Glen not kind to ZSports team and drivers.....
Minneapolis, MN (2 June 2009)
Double-Duty Results in Success for Johnston at Shannonville
As one of the few drivers running in two major North American open wheel junior formula series, Caitlin Johnston has found herself where she likes it – at the top.
Following two top ten finishes at Lime Rock in the F2000 Championship Series, Caitlin took her PizzaPizza Van Diemen RF97 Formula Ford to Belleville, Ontario for rounds 3 and 4 of the Ontario FF Challenge. Opting to forgo the Friday practice day due other commitments, Caitlin hit the track for the first time for the ten-minute warm-up session Saturday morning. After some setup changes, qualifying for Race 1 resulted in 6th on the grid. Putting her head down, she had worked her way to a 3rd place finish – her best result thus far. Not satisfied, she and her father Mike went through the car to get it ready for Race 2 on Sunday.
Qualifying 2 did not go as hoped – a mysterious misfire developed causing her to pit early. Mike checked the car and sent her back out for a flyer – which resulted in her best qualifying result yet - P2 on the grid.
The pole sitter got a jump at start of Race 2 causing Caitlin to fall back to 4th. Fighting forward, she pushed hard – a little too hard in fact and she spun in Turn 2. Rejoining the field in 16th, she collected herself and fought back to 5th in class. Overall, the weekend’s results were some of her best to date.
Her consistent performance in the highly competitive F2000 Championship Series has resulted in 6th place in championship points and 4th in the equally competitive Ontario FF Challenge. Her next stop – double duty at Mosport 11-14 June where she’ll run both F2000 and Ontario FF Challenge. Follow Caitlin at www.caitlinjohnston.com.
Minneapolis, MN (31 May 2009) Justice Brothers + ZSports Midwest = Success a
t Lime Rock
When the F2000 Championship Series visited Lime Rock Park, it’s freshly paved and smooth as glass surface led to ever decreasing lap times for most of the field as the weekend wore on.
Progress has its downside, however. Low oil pressure due to high G loads led to some engine failures. ZSports Midwest, sponsored by Justice Brothers distributor Gillund Enterprises, used JB Oil Treatment in their race engines to protect the bearings during times of low pressure. JB Oil Treatment has JB Metal Conditioner treats the metal inside the engine for reduced wear and increased reliability for ZSports Midwest’s highly stressed race engines. A pole, a win and 3 top ten finishes speaks for itself.
To learn more about Justice Brothers Car Care Products, visit http://www.justicebrothers.com.
Lakeville, CT (25 May 2009)
ZSports Midwest Bags Pole, Win, and Three Top Ten Finishes at Lime Rock Park
Coming off a successful visit to VIR, ZSports Midwest followed the F2000 Championship Series to historic Lime Rock Park near scenic Lakeville, CT and came home to Minneapolis with 4th and 6th in points for Benjamin Searcy and Caitlin Johnston, respectively.
Nestled in the scenic northwest corner of Connecticut, the freshly paved 1.53 mile road course was no match for the F2000 field. American Searcy drove his Combustion Technologies Van Diemen to the Round Three pole by setting the F2000 lap record, and then bested that performance enroute to his second win of the season 3 seconds clear of second place Chris Miller. “The car was just great,” said Searcy in victory circle. “I got nervous with the yellow and the restart and that’s when Chris got alongside me. He didn’t get by and from there I just checked out on the rest of the field.”
Starting from her 13th grid position, Canadian teammate Johnston proved her prowess by working her PizzaPizza/Warp9 Van Diemen back into the top ten after falling to 16th early in the race. Johnston - “The start of the race was a little hectic and from the start/finish line to the third corner, I had dropped a few places. But once the group had gone single file, I went to work. Lap after lap, I worked my way back up. By the end of the race, I had worked my way back to 10th. I was so proud of myself!”
Round 4 qualifying proved to be faster yet, with Searcy missing the pole by just 0.067 seconds to Canadian Remy Audette’s lap of 50.192. The start of the race was close into turn one, but Searcy slotted into second behind Audette with Miller and Mathew Inge close behind. Searcy lost second to Miller, but regained the position after Miller got loose in West Bend. Searcy chipped away at Audette’s three second lead at a rate of up to 0.04 seconds per lap until a miscue caused him to spin in one. Searcy came home 7th.
Johnston bagged her first top ten in qualifying, posting a 51.029 lap for tenth on the grid. Starting from the outside, Johnston patiently worked her way into 9th by the time the field made it to the Left Hander. She raced hard and consistently to maintain that position to the checker flag. “I posted my fastest time of the weekend!” exclaimed Johnston. “Working with the ZSports Midwest team this past weekend at Lime Rock was great, everyone works so well together, and racing with them has been a blast.”
The team moves to the challenging Mosport road course, July 11-14, Johnston’s home track. Caitlin will do double duty there as she will run her Formula Ford in the Ontario FF Challenge Series the same weekend. Searcy’s visit to the track will be his first.
Alton, VA (11 April 2009) -
Top Ten for Canada's Caitlin Johnston
Overcoming troubles in qualifying, ZSports Midwest's Caitlin Johnston secured a top-ten finish in Round Two of the Formula 2000 Championship Series opening race weekend.
Canadian Johnston carried her #20 PizzaPizza/Warp9 Sports sponsored Van Diemen across the line just 0.005 seconds ahead of 11th place finisher Jonathan Scarello. Her car was well balanced and she gained more positions with each passing lap ”It was great, I ran my fastest lap of the weekend during the race,” said Johnston. “The start was nuts, I was caught right behind the incident. There were cars careening everywhere that I had to dodge."
Johnston earned the Hard Charger Award for the Champion Class, moving up nine places.
The Series' next stop is Lime Rock Park, Memorial Day weekend. See the 2009 Schedule Page for details.
Alton, VA (10 April 2009) -
Benjamin Searcy Dominates in Wet F2CS Opener at VIR
ZSports Midwest's Benjamin Searcy's eye-opening performance was the talk of the paddock after Round 1 at VIR. Starting fifth on the grid, Searcy drove his Combustion Technologies Van Diemen hard, making one confident pass after another. He took the point by the beginning of lap three and never looked back, stretching his lead over the field by two seconds per lap. Searcy took the checkered flag with a 14.761 second lead over the second place car of Remy Audette.
"It's such an awesome feeling to win the season opener as a rookie," said the elated Searcy. "It is definitely the way I wanted to start the season."
With every crew member up and down pit lane staring at the skies or the radar, The ZSports Midwest team rolled the #10 and #20 Van Diemens of Searcy and teammate Caitlin Johnston to the grid with a full dry setup. At about seven minutes to roll-off, and with the on-again, off-again drizzle coming down, the team made a last minute change to rain tires with time to spare to make aero and suspension changes. "The chances at that point of the track going dry were remote at best, so we went with the best wet setup we could given the time we had," team co-owner Ron Boltik said. "The team did a great job."
Caitlin Johnston, Searcy's Canadian teammate, showed her prowess in the rain as well, starting 18th and finishing 12th in her first visit to VIR, setting the fifth fastest race lap while doing so. Said Johnston, “The race was good. It was a little wet at first and I couldn’t see anything at the start. It took a few laps to get used to the track in the wet but after that I was able to slowly pick up the pace.”
The team gets ready for Round 2 on Saturday, April 11.
Minneapolis, MN (23 March 2009) - ZSports Midwest signs Benjamin Searcy
After a very successful 2-day test at Putnam Park, young karting and Skip Barber graduate, Benjamin Searcy has signed with ZSports Midwest to run the highly competitive 2009 Formula 2000 Championship Series. The 19 year old showed impressive and immediate speed in the #10 ZSports Midwest Van Diemen RF02. Quickly coming to terms with the car and the track, Searcy showed his ability to work with his Speed Secrets driver coach, Kevin York and the team to extract the best from the car. "These cars are awesome," young Searcy said. "The power and handling is better than anything I've driven, and the reliability of the car allowed me to get in two full days of trouble free laps. I'd like to thank the team for providing me the opportunity to test. We had a ball and look forward to the entire 2009 season."
Hailing from Tuscaloosa, AL, Searcy's racing resume includes a highly successful karting career in ICA and Rotax Max, including a trip to the Rotax Max World Finals in Portugal. Several wins followed in 2008 in Skip Barber cars. For more information on Ben or ZSports Midwest, contact Ron Boltik @
ron@zsportmidwest.com.
Minneapolis, MN (22 Mar 2009) -
Zsports Midwest Completes Successful Test at Putnam Park
ZSports Midwest's Caitlin Johnston and Ben Searcy joined Caldwell Racing's Bobby Caldwell for a two day test at challenging Putnam Park near Greencastle, IN. The purpose of the test was three-fold: to shake down the cars after winter rebuilds, to get their drivers comfortable in the cars and to work with Speed Secrets driving coach Kevin York. All three drivers logged nearly two complete days of trouble free driving as each got faster after every lap.
Minneapolis, MN (2 Feb 2009) -
Caitlin Johnston signs with ZSports Midwest
After an impressive debut with the team in 2008 at Mosport, Ontario Formula Ford standout Caitlin Johnston will contest the 2009 Formula Ford 2000 Championship Series with ZSports Midwest.
Her comfort with the ZSports crew was immediately apparent at Mosport - by the second practice session she was fourth fastest in a strong field and qualified
and finished in the top ten.
Caitlin Johnston - "I'm glad to have reached an agreement with ZSports. I am really looking forward to this race season! I believe that this gives me the best opportunity yet to succeed in a race series. This being my first season as a pro racer it makes it that much more important to do well from day one. After the test day that we had last year I felt very comfortable working with the team. And we all know that with the confidence level high, everything else will fall into place."
"We knew from the first session Caitlin was the real deal," stated Owner/Partner Ron Boltik. "She did exactly what she had to do to reach her goals for the weekend. She listened, provided great feedback and responded to changes we made to the car - everything a team is looking for in a driver. All of us at ZSports Midwest are looking forward to working with her and her dad, Mike in 2009!"