Goikhberg drives away from the field for fourth win of the season at Watkins Glen - Speedway Digest

Mikhail Goikhberg drove to his fourth win in five races this season in the Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda Round 5 race Friday at Watkins Glen International. The driver from North Vancouver, British Columbia, led all but a half of a lap the 30-minute race and built almost a five-second lead over the rest of the field on the No. 10 JDC Motorsports entry before the final yellow flag that ended the race.

“We are taking it by a race-by-race approach, and it has been working for us,” Goikhberg said. “The race was rather uneventful for us, but we will learn some things for tomorrow.”

Robert Alon’s second place finish at the 3.4-mile, 11-turn circuit was his first podium of the 2014 season in the No. 9Performance Tech Motorsports entry. Richard Fant grabbed third and first place in the Masters championship in his No. 44 Ferrari of Houston Race Team entry.

“I kept the race car on the track with is always good,” Fant said. “And a few guys took themselves out, which I appreciate as long as they didn’t get hurt. But I was able to move up and finish third overall and P1 in Masters, so I’m real happy about that.”

While Goikhberg controlled the race from the front, for most of the race Andrew Novich and Craig Duerson battled for second. An incident between the two toward the end of the race took them both out of contention, leaving the door open for the rest of the field.

Ludovico Manfredi was the top Lites 2 finisher in the No. 30 ANSA Motorsports Élan DP02 chassis powered by a Mazda engine after avoiding a crazy first turn and first lap.

“It was hectic at the start, which is probably why I managed to win the race because much of the competition was eliminated around the first corner on the first lap,” Manfredi said. “I got hit, too, but for some reason the car was able to continue, and from there on it was pretty uneventful for me. But it’s a great track, and it is an honor to be here under any circumstances.”

The second race, a 45-minute event, was held at 8:10 a.m. (ET) Saturday, June 28. For more information about Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Powered by Mazda, visit www.imsa.com, follow hashtag #CTPL @IMSA on Twitter or IMSA on Facebook.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.