Toyo Tires F1600 Championship

Open-Wheel Series Wraps Up 2022 Season at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park

Story by J. Wally Nesbitt

The Toyo Tires F1600 series was part of the support roster for the Labour Day Sprints weekend with their trio of 22-minute races setting the stage for a dramatic championship finale two weeks later.

Over the September 3-4 tripleheader, series sophomore Jake Cowden, fresh from a three-race victory sweep on the streets of Trois Rivieres, replicated that feat, using late race passes in each contest to drastically narrow the gap to season long point leader William Ferguson.

“It’s tough,” admitted Ferguson, driver of the No. 2 Brian Graham Racing Piper/ Honda. “I have the same speed as Jake, Connor (Clubine) and Callum (Baxter), but it’s those three Britain West teammates against me. On a track where the draft makes so much difference, they’re able to work together as a team to keep me away from the front.”

Said Cowden regarding the title chase, “We lost three races when we went to Montreal to race on the F1 weekend, so we’ve been playing catch-up almost all season long. Solid results have now got me in a position to make a challenge for the championship, but I’ve got to keep the pressure on, both on Jake and on myself.”

A mere 34 points separated the two F1600-A class frontrunners as the tour returned to CTMP on September 17-18 for the annual BEMC Late Summer Trophy Races.

Twenty-nine drivers took time in Saturday’s qualifying session and it was Connor Clubine who pushed his No. 6 Mygale/Honda to the pole position, with Cowden, Baxter and Ferguson next in the scoring order, the top four separated by less than a second.

Race One was only five laps old when a red flag was thrown to tend to a serious incident involving Keith Lobban (No. 12), Connor Janeteas (No. 44) and Chris Evans (No. 33).

Prior to the red, Clubine, Cowden, Ferguson and Baxter had been running nose-to-tail in order to open a gap on the field before they began to seriously battle for positions. The red flag forced the pack onto pit lane where the clock continued to run, time eventually expiring with the running order locked in. Organizers determined that sufficient green flag time had elapsed and deemed the race official with full points awarded.

The championship was ultimately decided on Sunday morning under full-wet track con46 Inside Track Motorsport News

(Above) 2022 F1600-A champion Jake Cowden Photo by Richard Coburn

ditions. With negligible visibility anywhere behind the front row of the massive grid, pole sitter Cowden and the No. 51 Spectrum/ Honda of Sam Baker squirted away and into the lead with Cowden immediately beginning to extend his advantage. Appearing through the mist on lap four, Ferguson’s No. 2 Piper made a daring pass on Baker as the pair entered into the first corner.

“I needed to get past Sam before Jake had built up too much of a gap,” noted Ferguson. Unfortunately, Ferguson was carrying too much speed on the wet track and slid wide, burying the orange and black car Piper in the tire wall.

“I was simply too fast, I hit some standing water and hydroplaned into the tires,” admitted the 17-year-old Californian. “That was the first time I’ve ever crashed a car on my own and it could not have come at a worse time. It is so very frustrating, to lead the points all season long and throw it all away with one bad mistake.”

Cowden carried on to win the penultimate race of the 2022 campaign and added to his totals with another victory, his eighth of the year, by stealing top spot from Ferguson with a last lap pass. To emphasize the competitiveness of the class, the top four finishers, Cowden, Ferguson, Baxter and Clubine, accepted the checkered flag covered by just 0.271 seconds.

With the victory, Cowden was also presented with the prestigious Al Craighead Memorial Can Am Trophy.

Not all of the competition was seen at the front of the field as the championship chase was as equally intense in the F1600-B class, the division created for older model vehicles.

Despite missed the three rounds at Calabogie, Mississauga, ON’s Bill Tebbutt (No. RF90 Van Diemen/ Ford) carried two wins, a pair of runner-up results and a third place finish in the final six races of the year to edge long time friend and racing rival Steve Bodrug (No. 41 ‘91VD/ Ford) by 32 points in the final tally.

“I’ve been racing 1600s since 1992 and this is my first title. I was being patient, it just took a long time for me to build up to the proper mindset,” laughed Tebbutt. “Maybe it had something to do with anger management!”

LABOUR DAY SPRINTS RESULTS

RACE 1: F1600-A: 1 No. 66 Jake Cowden, 2. No. 2 William Ferguson, 3. No. 6 Connor Clubine // F1600-B: 1. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt, 2. No. 24 Mike Dodd, 3. No. 41 Steve Bodrug. RACE 2: F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden, 2. No. 6 Connor Clubine, 3. No. 2 William Ferguson // F1600-B: 1. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt, 2. No. 8 Sean Johnston, 3. No. 24 Mike Dodd. RACE 3: F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden, 2. No. 6 Connor Clubine, 3. No. 35 James Lindsay // F1600-B: 1. No. 8 Sean Johnston, 2. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt, 3. No. 41 Steve Bodrug.

LATE SUMMER TROPHY RESULTS

Race 1: F1600-A: 1. No. 6 Connor Clubine, 2. No. 66 Jake Cowden, 3. No. 2 William Ferguson. // F1600-B: 1. No. 99 Craig Willis, 2. No. 41 Steve Bodrug, 3. No. 24 Mike Dodd. Race 2: F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden, 2. No. 6 Connor Clubine, 3. No. 51 Sam Baker // F1600-B: 1. No. 41 Steve Bodrug, 2. No. 99 Craig Willis, 3. No. 83 Bill Tebbutt. Race 3: F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden, 2. No. 2 William Ferguson, 3. No. 65 Callum Baxter // F1600-B: 1. No. 99 Craig Willis, 2. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt, 3. No. 41 Steve Bodrug.

FINAL POINTS

F1600-A: 1. No. 66 Jake Cowden (398 pts), 2. No. 2 William Ferguson (391), 3. No. 5 Connor Clubine (305), 4. No. 35 James Lindsay (218), 5 (t). No. 23 Connor Wagland/ No. 65 Callum Baxter (214) // F1600-B: 1. No. 82 Bill Tebbutt (290 pts), 2. No. 41 Steve Bodrug (258), 3 No. 25 Mike Lee (230), 4. No. 32 Andrew Mason (189), 5. No. 99 Craig Willis (174). IT