2001 Racing Season News
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Tom Burke won the F Production class race on May 12th at Lime Rock Park CT, a Mecca for road racing drivers in the Northeast. It was Tom's first race at Lime Rock and his first race in the F Production class. The following week, Tom competed in the double regional at Pocono International Raceway, host to two Winston Cup events each season. Tom finished second in the Saturday race, but was forced to drop out of the Sunday race with two laps to go due to transmission and engine problems. |
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On July 14th, Mike Fantacone drove the Topaz racer in the SCCA National race at Watkins Glen, finishing in 2nd place. This race was a tuneup for Mike's participation in the August Busch North classic at Watkins Glen, which is held as part of the annual Winston Cup Global Crossing at The Glen event.
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The Topaz Race Team was able to get the car back together for the annual Cerino Fun One, a double regional event at The Glen on September 15th and 16th. This time, Tom kept the car on the track and came home with two first place medals.
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Tom also took a first place at the Watkins Glen Regional race on October 14th. Overall in 2001, Tom had four wins and one second out of seven races.
At the annual banquet in January of 2002, Tom was honored with the 2001 Central New York SCCA Region's Driver of The Year award in the closed wheel division.
Tom
Burke''s next event was the SCCA regional race at The Glen. Unfortunately,
the car hit the wall head-on at turn 1 during the qualifying session,
and suffered heavy damage. As a result, the team missed the August regional
races at Lime Rock.