September 24, 2006

Disappointing Professional Debut for Beauchamp

Mike Beauchamp ran into wet weather and bad luck over the weekend competing in the Cooper Tire FF2000 event at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI.

Beauchamp got the weekend off on the right foot qualifying his EMP Stewart Components sponsored Formula Continental racer near the top of the speed charts.

“Friday’s practice was in the rain, and since it looked like qualifying and the race would be in similar conditions we elected to go out and get a feel for the track in the wet,” Beauchamp stated. “ The session was uneventful and I was surprised to end up third fastest. Qualifying conditions were cold, but the rain had stopped and the Champ Cars did a great job of drying the track. We left the rain set-up on the car but went out on full slicks, which landed me third on the grid for the race.”

The solid starting position Saturday put Beauchamp in the hunt for the win, but trouble in the closing laps short-circuited the effort.

“Saturday’s race started in a downpour with near zero visibility,” said Beauchamp. “A smarter driver would've parked the car, but instead I just stuck to the rain light in front of me and hoped for the best. Once the field spread out I could see a bit better and I found myself in second place, within striking distance of the leader. With about four laps to go, the rain came down even harder. I ran through some standing water in the high-speed kink and it sent me into a 360-degree spin. I ended up in the outside wall and out of the race.”

Thanks to a solid effort by his crew, Beauchamp’s damaged Van Diemen racer was repaired and ready for action for Sunday’s final event.

“The silver lining was the grid for Sunday's race was set based on lap times in Saturday's race,” said Beauchamp. “I was almost two seconds a lap faster than the race winner which put me on the pole for my second pro race. I owe a huge thanks to my crew for working late in to the night to get the car back together.

"Sunday's race was under sunny skies and I got a great start,” Beauchamp continued. “Unfortunately, my lead lasted all of three turns and by the end of the first lap I was back to third. The handling on the car was poor with a high-speed push and severe oversteer exiting the turns. Later, I lost all drive to the wheels due to a snapped half-shaft, probably residual damage from the earlier crash.”

Despite the less than desired results in the event, Beauchamp was still happy with the effort.

“While the final results didn't look like it, I was able to show that I can run with some of the best drivers,” he stated. “I hope to get a chance to do it again next year.”