INDIANAPOLIS – Bobby Sak stamped his authority on the SRF3 race during the 58th SCCA National Championship Runoffs at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Sunday afternoon.
Sak, from Evans, Ga., moved from sixth on the 72-car grid to second place on the opening lap. He stalked Tire Rack Pole Award winner Franklin Futrelle for six laps before passing him for the lead.
Once in front, Sak pulled out a seemingly comfortable gap, only for the field to bunch up under caution after the No. 05 entry of Steve Clifton spun off track on lap 14 of 19. Sak aced the restart for the final sprint to the finish, but his job holding off second place finisher, John Black of Olympic Valley, CA was ultimately made easier when another car was stranded on course, causing the race to end under caution.
Sak to crossed the bricks first, claiming his second consecutive SRF3 National Championship and his fifth medal in SCCA National Championship Runoffs competition. Black, who now has finished in the top three at the Runoffs 16 times, was second, while Sak’s Elite Autosport teammate Sandy Satullo III earned his first Runoffs podium in third.
“I have a great team!” Sak exclaimed in his victory lane interview. “Qualifying, race day, we’ve been fast all year. If this thing got sideways today, it was my fault, not the car.
“Franklin was bad fast all week, and I thought about just hanging behind him,” he added. “But my car was so good, when I got a good run on him, I thought it would be silly to wait. After that, it was just about hitting my marks.”
Sak admitted that the changing weather conditions in Indianapolis gave him reason for concern. The SRF3 race started on a damp track, but by the time the podium celebration unfolded an hour or so later, it was under bright sunshine.
“It was dry all week, but I think everyone thought we were going to have a wet race,” he said. “Twenty or 25 minutes before the race, we were going back and forth ‘Wets or drys? Wets or drys?’ It sprinkled a bunch during the GT1 race, and this track doesn’t dry very quick. Finally, I just said ‘I’m going full dry and I don’t want to talk about it anymore.’ It ended up being the right choice and it worked out. I’m extremely happy.”
Black said he thought he had no chance of finishing on the podium after starting ninth. “I just drove like it was dry, hitting curbs and everything,” he admitted. “It just kind of came to me. To be honest, I really didn’t think I’d make it up too far, but a lot of people went off track or had problems.
“We had talked about what we were trying to do on restarts, and Bobby did it exactly like we had talked,” Black admitted. “I was snoozing. I just blew it. I had a fantastic car before that full-course caution, and then after, I did not have the same car and didn’t have anything for him.”
Satullo was very pleased with his third-place result. “First time here to Indy, Bronze is awesome,” said Satullo. “Before the weekend started, I said to Bobby if I could run in the top ten, that would be great for us. To be able to get it in second place in qualifying and then pretty much run in the top five all race, I’m just really proud of Elite Autosport and the whole team.”
Russell Turner of Montpelier, VA, took fourth place, followed by R. Clay Russell of Spartanburg, SC. Pole winner Futrelle finished sixth, while Kevin Elion was the recipient of the Sunoco Hard Charger Award after gaining 30 positions from his 59th starting place.