Round 2 from Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta did not disappoint. Battles throughout the pack kept everyone on their toes all weekend. The weekend started off with a damp practice session, but the extremely high winds helped the track dry quickly. As practice continued, times quickly started dropping with the Kaizen Autosport duo of Seth Henry and Drew Heffering leading the way.
Drivers worked on setups though throughout Friday and by the time qualifying rolled around, the gap between drivers throughout the field tightened. With the cooler air temps and clear skies, conditions were prime for another track record to be set. But as the laps ticked by, no driver could best Dario Cangialosi’s 1:28 from last year in the Nine Four Motorsports #94.
Saturday saw little change in the running order during Q2, but provided more seat time for those visiting the famed raceway for the first time. A gap in the day provided plenty of time for drivers to look over their cars and catch some of the other on track action from Trans Am, FRP, and SVRA.
Race 1 saw the PSSA field split from the vintage cars of SVRA, giving everyone a nice clean run down to T1. Side-by-side battles ensued through the famous esses as drivers experimented with the grip levels of their Hankook tires on the opening lap.
After multiple green flag laps, the caution came out, giving everyone a second chance at getting the optimal start. An out of class car was able to split Gobel Newsome from the front pair of Seth Henry and Drew Heffering. After the session resumed, another caution would come out, ultimately ending the race with Seth Henry in the #44 Kaizen Autosport entry securing his 3rd victory in as many starts.
Race 2 on Sunday, the feature race of the weekend for the PSSA series, would roll off the grid shortly after 8 am. Temps hovered in the low 40’s and long shadows danced across the track creating an additional challenge for the whole field. Drivers worked hard to get heat in their tires on the formation lap and at the start, Gobel Newsome in the #99 once again found himself side by side going through the esses, pushing the limits of his Sebeco NP01-EVO.
Just a lap later, early race leader Seth Henry would get overtaken by the defending series champion, Gobel Newsome, in a heroic 3-wide pass after Henry was held up by an out of class car. Sterling Hamilton in the Dawn Motorsports #95A was also in the mix for the top spot after managing to stick with the leaders as they worked their way around the Radical SR3 of Keith Taylor in the opening laps. Sterling had been adjusting setups all weekend, and it seemed to be paying off until a slight error put him off track in T5, bringing out the only caution of the race.
Further back in the field, local racer Madison Prince battled hard with Charlie Locklear and Harry Colson as they did what they could to get around the same out of class car that held up the #44 of Henry on lap 1.
After a slight mixup by race control, the race was back underway and Newsome and Henry began building a gap over 3rd place, Madison Prince. The top two would end putting in consistent laps and fighting until the last lap. In the end, Newsome held off Henry to clinch his first win of the season.
Harry Colson in the #456 claimed the final spot on the podium after the blinding morning sun caught out Prince on the final lap. He wasn’t the only one to mistakenly pit early though, as several others on track also took to pit lane on the final lap after checkered flags were being displayed on the digital flag boards that accompanied the standard flag stations. Charlie Locklear also was able to claim 2nd in the PS2 class, splitting the Radical SR3 1500 entries of Rafe Baskin and Keith Taylor.
We thank all of the racers for joining us this past weekend and look forward to the next round when we return to the blistering fast, Road America.