The Roebling Road Raceway Winter Carnival kicked off the 2019 season with 11 Spec Miata racers braving a dismal rain forecast. Well, so much for the forecasts. NASA Spec Miata had two great races in dry conditions! Cold temps and a dry track on Saturday made for fast qualifying times with Keith Williamson popping a 1:22.669 lap — .537 seconds under the track record — with Yan Dia in P2 at .284 seconds under the record, Brady Miller P3, Aiden Crouse P4 and Dylan Stancil P5.
As Saturday’s race started, Dia was pulling Williamson until Miller got to Williamson’s bumper to give him a good push to beat Dia to Turn 1. The race order settled in after Turn 2 as Williamson, Dia, Miller, Stancil, Crouse and Grant West led the field. On lap two, Crouse and West got inside of Stancil entering Turn 1 to move up and West was able to stick inside also to get by Crouse for P4. Dia was threatening Williamson on the same lap until he tried to carry too much speed into Turn 4 and went four off to drop out of the front six. Then, on lap four, Miller drafted by Williamson for the lead and with the door opened by Miller, West grabbed P2, leaving the order Miller, West, Williamson, Crouse and Stancil. On the next lap, the race ended with a 944 Spec car blowing its engine approaching Turn 4, prompting a three-car wreck and red flag.
On Sunday, the times were considerably slower with a 20- to 25-mph headwind on the front straight. Dylan Stancil grabbed pole with a 1:24.279 with Williamson P2, Dia P3, Crouse P4, West P5 and Miller P6. The race started with Dia pushing Stancil, trying to get Stancil to Turn 1 first. Â But Williamson, on the outside, was being pushed by Crouse and Miller, getting Williamson to T1 for the lead as Stancil dropped to P2 followed by Crouse, Miller, Dia and West. Miller then got loose in Turn 4 and Dia slipped by on the inside for P4.
Crouse and Dia were then able to draft past Stancil on the front straight. Dia looked inside at T4 but got loose as he checked up and went off again at Turn 4. Crouse tried to draft past Williamson on the next lap but couldn’t quite get there as Williamson turned in at Turn 1. West then got inside and passed Miller at T4 and exited T4 on Stancil’s right. The pair then went through turns 5, 6 and 7 side by side until Stancil got scraped off by an out-of-class back marker.
Williamson was slow through Turn 9 and Crouse and West got a run on him for the lead and P2. A couple laps later, with Williamson struggling with a loose car, Miller and Stancil got a run out of Turn 9 to take P3 and P4. On lap 10, West got loose and went off in Turn 5 dropping back to P5 behind Williamson.
Williamson, West and Dia then had a multiple-lap battle for P4 until Williamson got loose in Turn 9 and went off. Stancil lost fourth gear and was picked off by Dia. In P1, Crouse caught some traffic and Miller got a good run on him out of Turn 9, but chose to bump draft Crouse instead of going for the pass. That seemed to light a fire under Crouse as he pulled away from Miller in Turn 2, following the bump draft and brought home the win. Miller finished second, with Dia P3, Stancil P4, Williamson P5 and West P6.
