NASA Southeast returned to Rockingham Speedway after a 14-year absence. NASA Southeast was last at the “Rock” in 2007 and it was great to get back to one of NASCAR’s iconic tracks for SPEEDTOBERFEST. On Saturday, Broderick Bauguess won pole position with a 1:09.974, with Eric Gerchak P2, Don Elvington P3, Keith Williamson P4, Jeremy Barnes P5 and Yan Dia P6.
At the green flag the group got away cleanly and stayed two-by-two through NASCAR turns 1 and 2. As they exited N2, Gerchak pulled a half car lead on Bauguess, but Bauguess had the inside line for the Turn 3 into the infield and held on to the lead for the remainder of the race.
Williamson got beside Elvington on the next lap as they exited N2 and completed the pass going into the infield to take P3. Williamson cut the gap to Gerchak over the next two laps and then began looking for a chance to pass.
On the white-flag lap, Williamson tried to dive to the inside of Turn 5, but Gerchak closed the door and Williamson spun, ending that battle. Meanwhile, Elvington went off on lap 10 and dropped to P7, as Barnes, Dia and Moore battled for P4. In the end, Broderick Bauguess cruised to the win with Eric Gerchak P2, Jeremy Barnes P3, Yan Dia P4, Don Elvington P5 and Michael Moore P6.
On Sunday, Broderick again won pole position with a 1:09.252, with Williamson P2, Elvington P3, Matt Goodrich P4, Barnes P5 and Michael Moore P6. Gerchak had his P3 qualifying time DQ’d for scrubbing tires under a green flag track and had to start at the back. At race start, Elvington got by Williamson for P2 as they exited NASCAR 2, but Williamson reclaimed the position coming out of Turn 5.
Also on lap one, Barnes got to the inside of Goodrich entering the infield for P4, and Moore made the inside pass on Goodrich at Turn 5 to take P5, shuffling Goodrich back to P6. Meanwhile, Bauguess had pulled about an eight-car-length lead as the field sorted out lap one. Williamson managed to cut his lead to about one car length by lap five, but faded after that and had to settle for P2 and a new Spec Miata lap record of 1:09.632. Gerchak worked his way through the field to finish P3 as Barnes, Elvington, Dia and Moore had a big battle throughout the race. Moore had worked his way up to P4 until he went off in Turn 5 and got into the wall on lap 16.
Broderick Bauguess won the race to sweep the weekend with Williamson P2, Gerchak P3, Barnes, P4, Elvington P5 and Dia P6.
