Joey Bickers of Moorpark, Calif., grabbed the pole position for Saturday’s race with a time of 1:46.823. His time was .125 faster than Tyler Vance of Ladera Ranch, who would start in second position. Charlie Hayes, of Walnut Creek, qualified just .292 behind Bickers. The top five were separated by 0.475.
In the race Bickers, Vance, and Hayes started to pull away. After the trio had a safe lead, Hayes, who was in second, was forced to defend Vance who had the run on him going into Turn 2. As the pair were battling, Bickers started to pull away. Bickers had the fast lap of the race at 1:46.919. Hayes never let Bickers out of his sight and after holding off Vance he went on the offensive and made the move on Bickers. Vance had nothing left for the top two cars and fell back 2.5 seconds off of the winner. Bickers finished .501 seconds behind Hayes, who won.
On Sunday Hayes had the pole by .150 seconds over Vance. At the start, Hayes lost the lead but regained it later that lap. On the first lap, a car from PTE went off and forced a five-lap full-course yellow. Hayes timed the restart perfectly and got a huge lead on everyone. Hayes said he needed the win “very badly.” He needed to win on Saturday and Sunday to take the lead in the championship and that is exactly what he did.
