The fifth round of the NASA Southeast season championship took place June 14-15 at Road Atlanta. With the Eastern States Championships coming to Road Atlanta this year, the increase in out-of-region entrants was noticeable.
In Saturday’s race, six entrants were signed up and on grid for the start of the race. Erik Sjoblom, starting from pole position in his 2012 Mustang, checked out at the drop of the green flag and was never challenged as he took the checkered flag first dominating the rest of the field. The race was for second with Terry Mathis, in his 2002 Camaro and Robin Burnett, in his 2010 Mustang battling it out the whole race. When the checkers waved, it would be Mathis getting to the line ahead of Burnett and taking the second place spot, and Burnett rounding out the top three in third.
In Spec Iron, six entrants also were signed up for the hotly contested class starting in Saturday’s race. From the start, Team Raycin, in their 2008 Mustang, Robert Miller, in his 2010 Mustang, and Cody Powell, also in a 2010 Mustang were the ones to watch as they posted the top three fastest times in qualifying with Powell posting the fastest time and securing the pole position.
Unfortunately, the battle wouldn’t last long as Miller broke a seat mount on the fourth lap and had to retire early. As Team Raycin and Powell continued battling for the lead, new SI racer Cash Canada and veteran SI racer Mark Reed, both in 2010 Mustangs, battled back and forth for the third spot all the while gaining on the other two ahead of them. With two laps to go and the top two battling hard, Powell suffered a driveshaft problem and also had to retire early, leaving Team Raycin to take the hard-fought win. Canada would make it to checkered flag ahead of Reed giving him a second place finish in his first SI race! Reed would round out the top three in third.
