NASA Southeast’s word of the weekend was “hot” at Roebling Road Raceway as the Savannah Sizzler event lived up to its name. Bringing some heat of his own to the Spec Miata field, Dean Dybdahl laid down the fastest lap in qualifying with a time of 1:23.273. Starting right next to him, Peter Rigg nabbed the outside pole with a time of 1:23.304.
Saturday’s race proved to be trying for a few of the Spec Miata racers. After starting on the front row, Peter Rigg left the track on lap three as they were entering Turn 4. This resulted in him hitting the berm and bringing out a red flag. That flag inadvertently caused another incident where Jeremy Barnes collided into Dybdahl along the front stretch when the field stopped rather abruptly. Luckily it was mostly cosmetic damage and both were able to continue racing. Once the track went green again, it was a two-lap shootout to the end. Roger Burdette was on the heels of Dybdah and trying to contend for the win. Dybdahl had other plans, staying steady in the lead and taking the win for himself. Burdette finished in P2, Yan Dia in P3, Barnes in P4, and Don Elvington in P5.
Sunday morning had a new face on the pole as Burdette set the fastest time in Saturday’s race. Barnes started alongside him in P2, Dybdahl in P3 and Dia in P4. As they entered Turn 1, Barnes went wide, lost traction, and drifted off the track. Burdette led briefly, but Dybdahl quickly took over the front position by the exit of Turn 4 after the two touched briefly at turn entry.
This is about where the excitement ended for the top five. They all stayed in their respective order for the remainder of the race. The excitement was happening farther back with Barnes, who was clawing his way back from dead last up to a ninth-place finish. Dybdahl ended up winning by more than a 7-second lead over the second-place finisher. The remaining order was Burdette in P2, Dia in P3, Elvington in P4, and Dan Burbes in P5.
Dybdahl found himself in familiar territory as he started on pole again in race three. Next to him was Burdette in P2, Dia in P3, and Barnes in P4. Dybdahl again took an early lead while Dia, Burdette, and Barnes raced for the remaining podium steps. On lap three, Burdette took over P2 from Dia and was running strong. However, he began having some intermittent power issues with his engine. This allowed Dia and Barnes to get by him on lap five. Barnes kept Dia in sight and was gaining on him, but he wasn’t able to capitalize. Meanwhile, Dybdahl was showing how it’s done, building an impressive 12-second gap on the field. The final order was Dybdahl in P1, Dia in P2, Barnes in P3, Burdette in P4, and Elvington in P5.
