Cold and dry weather was a treat for NASA Southeast at the Brady Skel-E-Bration event. The weekend started with a competition school on Friday, where the NASA Southeast Spec Miata group welcomed three new racers to the field: Austin Zebrowski, Duane Black, and Shaun Butcher.
Congratulations to all for earning their provisional race licenses! The cool track brought some quick laps in Saturday’s qualifying session, where Agustin Garcia Flores had the fastest time of 1:50.035.
The start of race one was lively, to say the least. Race one’s front row consisted of Garcia Flores on the pole and Javier Laurnaga beside him. By Turn 6, the Miata pack had already caught the Spec E30s, who started one wave ahead of them. In navigating traffic, Laurnaga took evasive maneuvers, slowing him down and allowing Keith Williamson, Yan Dia, and Teen Mazda Challenge driver Julian Pollard to his inside. Laurnaga stayed wide in Turn 8, but went off into the dirt, following Williamson, who also went off. This was enough momentum loss to allow Dia and Pollard to get past them.
On lap three, Pollard made a fearless move, passing Dia in the Kink. Meanwhile, Laurnaga had gathered himself and made his way back up, passing Williamson and Dia on lap five. It was on this same lap that Pollard had an unfortunate collision with a broken car limping around Turn 8. This moved Laurnaga up to P2, Dia to P3, and Williamson to P4.
Garcia Flores and Laurnaga were uncontested from here, but Williamson stayed right on Dia’s bumper with visions of a podium finish in his future. Dia did everything to keep him behind, but on the last turn of the last lap, they were side by side with a drag race to the finish line. Williamson was the victor in this battle, edging out Dia by just .025 seconds! Race One Top Five: Garcia Flores P1, Laurnaga P2, Williamson P3, Dia P4, and Pollard P5.
For race two, Laurnaga had the pole, beating Garcia Flores by .070 seconds. Out of the gate, Laurnaga secured the lead in Turn 1, but Garcia Flores didn’t let him get away. He stayed on Laurnaga for the first six laps, scheming how he would get by.
On lap seven, Garcia Flores got a run and went side by side with Laurnaga through the infamous kink. They continued this battle for several turns, but Garcia Flores missed the dreaded 2-3 shift exiting Turn 1, ending his run at the win. Race two’s top five were: Laurnaga P1, Garcia Flores P2, Pollard P3, Williamson P4, and Elvington P5.
For race three, Garcia Flores sat on the pole for race three and established the lead quickly. Pollard moved into P2 and the battle for second place became the race to watch. Turn after turn, Laurnaga challenged Pollard for position. They were side by side in Turns 1, 3, 11, and 14 — neither making progress and allowing Garcia Flores to pull away. It was a great battle, though, with each driver giving it their all.
On the last lap, Pollard protected the inside of Turn 11, leaving the inside of Turn 12 open for Laurnaga where he took the lead. It was here that Laurnaga got it done, coming out of Turn 14 and taking the checkered flag in second place.
Another fun battle at the end was between father/son Scott and Cameron Brown. They battled back and forth a few times, with “daddy Brown” crossing the line just .186 seconds ahead of his son for P7/P8. Race three top five: Garcia Flores P1, Laurnaga P2, Pollard P3, Williamson P4, and Elvington P5.
