Perfect racing weather greeted the NASA Great Lakes traveling circus in Waumpum, Pa., in July and a dozen Spec Miata racers joined in for some fun on the challenging 17-turn, 2.8-mile full course.
The 8:30 a.m. warmup on a cool Saturday morning set the stage for competitors to check any final tweaks made after Friday test sessions. Veteran John Allen put an early stamp on the weekend with a blistering 2:07.006 lap time to lead all SM by 1.4 seconds. Spencer Conrad, on his first trip to the Great Lakes Region and PittRace, was second fastest with a 2:08.4. Ryan Roberson was a scant .07 seconds off Conrad and two more drivers were within a second of the top three. Qualifying followed two hours later in 20 degree hotter temperatures. Topping the timesheet was Augustin Garcia Flores, who improved his warm-up time by 0.3 seconds with a 2:08.80, Roberson second with 2:08.84, and Conrad third with a 2:09.3. Allen, unable to repeat his warm-up, came in fifth with a 2:10.5.
Race one in the late afternoon, went nine laps under green. On lap one Conrad found a way around Roberson and built a 1.5-second gap while chasing down Flores. Determined to correct his qualifying result, Allen moved up one position on each of the initial four laps and overtook Flores at the flag stand by 0.1 seconds after getting a better exit out of Turn 17. The top five competitors finished the second half of the race holding their positions, with the field stretching out and Allen finishing with a 4.4-second gap.
Sunday’s race two in the morning had the grid set by race one fast lap times. At the tip of the field, Allen was followed by Flores and Conrad. Lap one saw the top three stay within one second total, but that changed quickly on lap two. A bobble by Flores dropped him to fifth and Barzinji from fourth to seventh, with Conrad taking second and Roberson jumping to third after starting fifth.
Roberson stayed within 0.5 seconds of Conrad, and made a final charge on the white flag lap finishing with 0.16 seconds of taking P2. Farther back in the field, Mike Dale took advantage of mistakes in front of him to finish P7, two positions better than his start. John Allen led from flag to flag, building a 9-second lead at the checkers.
The weekend finale was led to the green flag by Allen, Roberson, and Flores. Roberson, with improved pace over Saturday, grabbed P1 after Allen bobbled, and held that position until lap four when Allen retook the lead. Midpack racing was tight between Ben Primrose, Lincoln Olsen, and Justin Dantonio all exchanging positions for three laps with Primrose prevailing to maintain his P4 start. Allen finished on the top step, but with his smallest margin all weekend at the checkered flag.
