Saturday’s qualifying was cut short at Carolina Motorsports Park when a car set the grass on fire, limiting the drivers to one timed lap. Keith Williamson grabbed the pole position with Jarrett Jones P2, Andrew Diller P3 and Jason Ball P4.
At the start, Yan Dia moved up from P7 to P5 and Ball swapped positions with Diller for P3. A couple of laps in, Dia got a run going on Ball as they approached Turn 14, then got inside and out-braked for the pass to third place. Two laps later, Dia moved up to P2 and on the next lap got a run on Williamson coming out of the carousel to take the lead. Two laps later, accelerating out of Turn 14, Dia missed a shift and dropped two positions to P3.
As Spec Miata leaders begin catching the back of the Spec E30 field, Williamson got held up, and Dia passed on the inside of Turn 8 to retake the lead. On the white-flag lap, Dia bobbled the shift again coming out of Turn 11 and Jones made the pass for the win, with Dia in second and Ball third.
On Sunday, Williamson got a good start from pole and by the third lap had built up about an eight- to 10-car-length lead. Williamson missed a shift coming out of Turn 11, cutting his lead in half. A lap later, eager to catch some Spec E30s, Williamson turned in too early at Turn 3 and went four wheels off track, cutting his remaining lead in half again. Now with his lead squandered, it was another three-car battle for the win. Jones pushed Williamson for a couple laps to try to break away from Dia, but he stayed glued to the lead pair. As the leaders caught a seven-car train of Spec E30s the race strategy shifts to traffic management.
Williamson got by the first two, giving him some breathing room, but then a lap later got held up in The Kink. Dia saw his opportunity and got inside Williamson for the pass at Turn 11. Now the three headed nose-to-tail into Turn 14 where Williamson retook the lead. The trio then got back to working their way through traffic for several laps.
Seeing another grass fire near the carousel, Dia knew the race could get red flagged at any moment like qualifying the day before. So, he threatened a pass at The Kink and then successfully passed at Turn 11. Dia went wide in Turn 12 and Williamson got under him to retake the lead. With multiple emergency vehicles on track, the order at the front remained unchanged, giving Williamson the win with Dia second and Jones third.
