Weather forecasts predicted a wet race weekend and Saturday’s qualifying happened on a damp track, with Marc Cefalo claiming pole position with a 1:55.439, followed by Stevan McAleer in P2, Keith Williamson P3, Yan Dia P4, John Palazzolo P5 and Brad Miller P6. Unfortunately, an intermittent light rain started falling 30 minutes before race start time.
Late to grid as a result of changing teammate McAleer to wet tires, Marc Cefalo started at the back of the field. At the start, McAleer got around Williamson and started gapping the field. By the end of lap three, Cefalo had passed about 15 cars and moved up to P2. John “Hammer” Palazzolo had a good run and moved up to third place until, with three laps to go, he was passed by 13-year-old Aiden Crouse. Hammer then battled Tyler Harrell for fourth place until going two-wheels off, allowing Harrell to grab P4. The race ended with Stevan McAleer in first, Marc Cefalo second and Aiden Crouse in third.
About 30 minutes before Sunday’s race time, a light intermittent rain started again. As the race started, Williamson got loose in Turn 1 and dropped to second behind Cefalo and the group headed toward the carousel with the order Cefalo, Williamson, McAleer, Crouse, Harrell and Dia. McAleer made the inside pass on Williamson entering Turn 1 on the next lap as the three lead cars started to pull away from the field. Crouse’s car developed fuel pressure issues and gradually fell back while Dia, Harrell and Palazzolo battled one another for position. Cefalo went four-off exiting Turn 8 on lap four. McAleer breathed off the throttle to see if his teammate could keep it straight and Williamson passed on the inside for the lead.
A couple of laps later, Cefalo and McAleer bump-drafted to get a run on Williamson, but didn’t quite make it before Williamson turned in for “The Kink,” and they backed out. They got Williamson the next lap and Cefalo and McAleer took over first and second.
At that point the Spec E30 leader had caught up to Williamson, and decided to give his fellow Southeast Region racer a bump, which helped keep Williamson in the hunt until on the final lap. Just when it looked like Cefalo had P2 locked up, Williamson got another bump from Espinosa and got a run, which ended with the pair side by side, and Cefalo taking P2 by .011 seconds. The final order was: McAleer, Cefalo, Williamson, Harrell, Dia and Koby Markham.
