NASA Northeast finally emerged from the never-ending winter for the 2018 season opener at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Lightning course on May 4-6. After a successful comp school on Friday, 17 rookies joined the field for the weekend’s races. The first weekend of racing provided some intense battles in multiple classes and lots of new track records.
Luiz Serva’s GTS3 BMW emerged from hibernation with a new wide-body kit for the No. 19 out of Hi-Speed Motorsports. Finishing first in the field of 12 on Saturday and setting a new track record of 1:09.873, Serva repeated again on Sunday for a double podium.
In GTS4, Jack Haberman’s No. 914 BMW built by VAC Motorsports took a first-place finish, and also included a track record of 1:08.594. Haberman repeated again on Sunday, but lost the track record to second-place finisher Will Vanjonack in the No. 226, who ran a 1:08.330.
GTS2 saw last year’s regional champion No. 530 Michael Sousa sweep both races and set a track record on Saturday of 1:12.143.
Spec E30 started a field of 14, and Robert Casella’s No. 36 took the podium for both races, while Spec E46 saw the No. 29 of Rich Bocanegra sweep both days.
Long-time Honda Challenge racer Spencer Anderson took the top spot both days in H2 in his No. 516 red Honda Civic. Rookie Ken Martinez also scored a double win in H4 in his No. 358 Integra. There also was a very exciting finish in H1 on Sunday by rookie Jose Suero in his No. 738 Honda S2000, who took the first-place podium in his second race!
Mike Hartley in Super Unlimited in his No. 553 Viper and Mike Phillips’ No. 529 ST2 Vette rounded out the sweeps for the weekend. Track records also were set in ST2 by Phillips at 1:07.759, and AJ Hartman in American Iron No. 24 with a 1:10.840.
Our Saturday night festivities celebrated Cinco de Mayo with new trophies, track records and tequila! It was a great weekend, and now NASA Northeast sets its sights on round two June 8-10 at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s ThunderBolt course!
