For the first weekend in April, NASA Southeast returned to one of the best racing tracks in the region, Roebling Road Raceway. Being early spring in the South, yellow pollen touched everything in the paddock. But spring also means warmer temperatures and a slicker track. In qualifying, Augustin Flores secured the pole position with a time of 1:23.416. Javier Laurnaga grabbed the number two position with a time of 1:23.676.
Saturday’s race was anything but typical. As the Spec Miata field rounded the last turn and onto the front stretch, it was evident the E30’s in wave one hadn’t taken the green flag yet. Not only that, but they were pacing at a lower speed. As the two groups approached Turn 1, it was a perfect storm with the fastest cars from one group on top of the slowest cars from another. It made for a busy and hectic start to the race.
The front of the Spec Miata group successfully cut through traffic and cleanly made it through the first lap without incident. On lap two, Flores was flying into Turn 1 after getting a great draft push from Laurnaga. But with that speed, his timing was a little off and he spun off track. It was now Laurnaga, Yan Dia, and Julian Pollard in the top three and charging through traffic. But their charge didn’t last long because the double yellow came out on lap three due to a multi-car incident. The race concluded early due to needing more time to clean up than was left to race. It was an action packed three laps, but disappointing that it was over so quickly. The final results were Laurnaga with the win, Dia in P2, Pollard in P3, Keith Williamson in P4, and Don Elvington in P5.
Race two started early Sunday morning with the Spec Miata group in the first wave. This time Laurnaga started on the pole with Pollard on the outside. When the green flag dropped, Pollard missed a shift, bringing the outside lane to a halt like someone had dropped an anchor. This allowed Laurnaga, Dia, Elvington, and Scott Brown to advance forward as the top four cars early on. Dia and Laurnaga worked together for the first half of the race, creating a substantial lead from their group.
This was the story in Spec Miata from Roebling Road. No. 181 Javier Laurnaga picked up two wins. No. 97 Yan Dia took the win on Sunday using a pair of borrowed tires.
That was when the gloves came off and the two battled lap after lap, often going several corners side by side just to do it again on the next lap. It was a fun and intense battle, but in the end, Dia couldn’t get it done and finished P2 as Laurnaga collected his second win of the weekend. Meanwhile, Flores was making a statement as the hard charger, starting in P10 and making it all the way up to P3 for the final podium spot.
For the last race of the weekend, temperatures were in the 80s and everyone knew the track would be slippery as the sun warmed the smooth surface. Pollard started on his first ever pole position with Dia to his outside starting in P2. Right out of the gate, Pollard looked strong as he maintained the lead for the first two laps. On lap three, Dia, Laurnaga and Flores hooked up, all drafting past Pollard on the front stretch and moving him backward into P4. On lap 6, Laurnaga got a little loose in Turn 9 allowing Flores to slip by him and up to P2.
As the race progressed, Flores made several attempts to take the lead, but between traffic, yellow flags, and Dia’s desire to stay out front, it just didn’t happen. Not to mention, Laurnaga was right on his heels trying to capture another win himself. Behind them, there was a great contest happening for a top 10 finish. Cameron Brown, Scott Brown, Jerry Griffin, John Pallazolo and Charles Lankford were putting on a show of their own. This group was going two and three wide, having a blast. After the dust settled, positions 10 through 15 were separated by just over a second. Within that, competitors Griffin and Scott Brown took the checkered flag just .009 seconds apart, finishing P11 and P12 respectively in a near photo finish. The top five consisted of Dia with the win, Flores in P2, Laurnaga in P3, Pollard in P4, and Williamson in P5.
Interestingly enough, Dia won that race with two borrowed tires from Pollard after noticing he had corded a tire in the morning race. That’s the spirit of NASA Southeast, where friends help each other so we all can have the best weekend possible. To quote a social media post from John Pallazollo regarding the weekend, “We come for the competition, but we stay for the people.”
