Michael Whelden, driving the San Rafael Mitsubishi/ Hawk Mitsubishi Lancer, started from pole position in the Touring class and led every lap on his way to victory and set the fastest lap at Miller Motorsports Park in June. In the GT class, Daniel Akhromstev started on pole in his Red Star Racing BMW M3, but stalled it at the start, and was passed by the entire field until he was able to re-fire the engine — yet still managed to score a victory.
Behind Whelden, the battle for second place was intense between the Hawk/Sparta BMW M3 of Justin Crickenberger, the Speed SF Track Day Nissan 350Z of Patrick Chio and the Hawk/Sparta BMW M3 of Beau Borders. Crickenberger, driving in his first USTCC race, was doing well and had the speed, but had to back out of it due to overheating, which left the second-place duel between Borders and Chio. Chio, who started behind Crickenberger, was actually quicker, and after passing Crickenberger went after Borders. He caught Borders with three laps to go, and on the last lap tried to make a move, but ended up locking his front tire and the two cars collided. The collision was minor and only resulted in the plastic bumper cover falling off on Borders’ BMW. The end result was that Chio lost all momentum and had to settle for third place.
In the GT class, Akhromstev’s day looked bleak after his stall but he put his head down and knew that he had 45 minutes to catch up to the leader. He quickly set fast lap after fast lap, and with two laps to go, got alongside newcomer Travis Tidball’s Chevrolet Corvette in Turn 1. Akhromstev made the move stick and finished first after dropping to last place. Mike Holland’s Mendeola Powertrains FFR GTM finished third after leading the first few laps.
Tom Milburn won the Sportsman category in his Bay Area Drafting Acura RSX.
Results
http://www.ustcc.com/results/15_06_21_miller.html
