NASA Southeast’s Mark Burt drove his LS-powered Mazda RX-7 to a Super Touring 3 Championship.

Let’s see, where to begin? As with most other classes in race group C at the Eastern States Championships at Watkins Glen, Super Touring 3 spent the first few seconds of the race avoiding the wreckage of ST1 driver David Greenman on the front straight as the race was flagged green.

Greenman got an offset bump from behind at the green flag, which spun him into the inside wall and left his car tattered and scattered across the front straight.

The largest of the Super Touring fields, ST3 cars rounded the circuit under caution for nearly 20 minutes while crews cleaned up the mess. When the race resumed, it was 12 minutes of green-flag racing before another double-yellow came out and bunched up the field again. That set the stage for a green-white-checkers lap and a last-lap dash to the finish, which witnessed even more carnage.

Ryan Upham survived the carnage to take second in ST3.
Ryan Upham survived the carnage to take second in ST3.

The results of the race didn’t stand. Five of the 10 ST3 cars entered in the race were DQ’d afterward. That put Mark Burt in first place in his second-generation Mazda RX-7 powered by a GM LS V8, followed by Ryan Upham in second and Greg Micelli in third.

Greg Micelli found his way to the third spot on the podium in ST3.
Greg Micelli found his way to the third spot on the podium in ST3.
Image courtesy of Tracktime Photos

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