The touring cars are rolling out on track, ready for their first race. TC America is changing, with the new TCX class with the BMW M2 cars ready to race. TC and TCA also have great stories. Skip Barber Racing School is sponsoring the touring car division in 2021. 26 cars in the field today. Driver Kevin Boehm is the driver and the race engineer being helped by a pit crew of military veterans and he is a Honda engineer and test driver. He has raced at the club level of racing and now in professional racing, with backing from Honda.
Joey Jordan at the wheel of the FTG Racing Mazda 3 will be
one to watch. On the pole, car #81 Jacob
Ruud in the Classic BMW BMW M2 ClubSport.
32 cars will start this race. We
have a lot of mechanical diversity in this championship. Sally McNulty and others have open trailers
and pickup trucks to bring cars here, and factory backed efforts as well. The field separates by design. In the driver’s briefing, the marshals told
the drivers that there will be a split start.
Here we go. Jacob Ruud and Tommy
McCarthy. Green flag! Ruud and McCarthy lead Roy Block. Eric Powell gets the jump on Kevin Boehm in
this 40- minute race.
Clean and green so far. He uses the curbs, and here comes the field. These boys and girls are going to use the curbs for sure. A pass for sixth. Couldn’t find who it was. Ah. Victor Gonzalez vs. Rob Hines. Now, we also see a scrap between Kevin Boehm and Victor Gonzalez. Mini’s, Hyundai’s, Honda’s, ad Toyota’s in TCA are scrapping with each other already. Mat Pombo in the Mini vs. Carter Fartuch. Jesse Love, a NASCAR driver, is racing against Jorge Blanco. Meanwhile, Boehm has his hands full with Victor Gonzalez, another former NASCAR driver. Honda Civic vs. Honda Civic. Jose Blanco and Victor Gonzalez are going for it, hoping to bring Puerto Rican drivers into the sport. Boehm and Gonzalez are flying and here comes Toby Grahovec and Lindsay Brewer, who is coming out of go karts. An off-course excursion for Jeff Ricca in the Hyundai Veloster N TCR. Ricca is getting used to front wheel drive. He was into the turn a shade too hot.
Steve Streimer and Tom Capizzi battle each other as BMW is
showing their muscle. Streimer runs
eight in the serial so far as we are clean and green thus far. Mike LaMarra vs. Austin Smith, Honda vs.
BMW. L.A. Honda vs. one of the
BMW’s. Caleb Bacon and Clay Williams
also battle, as it is Hyundai vs. Mini.
Jessie Love also, in the Toyota 86, car #22. Love won the ARCA West Series race here at
Sonoma last year. Ah. We have a spin in The Carousel as #27 Tom
McCarthy loses time, spinning on wet grass with Roy Block ahead in the #5 TCX
class BMW M2 for KMW Motorsports with TMR Engineering.
We watch the #92 car, Eric Powell at the wheel of it. Later in the year, we will have more BMW’s as
well as DSG gearbox Volkswagen’s and Audi’s later in the 2021 season. Powell has a definite lead and so does
overall leader Jacob Ruud. Lindsay
Brewer has had some issues, somehow or other.
Meanwhile, we can see in replay, a few cars went off the road int eh
chicane. Jeff Ricca in the Hyundai
squeaked through leaving the braking extremely late. Roy Block is dropping back. He has had a lot of seat time in the BMW M2
Clubsport lately.
Block is racing multiple championships in the United States and in South America including his native Argentina. Mat Pombo is being chased by Jose Blanco in the VGMC Honda. Pombo also is pressing hard and is faster than Blanco as well as Jesse Love. Eric Powell leads the TC category for Skip Barber Racing School. Eric Powell is particularly good through The Carousel. He has a 4.5 second gap over Kevin Boehm, passing the second place TCX car, Tommy McCarthy I believe. Rob Hines in the #21 Nissan 370Z TC Spec automobile. He is fifth in class right now, moving in on Gonzalez and Grahovec. Soon we will see the rear-wheel-drive cars come to the fore. Tom Capizzi leads in TCA. Jeff Ricca though, is being reeled in by Lindsay Brewer.
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Grahovec again, right in the wheel tracks of Gonzalez. Ruud and Powell are making their escape and
Ruud has basically bolted. Grahovec gets
into some argy bargy with Gonzalez and Rob Hines wants in on this ding dong
scrap as well, look. Grahovec is getting
desperate. He wants this. How patient can you be? Patience?
Forget it! Throw caution to the
wind! Game over for Jeff Ricca in the
#78 Hyundai Veloster N TCR. Grahovec,
meanwhile, is still hounding Gonzalez.
Roy Block in the meantime, may have had a tire going down. The Pirelli tires are in good shape, but
Block’s race has gone pear shaped.
Gonzalez got up on the urbs, and… into the grass, and then…
crunch! The right front suspension may
have broken, or he lost control and whacked the wall. We are under Full Course Yellow and Jacob
Ruud’s lead has evaporated. Just a
slight touch, and Gonzalez is against the wall and out of the motor race. Just 15 minutes left on the clock, so this
safety car scramble will be brief. Maybe
something broke on Gonzalez’s automobile.
Grahovec’s left touched Gonzalez’s right corner. He was cranked hard to the left to steer out
of the skid, but no dice.
Eric Powell third and leading TC in the Skip Barber Racing
School Honda. Grahovec and Hines will be
in the pound seats with the rear-wheel-drive cars, with just ten minutes on the
board. Front wheel drive cars have the
steering and the drive axle on the same side.
Rear wheel drive, the rear tires drive and the front tires steer. The tires are worked harder on a front wheel
drive automobile with more weight in the front of the automobile. Some TCA drivers have earned a wave by to
catch up with the field. Mat Pombo will
be pressing Jesse Love hard.
Pombo is a veteran and Love is a rookie coming from
NASCAR. Sammy Smith in the sister Toyota
is running well, too, for this development program. Carter Fartuch is also running well. He had braking issues on the #16 Skip Barber
Racing School Honda Civic Si who has driven the pace car and ran in Saleen Cup
last year. His teammate is Mike Stillwagon
in car #2. Carter Fartuch was a champion
in the one and only Saleen Cup championship season, with Austin Riley, who is
also in this motor race. We have a six-minute
dash to end this race.
Jacob Ruud still leads with Tom McCarthy right behind. Green flag again for a five minute dash. Here comes Boehm. Boehm is in the TC lead! Wow. Steve Streimer is pressing and here comes Grahovec on Powell. Tom Capizzi moves by Streimer and Sousa is in the hunt. Lots of drivers in this for the end of the motor race. Eric Powell and Kevin Boehm are going to fight for this one. Boehm is a newbie in TC. Through the esses, and here comes Grahovec, chasing the Honda’s. Front wheel drive vs. rear wheel drive.
Grahovec runs wide and so does Powell. Boehm thought he was in the clar. Not even close. He is gaining a lead over his competition. Just a few laps to go yet. BMW’s have power but they can’t use it effectively. Honda’s have an H pattern gearbox while the BMW’s have a paddle shift system. Boehm defends on Powell trying to make the wide line work and Grahovec is monstering the Honda driver. First through fourth in a train. Tom Capizzi, too, he wants a piece of the pie.
Powell wants it, and he is making his move on Boehm. Boehm leads just barely with a minute and a
half to go. Last lap of the motor
race. Powell takes the lead and Grahovec
goes to second. Boehm back to third and
has Rob Hines right on top of him.
Here’s Capizzi as well, look.
Ruud leads McCarthy for the TC class.
Love leads Pombo in TCA along with Jose Blanco. Final lap.
A whole gaggle of drivers want this.
Boehm defends under braking.
Capizzi wants by Hines, but no.
Into turn 11. Grahovec wants to
lunge. Jacob Ruud wins overall. Powell wins in class in TC. TCA sees Jessie Love edge Pombo by a tenth of
a second with Caleb Bacon in third. What
a squeaker!
Just another boring touring car race. Not!
That was a sizzler!
Overall/TCX #81 Jacob Ruud USA Classic BMW BMW M2 ClubSport Racing
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