The Kettle Moraine and Road America in the picturesque village of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, is the backdrop for SRO America this weekend for the next races of the full championship. Last time out we saw the cars and stars of SRO at Virginia International Raceway and there was the one-off doubleheader for GT America on the streets of Nashville, Tennessee. That is a race, I promise, I will get to speaking about eventually. For the time being, we focus on touring cars and race one of two this weekend for the TC America class as we join our commentators on SRO GTWorld, Ryan Myrehn and Calvin Fish in the broadcast booth, and D.J. Clark, our intrepid pit lane reporter this weekend.
The cars are on track. Only six races remaing to decide three championships on this 4 mile, 14 turn thrill ride. This is as revered a circuit as you'll find on the continent anyplace. A great day to go racing for a 40-minute, single driver sprint. The new track surface is allowing for the setups to be adjusted as Mat Pombo has scored the pole on his debut in the TCX class over Dai Yoshihara. The new Acura Integra will be a part of the championship next year in 2024. With the new track surface, tire degradation is not really an issue. 171 feet of elevation change here at Road America, places like the Moraine Sweep, the Kink, and Canada Corner. Maddie Aust has been an amazing talent, sweeping our most recent races here at VIR having to go to a spare car for today's race.
D.J. Clark lets us know about Mini JCW and their front row lockout in the TC class. Williams has had a fabulous stretch of success. Jeff Ricca has not had good luck and is on the back foot in third place. Clayton Williams has four wins on the bounce and has taken the bull by the horns. Mini want the driver's title but they also want the manufacturer's title. Cristian Perocarpi and Clayton Williams will defintely cooperate. Brazilian Celso Neto has been very consistent and is still knocking on the door of victory lane. In TCX the battle will be between the front wheel drive Honda's and the rear wheel drive BMW's.
Tire degradation is not an issue like we thought it would be as the engines have fired up and the cars roll off on their formation lap before we turn them loose. The pit straightaway is 4,400 feet all uphill. Maybe Jeff Ricca has untapped speed in the Hyundai that he has not found yet. Mat Pombo, the pole sitter. Pole for race towo will be set by fastest lap in this event. Safety car lights off. We're ready to race. A steep climb out of turn 14. Blind to the starter's gantry. OK. Here they come, chugging up the hill. Green flag. Away we go!
To the lead, Mat Pombo it looks like, getting into the torque cruve of the Honda as Colin Garrett tries Dai Yoshihara. Starting the race for TC Jeff Ricca makes it three wide along with the Mini's and now the TCA cars start. We've got a amassive accident! Mat Pombo and Adam Gleason have both crashed through turn four! There was one other car caught up in that melee. Mat Pombo and L.A. Honda World will be gutted! That car took a couple massive hits while Colin Garrett and Dai Yoshihara now run 1-2. This is big news for Colin Garrett now that Pombo's Honda TCX machine is destroyed.
Colin Garrett tried qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course but unfortunately, did not make the field. Joseph Catania has moved up from eighth to third and we have the safety car scrambled past the pit exit. Maddie Aust was involved in the accident so two Fast Track Racing BMW's out. Game over. We will have to have a Captain Cook at the replay. Aust also wrecked here at Road America in a recent club race. Tread carefully through the debris, ladies and gentlemen. Cristian Perocarpi leads the TC class and Jeff Ricca has gone by Clayton Williams. Celso Neto, Sally McNulty, Kris Valdez and more. Spencer Bucknum leads P.J. Groenke, Devin Andreson, Will Lambros, and Shaoyi Che.
Spencer Bucknum is a third-generation driver. His dad Jeff ran prototype sports cars and at the Indianapolis 500 and his grandfather Ronnie Bucknum was a Honda Formula 1 driver in the 1960s. Maddie Aust's teammate Adam Gleason did not make it back around the speedway. We have almost 1/4 of the race run and have not had a clean lap. Tire degradation will not be a factory. Aust tagged Gleason and it was a pinball machine after that. Trying to change lanes and it was absolute carnage. Road America earns your respect. It is an old school layout, and the facilities are tweaked year in and year out. A fabulous circuit, and the track food so I have heard, is absolutely delicious. This is the second full repave at Road America in the history of the track. The first time was in 1995.
The track is so cool and the ownership knew going into the repave how popular the track is for the drivers. They surveilled the track and measured it to keep the track the same to within a tenth of an inch. Do not mess with this place. It's awesome. 28 minutes and change remaining. At GenRacer/Ricca Autospport, they are confident and looking to go for the lead of the motor race. Jeff Ricca wants to go for it. He really has to push after missing the rounds when he was competing at the Nurburgring and the rough weekend he had at VIR on Father's Day weekend. Red flag. Race stopped. This could be an extended cleanup.
Perhaps, the concrete barriers need replacement and we have only 26 minutes left on the clock. The forklifts have been dispatched. The clock time is still running and we need to bring the cars to the pit lane to correct the concrete barriers. More races to come for TC America at Sebring International Raceway and then to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. No one is asking for anyone to repave Sebring. That is for dead sure. We'll be at Sebring in September at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Brickyard, in October. Celso Neto has had six consecutive podiums, some poles, a fastest lap, and is only now looking for a victory.
Jeremiah Burton, the new driver in one of the Skip Barber Racing Honda's. He is part of Donut Media which does automotive related television. Sally McNulty has had a good season in her first year in TC America under the auspices of Jeff Ricca and Hyundai. Fans are having a wonderful time on a sunny Saturday afternoon here at Road America. We should note on timing and scoring, the clock has stopped so we have less than 28 minutes left on the board. D/J. Clark interviewing Colin Garrett who says it will be a long race and wants to stay up front.
Being in the lead, he is going to be smart and not take undue risks. Any other drivers willing to speak to us? Some of them are in game face mode, giving us a wave or a thumbs up. Everyone is focused with their windows up and we might hear from some of the TC class field to see how they are doing. Colin Garrett will maximize everything. We are getting a good look at all these touring cars up close. Colin Garrett will be racing with Johann Schwartz in Pirelli GT4 America later this afternoon. Cristian Perocarpi tells us he had a good start and a wild incident into turn five and hopes the drivers involved in the accident will be OK.
He can dictate his line and has an advantage with the new pavement, at the top of the shop. Jeff Ricca says his Hyundai is good on long runs and wants to go for it. He had a fabulous move at the start, staging it properly. He believes that maybe Clayton Williams missed a shift at the start of the race. Best of luck there, mate. We want to hear if Clayton Williams has anything to say. He had to cycle the electronics but is still in the top three and in the fight. The Mini team will be working together to move to the front. These are still cars with H pattern gearboxes so there are chances to miss a shift. No paddle shift on these particular touring cars.
The track is cleared up and we speak to Bruce Myrehn who raced at the 24 Hours of VIR recently. He says the Mini is set up well and wants to go for it. Thank you, Bruce, our pal Ryan Myrehn's dad. Ryan of course, the lead broadcaster for SRO GTWorld. Bruce Myrehn has done off road racing and a few other things as well. Good onya' mate. P.J. Groenke has sponsor stickers all over his car and he has a lot of support. Two podiums and a win in race two at VIR. Joseph Catania is third and his son Lucas Catania is fifth and Lucas got a piece of the incident we saw that caused the red flag.
He had a massive crunch through The Kink earlier in the weekend. OK. The cars are rolling back out behind the safety car for the restart. Joseph Catania got a podium in race one at VIR but this was after his son got a penalty. That's a bear. The cars roll out behind the Toyota GR Supra safety car. Dai Yoshihara, the drift king and a driver who has run the Pikes Peak Hillclimb and Lamborghini Super Trofeo Asia. He is now driving a front wheel drive Honda touring car and he has driven more rear wheel drive cars. He is from Tokyo, Japan, but now has lived in southern California for 20 years. Safety car lights out this time around and we will have a restart.
Green flag! Away we go! Colin Garrett gets the jimp and Yoshihara is being swallowed up by Lucas Catania going to second place. The BMW's have the speed and maybe Yoshihara was caught napping. Will Lambros and Devin Anderson scrapping in TCA and poor old Clayton Williams is slowing! He was the pole man in TC and the points leader, dropping like a stone behind his teammate Cristian Perocarpi. Nick Roberts and Clifton Lipple are also in a abttle of their own as two cars have gone off the road at turn five. It appears to be Ruben Iglesias carrying way too much speed and another car pulled off. That is Cooper Broll in one of the Skip Barber Racing School Honda's.
Local Yellow at turn five as Aaron Kaplan has moved up to third. Colin Garrett has no sign of Dai Yoshihara for now. Garrett eking out a gap on Catania and Kaplan. Joseph Catania and Dai Yoshihara have a battle of their own as Cristian Perocarpi is being harried by Jeff Ricca. Ricca thinks his car will have strength on a long run. But with Clayton Williams, he contines to fly Plummet Airways down to fifth in class and even more. Criminy! Spencer Bucknum on the defensive being harangued by P.J. Groenke, the Canadian driver in the Mini. Devin Anderson waiting in the shadows if these two other blokes make a pig's breakfast out of all this.
Joseph Catania, Dai Yoshihara, Kenny Schmied, Nick Roberts, quite the battle. Schmied pushing Yoshihara through turn 14. I don't even think Yoshihara saw him as Schmied taps the brakes and Nick Roberts says, "thanks, mate" and goes by. Lucas Catania at 2:25 dead cuts the CrowdStrike Fastest Lap and now Jeff Ricca passes Cristian Perocarpi. Williams is now moving up and assuaging the bleeding on the points. Through turn five again, rolling apex speed through the trees. This is a fast, gorgeous circuit. Sally McNulty is running well in the second GenRacer Hyundai. Joseph Catania is swamping Dai Yoshihara and his son Lucas Catania is next up, followed by Schmied.
Top three in TCA are nose to tail. Bucknum, Groenke, Anderson, through The Carousel. Schmied passes Roberts for sixth place. Yoshihara moves up to fourth and Joseph Catania to fifth. Aaron Kaplan runs third and Lucas Catania resets the fastest lap and Yoshihara playing defense from Roberts. This is getting spicy! Lucas Catania has five podiums in six starts and could make it six out of seven and wants another win after waiting for a long time to win and did so at Circuit of the Americas. Anderson passes Groenke through turn five in the short wheelbase Mini. There are undulations in turn five and turn 12 at Canada Corner.
Less than 15 minutes to go in a stop and start event and now, at the exit of The Kink, Clifton Lipple has crashed and his BMW M2 CS Cup has a broken left front and we have yet another safety car scramble. Devin Anderson inching towards and, oof! That was a massive crunch for Clifton Lipple pulling a Gilles Villeneuve but with three wheels on me wagon. In replay, in real time, he runs wide and has no grip, losing it through The Kink. That corner caught out Bill Auberlen in Fanatec GT World Challenge America qualifying earlier this morning. Auberlen is a legend and so it can catch anyone out. Aaron Kaplan in third place, he is having a wonderful debut race today, a veteran of amateur SCCA road racing and the SCCA Runoffs in BMW M3's and Spec Miata's.
Tremendous TCX class growth with BMW and Honda and then Acura coming with a new car, reintroducing the Integra for next year I believe. Yoshihara uncorked fastest lap of the motor race and the gap has been erased. Can he go on the attack if we have enough time left on the board? He was eaten up on the most recent restart. He will have to put everything to good use and we should have about four or five laps of racing to go. If you have pole or the lead on a restart, you are the one controlling the start. Every car accelerates a little differently. The BMW M2 CS sold like hotcakes in the last few years, but they ended up in the hands of folks who wanted to use them for track days but not for full metal racing.
We are seeing the fruits of that now and with Honda, Acura, and a third brand likely to come into TCX next year, and we'll see who that is. Time is of the essence and so we might have a lap or two to go. There is still work to be done in The Kink as Clifton Lipple's damaged race car is being cleared away. This will have to be the restart lap, or we are going to finish TC America race one under yellow. There is a broken left front suspension on the BMW. A smoking left rear tire on that wrecked BMW behind the tow truck. We might have a one lap dash for cash to settle this one. We shall see. Maybe we'll have three laps of green, or one of yellow. It looks like we will go back to green. Safety car lights off.
Mini tells Christian Perocarpi to go for it. Will Dai Yoshihara get a head of steam on Aaron Kaplan? We'll see. Green flag. It's money time! Look at this, as the BMW's are bearing down on Dai Yoshihara. Garrett leading Catania and now it is tight in TC and Anderson loses places to Groenke and to Neto. Cooper Broll has damage, a mirror flapping int he wind and Catania wants to take a bite of the cherry on Colin Garret. Blind corner entry into turn six and into seven, down the hill. Stock car ace turned touring car ace, Colin Garrett, through eight, leading to the Carousel. Kenny Schmied gains two spots.
Kaplan is still pushing as well. He is not going to roll over and have his tummy scratched. Catania on the defense against Kaplan. Spencer Bucknum leading TCA over P.J. Groenke and Devin Anderson as well, look. Cristian Perocarpi passes Jeff Ricca. One lap to go. Battles afoot everywhere but behind Colin Garrett who is making good his escape and Ricca passes Perocarpi as Nick Roberts spins out of fifth spot. Perocarpi using Yoshihara as a pick. Ricca making his move in turn five into the lead and again Clayton Williams has flown Plummet Airways for a second time! Oy yoy yoy! Catania under pressure from Kaplan and from Kenny Schmied. We might be able to get one more lpa on the board.
At the top of the shop, this should be the last lap, and Colin Garrett should extend his points lead up the frontstretch. Garrett is going to win the drag race and go to victory lane again for Rooster Hall Racing. Catania second by 68 thousandths of a second over Kaplan. Ricca by 91 thousandths of a second beats Perocarpi. Spencer Bucknum wins TCA and takes the points lead over second place man Devin Anderson and P.J. Groenke gets third place. Holy moly!
The restart is under review.
Overall/TCX: #44 Colin Garrett Rooster Hall Racing BMW M2 CS (Cup)
TC: #78 Jeff Ricca GenRacer/Ricca Autosport Hyundai Elantra N TC
TCA: #5 Spencer Bucknum LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si FE1
Ricca does win in the TC class. Bucknum holds on for TCA honors. Wow. What a touring car race! We'll have another sizzler in race two tomorrow and plenty more racing here in Wisconsin's dairy country, still to come. Stay tuned for more action. Bye for now.
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