Coming into the final road course event of the season, Matthew Dominique has taken over the points lead after severe devastation at Talladega put chase dominator Ryan Heuser to a 43rd place finish and 44 points behind. Road ringers Tim McDonnell and John Battista look to overcome their early chase deficit and get back into the championship race at the inaugural Charlotte Road race.

Race Results

Points Standings

Schedule

The early stages saw Tim McDonnell, John Battista and Johnny Reed Foley 1-2-3 early. After an early pit stop, Foley fell back in the field and had Alan Nesfeder take over in the third position while the #22 and #39 swapped the lead for the first 20 laps.

Bill Werkheiser was the first car to go airborne after hard contact with Foley midway in the field. Bill and Zach Michael made contact coming off the wall heading towards the straightaway. The #6 spun out, and Foley slammed the passenger side hard. Bill would limp to 39th, while chase contender Foley repaired some of the damage to finish 22nd.

Battling for third, Alan Nesfeder hopped over the curb and spun out, collecting Tony Pizzaro in the process. Neither driver would fall out of the top-10 in the process. Further back in the field, Ryan Heuser and Mike Carroll made contact in the final chicane, spinning both out and leaving themselves towards the back of the field for most of the day. 

A long green flag run saw John Battista lead the way, with Tim and Alan directly behind. An early green flag pit stop saw Alex Crapser get to the lead, passing the lead-two cars while their tires were still on the cool side. He would lead four laps before relinquishing the spot back to his teammate in the #39. 

The next caution flag saw Alan Nesfeder, Matt Raboin, Jimmie Stevens and Rob Scarberry all stay out on old tires. Alan would pull away from the field, but lost the lead during after coming in with most of the rest of the field under yellow. Only Rick Jackson and Steven Spears would take the chance of track position.

Inside the top-20, David Butterworth spun out after contact with Adam Crapser entering the second corner. Dave Miller devoured the back end of his racecar, destroying both ends of their automobiles while Foley and Glenn Kaufmann barely sneaked through. Dave would still wind up 17th, while Butterworth limped to 26th on the day.

Three-wide action was in the midst as the faster Jimmie Stevens and Tony Pizzaro did everything they could to pass Rob Scarberry for the second position. They would do so successfully, but a few laps later he would make contact with Matt Raboin coming to the straightaway, slamming the #42 machine into the barrier and half-over on his side. After an unbelievable day, he would finish the race down on power in 33rd. 

Points leader Matthew Dominique was struggling all race long. With 20 laps to go, he smacked the outside wall and got slammed by Johnny Reed Foley. Dominique would go from outside the top-30 to finish 20th in the event, maintaining his points advantage over Ryan.

The final 25 laps saw Jimmie Stevens lead a hungry Tony Pizzaro for the victory. After riding behind for most of the run, Pizzaro made a move on the final restart with 7 laps to go, hanging on to the bumper of the "Ampio" machine through the road course section. On the backstretch, he was close enough to draft up and pull to the outside of Speedy entering the first chicane, flying by and passing the #2 on the second-half of the straightaway.

... Read more »