2012 March Double National, ECR, Pro IT at Road Atlanta

March 16 – 18, 2012

 

Gallery of Images

 

The Atlanta Region SCCA and Road Atlanta hosted the SafeRacer Double National races where six groups of “National” class cars ran two 18 lap races.  There was also a combined Enduro Championship Racing and Pro IT race.

 

Group 1 –  F5, FC, FF, FV, S2000

The grid for Saturday’s race was set in Friday’s qualifying session, as Saturday morning’s session was wet.  Nick Coello had pole position.  The race on Saturday was also a wet race.  Coello led the first 16 laps with Chuck Moran putting on the pressure.  On lap 14 they were nose to tail going into Turn 1.  Moran took the lead on lap 17 and went on to win overall and in FC.  Joe Colasacco was the fastest qualifier in FF and led the first 4 laps of the race.  Donald Baggett was the sixth fastest qualifier in FF, but was leading in FF by the fifth lap.  He led for four laps, but reportedly spun at Turn 10A and dropped to third place.  David Livingston moved into second.  The finishing order in FF was Colasacco, Livingston, and Baggett.  Stevan Davis won in FV and Donnie Isley finished second after starting from the back of the field in 18th position.

Moran had pole for Sunday’s race, but Coello led into Turn 1 at the start.  Coello led until lap 16, when Moran took the lead and went on to win.  Lewis Cooper III was fastest qualifier in FF and led the whole race to win FF, finishing fourth overall.  John Benson ran second behind Cooper until pulling off with mechanical problems on lap 12.  Colasacco finished second.  In FV, Isley started at the back of the field again, but was in second behind Davis by lap 2, and took the lead from Davis on lap 5.  He led for eight laps until Davis re-took the lead and went on to win.

 

Chuck Moran Van Dieman Winner in FC and overall on Saturday and Sunday.	Joe Colasacco Van Dieman Winner in FF, 3rd overall on Saturday. 2nd in FF, 5th overall on Sunday.
Stevan Davis Racer’s Wedge Winner in FV and 10th overall on Saturday and Sunday.	Charles Duncan Lola 88/90 Winner in S2, 16th overall on Saturday. Winner in S2, 9th overall on Sunday.
Lewis Cooper III Van Dieman 4th in FF, 6th overall on Saturday. Winner in FF, 4th overall on Sunday.

 

Group 2 – SSB, SSC, B Spec, STL, STU, T2, T3

The Group 2 race on Saturday also started as a wet race, but the line started to dry around the halfway point.  Don Knowles had pole in his T2 Pontiac Solstice, but started from the back of the field.  Around the second lap he put it into the wall on driver’s right between Turns 1 & 2, which brought out the first full course caution.  David Brand was second fastest qualifier in his STU Lotus Exige and he led every lap to win overall and in STU.  With Knowles out of the race, that left Marty Grand and CJ Moses to contest for the T2 win.  Grand led every lap except for the one that counts.  Moses took the lead, and the win, on the last lap; finishing second overall.  Richard Fisher (#78) and Mike Kramer (#19) had a good battle in T3.  Fisher was the fastest qualifier in T3 and Kramer started three positions back.  At the end of lap 2 Kramer was in the lead and led for 10 laps.  Fisher was able to get by Kramer just before the second double yellow due to Bruce Andersen spinning into the gravel at Turn 1.  On the restart Kramer retook the lead going into Turn 1.  But on the next lap Fisher made a pass for the fourth lead change in T3 to take the win.  Defending National Champion Michael Scornavacchi won in SSB.  Cliff Brown led every lap in STL before spinning off on the last lap, giving the win to Jim Drago.

Knowles had pole again for Sunday’s race, but this time in a Ford Mustang, and this time he led every lap to win overall and T2.  Jim Taggart finished second overall to win in STU after starting 11th overall.  T3 again provided the most excitement.  Kramer, Fisher, and Bill Steinhoff were the fastest qualifiers in T3, in that order.  They made it a three car battle around mid-race.  On lap 12 Kramer had pulled out a bit of a gap on Fisher.  But at the end of lap 16 Fisher had caught Kramer and made an attempt to pass on the inside at Turn 12, causing Kramer to have to protect his position.  On the next lap they exited from underneath the bridge at Turn 11 side by side.  Fisher, with the inside line, took the lead to begin the checkered flag lap.  Kramer went off course at Turn 3.  It was reported that there was possible contact between Kramer and Fisher.  There was definitely contact a few laps earlier at Turn 7.  Fisher goes on to win T3 and Kramer finishes fifth.  Jim Drago wins again in STL.

 

David Brand Lotus Exige Winner in STU and overall on Saturday.	CJ Moses Mitsubishi Winner in T2, 2nd overall in Saturday. DNF on Sunday.
Richard Fisher Volkswagen Winner in T3, 4th overall on Saturday. Winner in T3, 5th overall on Sunday.	Michael Scornavacchi Ford Mustang Winner in SSB, 10th overall on Saturday. Winner in SSB, 15th overall on Sunday.
Jim Drago Mazda Miata Winner in STL, 13th overall on Saturday. Winner in STL, 11th overall on Sunday.	Emmitt Staley Toyota Corolla Winner in SSC, 19th overall on Saturday and Sunday.
Don Knowles Pontiac Solstice DNF on Saturday. Ford Mustang Winner in T2 and overall on Sunday.	Jim Taggart Lotus Exige DNS on Saturday Winner in STU, 2nd overall on Sunday.

 

Group 3 – CSR, DSR, FA, FB, FE, FM

On Saturday Group 3 went out on their pace lap, butwasblack flagged before taking the green due to a car spinning and becoming “high-sided” on the curbing.  Jacek Mucha had pole position, but was having engine problems on the pace lap.  When they finally got the green flag, they were working lap 3.  Mucha tried to continue but dropped out after lap 3.  Jean-Luc Liverato led 16 laps (the race was shortened to 16) to win in CSR and overall.  Lewis Cooper Jr. won in FA.  Brandon Dixon started 19th on the grid and by lap 4 had worked his way up to fifth overall to win in FB.

The front row for Sunday’s race was Mucha and Liverato again, with Mucha on pole.  At the start Pete Frost spun at Turn 1, bringing out a full course caution.  At the restart on lap 5 Mucha and Liverato were side by side going into Turn 1.  At the end of the lap Mucha had held onto the lead.  Mucha’s crew had obviously resolved the engine problems he was having on Saturday.  He led until lap 13.  At the apex of Turn 12 the top three got stacked up by a slower car and Liverato was able to get by Mucha.  Liverato led until the final lap.  On the last lap, somewhere between Turn 10a and the “start/finish” line, Mucha took the lead and won overall and in CSR.  On the track that is.  He was disqualified for “metal-to-metal” contact, giving the win to Liverato.  Maybe setting the new track record for CSR (1:18:728) was some consolation for Mucha.  Lewis Cooper Jr. led in FA until lap 15 when he spun at Turn 7.  This gave the lead and the win in FA to John Burke, and second place was William Goldkind.  Cooper finished third.  Steve Jenks, winner in FM in Saturday’s race, led most of Sunday’s race before pitting from the lead to give the win to Carson Weeder.

 

Jean-Luc Liverato Swift JMS014 Winner in CSR and overall on Saturday and Sunday.	Lewis Cooper Jr. Swift 014 FA Winner in FA, 2nd overall on Saturday. 3rd in FA, 6th overall on Sunday.
Brandon Dixon Citation F100 Winner in FB, 5th overall on Saturday. Winner in FB, 4th overall on Sunday.	Paul Schneider SCCA FE Winner in FE, 9th overall on Saturday. Winner in FE, 10th overall on Sunday.
Steve Jenks Star Mazda Winner in FM, 10th overall on Saturday. 3rd in FM, 17th overall on Sunday.	Matt Graham Critter CSR1 Winner in CSR, 19th overall on Saturday. DNS on Sunday.
John Burke Swift 014A 3rd in FA, 4th overall on Saturday. Winner in FA, 3rd overall on Sunday.	Carson Weeder Star Mazda 2nd in FM, 14th overall on Saturday. Winner in FM, 13th overall on Sunday.
Greg Bell Stohr WF1 2nd in DSR, 20th overall on Saturday. Winner in DSR, 14th overall on Sunday.

 

Group 4 – SM

For Saturday’s race Jim Drago had pole, but did not start for some reason.  This meant the top three were Patrick Sandlin, Andrew Carbonell, and Danny Steyn.  At the end of the first lap Steyn had dropped to sixth place and Andrew von Charbonneau had moved from his fourth place starting position into second place.  Charbonneau took the lead on lap 5 with Cliff Brown in second.  On lap 9 Sandlin took second from Brown.  While Sandlin and Brown were fighting for second this allowed Charbonneau to pull out a 1.4 second lead.  Charbonneau held the lead around 1 second, but in the closing laps Sandlin and Brown were able to close the gap.  On lap 16 they were nose to tail with Charbonneau in a three car draft.  On lap 17 Brown took second from Sandlin.  On the last lap Brown was called as the leader through Turn 9.  It was reported that Brown spun on his own trying to get around a slower car.  Charbonneau also went off course.  This allowed Sandlin through to take the win with Carbonell finishing second.  Voytek Burdzy finished third.  Brown and Charbonneau finished fifth and sixth respectively.

Sandlin had pole for Sunday’s race, Bruce Andersen was second, and Cliff Brown was third on the grid.  Brown moved into second on the first lap and into the lead on the fourth lap.  From lap 4 to lap 15 the order was Brown, Sandlin, and Alexander Bolanos.  At the end of lap 16 Sandlin was able to get on the inside of Brown between Turn 11 and 12 to take the lead.  On lap 17 Brown retook the lead and continued on to win.  Sandlin finished second and Bolanos finished third.

 

Patrick Sandlin Mazda Miata Winner on Saturday. 2nd on Sunday.	Andrew Carbonell Mazda Miata 2nd on Saturday. 8th on Sunday
Voytek Burdzy Mazda Miata 3rd on Saturday. 7th on Sunday.	Cliff Brown Mazda Miata 5th on Saturday. Winner on Sunday.
Alexander Bolanos Mazda Miata 4th on Saturday. 3rd on Sunday.

 

Group 5 – EP, FP, GTL, HP, SRF

The Group 5 race on Saturday was the second race of the weekend not to have a smooth start.  Group 5 was a split start with the production cars taking the first start and the SRF cars taking the second start.  As the first group left the grid for their pace lap one of the cars stalled on the front straight.  By the time the car was cleared the first group had made it around the track on their first pace lap so the second group wasn’t released until the first split group passed to begin their second pace lap.  Sam Moore (defending SEDIV Champion in EP) took the lead from Steven Hickham on the first lap and never looked back.  He led every lap to win overall and EP, with Hickham finishing second.  Ken Kannard finished third to win in FP.  In SRF Brian Schofield (#61) and Tray Ayres (#7) battled and exchanged the lead several times with Schofield coming out on top.  Greg Gauper (defending National Champion in HP) had pole in HP, but Jay Griffin took the lead on the first lap.  Gauper got the lead back on lap 10 and led until the end, setting the track record (1:44.422) for HP.  Griffin managed to hang onto second place despite two spins.

Sam Moore once again had pole on Sunday and won the race, but this time did not lead flag to flag.  Ken Kannard led a few laps at the beginning of the race.  Kannard won again in FP and Gauper again in HP.  SRF was the best battle.  The top three exchanged the lead several times.  At the beginning of the checkered flag lap it was Ayres, Cliff White, and Schofield.  Schofield had the inside line on Ayers coming through Turn 12 on the last lap to win over Ayers and White.  White was penalized to last place for being “underweight”.

 

Sam Moore BMW Z3 Winner in EP on Saturday and Sunday.	Ken Kannard Mazda Miata Winner in FP, 3rd overall on Saturday and Sunday.
Brian Schofield Ford SRF Winner in SRF, 4th overall on Saturday. Winner in SRF, 5th overall on Sunday.	Greg Gauper Honda Civic Winner in HP, 13th overall on Saturday. Winner in HP, 22nd overall on Sunday.

 

Group 6 – AS, GT1, GT2, GT3, STO, T1

Zach Monette had pole in his GT1 Ford Mustang.  John Schaller took the lead on the first lap.  Monette led on lap 8 but on the next lap he came into the pits giving the lead back to Schaller.  Schaller went on to win overall and GT1.  Jeffrey Werth set the fastest qualifying time in AS for Saturday’s race, but had an incident after setting that time and damaged the car.  He was not able to start the race.  Tom Ellis set the track record (1:38.039) on his way to the AS win.

On Sunday Schaller had pole.  Schaller and Terry Giles ran first and second respectively for 15 laps.  On lap 16 Giles made an attempt to pass Schaller on

the inside of Turn 10A.  They touched and both cars spun.  Schaller was able to continue, but Giles was not.  “I had to make an attempt.  I thought he saw me”, Giles said.  Schaller went on to win overall.  Bob Mayer and Jeff Dernehl both took their second wins of the weekend in STO and GT3 respectively.  While leading in T1 Chris Ingle blew an engine going into Turn 10A and crashed heavily.  Fletcher Williams also spun in the oil and crashed out of the race.  Both drivers were unhurt.  On laps 7 through 12 the order in AS was Michael Lavigne, Tom Ellis, and Brian LaCroix.  On lap 13 Ellis takes the lead over LaCroix and Lavigne.  At the finish it was LaCroix, Lavigne, and Ellis.  Ellis broke the track record again with a 1:37.592.

 

John Schaller Chevrolet Camaro Winner in GT1 and overall on Saturday and Sunday.	Pete Peterson Toyota Celica Winner in GT2, 6th overall on Saturday. DNF on Sunday.
Bob Mayer Chevrolet Corvette Winner in STO, 7th overall on Saturday and Sunday.	Jeff Dernehl Mazda RX-7 Winner in GT3, 12th overall on Saturday. Winner in GT3, 9th overall on Sunday.
Chris Ingle Chevrolet Corvette Winner in T1, 15 overall on Saturday. DNF on Sunday.	Tom Ellis Ford Mustang Winner in AS, 17th overall on Saturday. 3rd in AS, 18th overall on Sunday.
Tom Patton Sunbeam Tiger DNF on Saturday. Winner in GT2, 6th overall on Sunday.	Brian LaCroix Chevrolet Camaro 3rd in AS, 23rd overall on Saturday. Winner in AS, 16th overall on Sunday.
Tim Hund Dodge Viper 2nd in T1, 16th overall on Saturday. Winner in T1, 21st on Sunday.

 

Group 7 – ECR – IT7, ITA, ITB, ITC, ITO, ITR, ITS, ITX, SM, SRF, SSB, SSC

Group 8 – Pro IT – ISM, IT7, ITA, ITB, ITC, ITR, ITS, ITT, ITX

The Pro IT and ECR groups ran together in one race.  The Pro IT race was 45 minutes and was checkered 45 minutes into the 90 minute ECR.  The ECR cars continued another 45 minutes to complete their 90 minute race.  This was the last race of the day on Saturday.

The winners in the Pro IT race by class were:

ITS – Matt Reppert

ITA – Chuck Baader

ISM – Cliff Brown

ITB – Chip Sweatte

Augusto Ricciardelli and David Tuaty had pole position in their BMW M3, running in the ECR.  Ricciardelli and Tuaty led the first 15 laps, but pulled off with mechanical problems between pit out and Turn 1.  The Acura Integra of Cliff Ira and the Porsche 944 of Shane Doles and Charles Coker had an incident at Turn 9.  The car of Doles and Coker was disqualified for “Avoidable contact”.  Roberto Ricciardelli and Enzo Ricciardelli later had the ECR lead in their BMW 325, but lost the lead after spinning at Turn 7 and nosing it into the wall.  Within the last 10 minutes of the race, Jim Taggart passed James Allan Haggai for the overall lead and the win in STU.  Haggai won ITR.  The ITS and ITC class wins were also decided within the last 10 minutes.  Ken Maynard spun at Turn 5 and lost the lead in ITS, giving the win to Alfred McPeters.  William Clawson made his mandatory pit stop and dropped from first to third in ITC.  Terry Topping won ITC.  Selin Rollan and Danny Steyn battled for the win in SM with Rollan taking the win.

 

Jim Taggart Lotus Exige Winner in ECR STU and overall.	James Allan Haggai Acura Integra R Winner in ECR ITR, 2nd overall.
Selin Rollan Mazda Miata Winner in ECR SM, 3rd overall.	Ted Thorp Acura Integra Winner in ECR ITA, 6th overall.
Alfred McPeters Mazda Miata Winner in ECR ITS, 10th overall.	David Dickerson SCCA Enterprises SRF Winner in ECR SRF, 13th overall.
Terry Topping Honda CRX Winner in ECR ITC, 15th overall.	Matt Reppert BMW 325 Winner in Pro-IT ITS and overall.
Chuck Baader BMW 325e Winner in Pro-IT ITA, 2nd overall.	Cliff Brown Mazda Miata Winner in Pro-IT ISM, 3rd overall.
Chip Sweatte Ford Pinto Winner in Pro-IT ITB, 15th overall.

 

Officials and Workers

 

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