AMP Summer Racing Series: Round Four

The penultimate round of the AMP Summer Series featured some familiar faces battling for the win as the amount of available points winds down. The rain held off as well which led to hot temperatures testing man and machine.

Spec Miata Race One

Series points leader, Raiden Nicol started on pole and made a clean start as the green flag dropped. This allowed him to comfortably lead as the field made its way through turn one. Bill Miller passed Keith Williamson for second at turn five but Williamson was able to retake second on the backside of the track. 

Nicol’s lead was up to 3 seconds by the end of lap one before Williamson ran deep into turn one and lost several positions. Miller retook second place but was immediately under pressure from Jose Garcia who made the move down the inside of turn one on lap three. 

Williamson recovered from his earlier blunder at turn one and began to pressure Miller by drawing alongside him on a couple of occasions before finally making a move stick around the outside of turn one. 

Meanwhile, out front, Nicol continued to extend his lead by nearly a second a lap in a dominant win by 18 seconds. Williamson finished just half a second behind Garcia in the battle for second with the rest of the pack another 18 seconds behind. 

Downforce Race One

The starting grid was shuffled after some drivers were late to the grid release so Mike Pascoe started on pole. Kevin Clifford immediately jumped up to first with John Brunot close behind. Brunot takes the lead on lap two and begins to extend his lead. 

Pascoe spun at turn four but was able to get going again, allowing Patrick Paul to slot into third behind the two leaders. Clifford began to close the gap to Brunot for the lead during the final stages of the race but was unable to get within striking range. 

Everyone except for Paul stopped on the penultimate lap which made him the winner of the race and put him on pole for the final.

Spec Miata Race Two

Nicol started ahead of Garcia and Williamson following his dominant win in race one. They all held positions but further back Bill Kring and Bill Miller made contact when Kring rejoined the track after running wide at turn one. Both drivers were able to continue. A few laps later Kring fell further down the order thanks to a spin at turn one. 

Back in front, Nicol continued to extend his lead by about half a second a lap over Garcia who was battling with Williamson over second. 

Towards the end of the race, Hayden Swank tried a move down the inside of Tal Tsfany at turn six but locked up and went straight into the wall. Tsfany was able to limp back to the pits but Swank was unable to get going again resulting in a full course caution. 

The race ended in a green, white, checkered with Nicol defending hard as Garcia tried to make a late move for the win. Garcia tried to go around the outside of turns one and six but failed to make the move stick. Nicol held on to win by less than a car length at the line. 

Williamson lost momentum on the restart and ended up finishing sixth with Miller taking the final podium position.