With Clear Blue Skies and Warm Temperatures, the USTCC East Series Charges into Round 2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Lightning Raceway
Millville, NJ – The United States Touring Car Championship East Region continued its inaugural season with Round 2 at New Jersey Motorsports Park’s Lightning Raceway located on the grounds of the historic former home of the Millville Army Airfield famous for the P47-Thunderbolt WW2 Fighter Aircraft.
The weekend started off with racers arriving trackside both Friday evening and Early Saturday morning to perform some last-minute final pre-Qual. prep their cars. With a tight Lightning Raceway Paddock due to neighboring Competition Karting attendees, the USTCC teams were still able to paddock just close enough to lend each other a set of extra hands as cars were prepped and cleaned pre-Grid.
Saturday qualifying saw the three USTCC entrants on track with clear blue skies and optimum track temperatures. With smaller car counts due to the Majors being held at nearby Watkins Glen Internationals, the USTCC teams were able to enjoy open track conditions and the ability to lay down fast times in minimal traffic. Saturday also provided a qualifying heat race, which is a second chance for drivers to race a 15-lap race around the 1.9-mile Lightning Raceway and improve positions for the Sunday Feature race.
Sunday’s feature race grid was set, Roger Meada in his Honda Prelude in P2 was just ahead of Coyote Black in his Acura Type R.
The Super Touring Car class saw Andrew Conner in his BMW E90 starting P1. Once the green dropped, the Red E90 BMW was able to pull away from the field and maintain a comfortable lead for the remaining 20 laps of the feature race. The ST race was incident free, not a wheel was dropped off course.
The weekend’s Sportsman action was a tight battle with Roger and Coyote, having a clean battle, seeing both cars taking the Checkered after a furious 20 Lap Sprint race.
The teams now will prepare their cars for the Round 3 & Round 4 double header at Pittsburgh International Race Complex on August 27-28.