The fourth round of the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge took place at Lime Rock Park. The circuit, located in the scenic Berkshire Hills of Connecticut, opened in 1957 and holds a special place in the hearts of many American racing fans. Lime Rock hasn’t changed much since it held its first race in the 1950s; steeped in history, the track is still as challenging as it ever was. Short straights lead to narrow, undulating corners with tricky elevation changes, leaving absolutely no room for error and nowhere to take a breath.
Lime Rock is a small track, only 2.4 kilometres in length, and has had a tradition of racing on Memorial Day weekend since 1969. After the Rolex Sports Car Series moved dates to September, smaller series took up the honor of racing on a weekend very special for Americans. What’s more, U.S. Marine amputee, Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer, who lost his leg while on duty in Afghanistan, made his second start of his professional racing career with ST team Freedom Autosport this weekend, making him a definite fan favourite.
Drizzly, overcast conditions plagued Friday’s sessions at the aptly named “Bullring.” Nevertheless, a few Grand Sport (GS) cars managed to find some speed on Friday morning, with the #01 CKS Autosport Chevy Camaro Z/28.R of Lawson Aschenbach setting a 57.221 in GS Practice 1.
The quick Camaro lead two Mustangs: the #15 Multimatic Motorsports car of Jade Buford and Scott Maxwell, setting a 57.354, and the #32 Phoenix American Motorsports machine of Kurt Rezzetano and Andrew Aquilante, setting a 57.461. Aschenbach held down the point in GS Practice 2, cranking out a 57.387, while Andrew Aquilante pedaled his way to a second-placed 57.527. Ryan Eversley went third in the #77 Compass360 Racing Subaru WRX-STI.
Meanwhile in Street Tuner (ST), the #98 CRG – I Do Borrow Honda Civic Si of Owen Trinkler set the fastest ST time of the weekend (58.844) in Friday Practice 1. The #88 Rebel Rock Racing Porsche Cayman of Corey Lewis placed second, followed by the #5 CJ Wilson Racing Mazda MX-5 of Stevan McAleer, whose teammate, Chad McCumbee, paced the ST field in Practice 2. The unremitting strength of the Mazda MX-5 chassis would prove to be a major factor in the Saturday race.
Weather worsened as the day rolled on, with steady rain cancelling both the GS and ST qualifying sessions. The starting grid was therefore determined by the current points standings. As a result, it was the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 of Trent Hindman, co-driving with John Edwards, who started at the front of the GS pack on Saturday, while the #26 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 of Randy Pobst who was awarded pole position in ST.
ST Race
Unlike the three previous rounds, ST and GS events were to be held in two separate, 150-minute races. ST was designated a morning race and therefore went first.
At the start, the #26 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5 of Randy Pobst lead a 33-car field into turn 1. Not unlike the previous round at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, there was carnage right from the get-go. Greg Strelzoff, Jim Jonsin, and David Baum all went off track; the latter two did not continue.
The restart saw Pobst continue to the lead over the #5 of Chad McCumbee and the #81 of Tyler Cooke. Within 15 minutes, however, a hard-charging Cooke had inherited the lead, driving his #81 BimmerWorld Racing BMW 328i past the two Mazda MX-5s McCumbee and Pobst. Shortly thereafter, another caution was thrown after Derek Jones’s #33 Nissan Altima stopped on track.
McCumbee quickly took the lead after the second restart and widened the gap over Cooke. Coinciding nicely with pit stop strategies, a third caution was deployed for polesitter Randy Pobst, who uncharacteristically stuffed his Mazda in the tires in turn 1. Anthony Geraci, making his series debut for Rebel Rock Racing, stayed out and inherited a short-lived lead from McCumbee, who handed over the controls to teammate Stevan McAleer.
McAleer quickly passed Geraci’s Porsche Cayman, as did Tom Long, co-driving with Staff Sgt. Liam Dwyer in the #27 Freedom Autosport Mazda MX-5. The pressure on Long was tremendous, as the Marine amputee Dwyer aimed for a potentially miraculous victory on Memorial Day weekend.
Long passed McAleer for the lead, only to see the Scotsman fight back. This would happen several times before the end of the race. All seemed lost when Long looped his car with 14 minutes left, allowing McAleer to extend his lead. However, the #5 CJ Wilson Mazda was on borrowed time, and was forced to pit for a splash of fuel with five minutes remaining. Long held on to take the victory, an especially emotional one for co-driver Dwyer. Three years ago, he lost his leg in combat in Afghanistan. Now, he has become a race winner on a very special weekend.
“Home track, Memorial Day, my Alive Day… surreal does not describe the jubilation I’m feeling right now,” said Staff Sgt. Dwyer, who grew up in nearby Litchfield, Connecticut. “Memorial Day is not a day that I take lightly. I know exactly what it means to myself and to my fellow service members. To be here in Connecticut, at Lime Rock, at my home track, a place I’ve camped at before… I can’t explain how awesome this feels right now.”
GS Race
It was John Edwards that took the flag for the GS race at Lime Rock. Despite pressure from Kris Wilson in second place, John Edwards handed over the #46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3 from the lead. Wilson pitted slightly later, handing over to Peter Ludwig, filling in for series regular Max Riddle this weekend.
Ryan Eversley, making his GS debut for Compass360 Racing, had a productive drive to say the least, charging from 26th to third in the first 45 minutes of racing. His usual ST teammate, Kyle Gimple, took over from where Eversley left off and found himself back in third as pit stop cycles were settled.
It was Hindman, Ludwig, and Gimple making up the top three going into what would be the only full course caution of the race. However, Matt Plumb, whose teammate, Nick Longhi, had been quietly going about his business in fifth, blitzed the field in a pit stop much quicker than anyone else’s, and most importantly took the lead.
Leading over Gimple and the #15 Multimatic Motorsports Mustang of Jade Buford, Plumb still had 52 minutes between him and the overall victory. However, Plumb drove his #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche expertly, holding down a slim gap over Gimple, and took an emphatic 19th career victory and first win of the 2014 season for the veteran team, proving that they are still as competitive as they were last year, when they won the GS title.
“We want to get our mojo back,” said Plumb. “Our pit stop was 15 seconds faster than everyone else. We went from fifth to first. From there on it was a matter of maintaining the tires, judging the track and traffic. We were not fast on a single lap, so I concentrated on running consistent laps, trying not to hurt the tires.”
After driving a stellar race, the race was ultimately too short to take advantage of the heavy rains that would immediately follow the race and favor the Subaru WRX-STI.
“Lapped traffic hurt our chances,” lamented Gimple. “I thought I had something for Matt, but by the time I got through the lapped cars, Matt was gone.”
The series will return to competition on June 6-7 at Kansas Speedway.
Beck Duggleby
