SCCA Eastern Conference BFGoodrich Tires Super Tour Completes At The Glen

July 6, 2014

By SCCA

The Eastern Conference SCCA Majors Tour has trimmed down to just one event remaining on the schedule after Sunday’s action at the BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour.

Sunday’s eight group races for the 27 SCCA National Championship Runoffs-eligible classes made up round 12 of 14 on the season for the Conference, making each point all the more valuable.

Several races came down to the wire during the day, with races scheduled for 15 laps at the 3.4-mile circuit.

Highlights included:

Group 1: A fan could be forgiven for thinking Sunday’s Spec Miata race was a rerun, as, for the second day in a row, young hot shoes Andrew Carbonell and Dillon Machavern worked together to run away from the field and settle the race all on their own.

A stout field of Runoffs podium contenders and National Champions couldn’t keep pace with Carbonell’s No. 78 BSI Racing Mazda Miata with Machavern’s No. 24 Heritage/Panic/T-Speed Miata pushing, leaving the field behind both on the initial start, and again on the lap four restart after the safety team removed a stopped car.

Carbonell led the distance, and Machavern looked for a way around after the white flag waved to signal one lap to go. His final effort came out of the final corner and in the drag race to the checkered flag, where Machavern pulled alongside and to the door of Carbonell’s Miata, but couldn’t complete the pass before the stripe.

Group 2: Saturday, the overall lead in the Production group took shape on the first turn when polesitter and E Production leader Rick Kavitski put his No. 24 RDK Engineering Mazda Miata in front under braking in Turn 1 and stayed in front to the finish. On Sunday, Chris Dryden reversed his fortunes with a similar attack, setting a new track record on his way to the win.

Kavitski’s Miata appeared to have the handling, but Dryden’s No. 02 PayPal/Carbotech/Team JBS BMW Z3 and Kevin Leigh’s No. 97 JBS Racing/Hoosier BMW Z3 moved in front on acceleration when the green flag flew.

Patrick Crider finally had his No. 89 Hoosier Tire/Jesse Prather Motorsports Mazda Miata in full song for the first time this weekend and used that to run away with the F Production win on Sunday. Kyle Disque repeated his Saturday feat, taking the GT-Lite win in the No. 92 Toyota/TRD/Hoosier Tire Toyota Tercel.

Group 3: Three full-course cautions, including one that brought out the checkered flag on lap 13, marred the Formula Atlantic, Formula 1000 and Prototype 1 race on Sunday.

Group 4: Simon Gregg once again led the way in the big bore group, charging away to a GT-1 and overall win in the No. 59 Derhaag Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette.

Group 5: Dennis McCarthy went the distance as the overall leader in his No. 4 Jägermeister Van Diemen FC, keeping a steady gap to the second-running Douglas Rocco.

Group 6: Restart or not, Preston Calvert’s No. 77 Phoenix Performance/Hoosier/Penske Ford Mustang pulled away for his third win of the weekend, completing the sweep in Touring 2.

Group 7: Scott Rettich took a “fast is steady” approach to the Spec Racer Ford race, ticking off consistent quick laps and eventually breaking the draft to secure the win.

Group 8: Heavy contact on lap 12 brought out a simultaneous yellow and checkered flag to end the day after thrilling battles in Formula F, Formula 500 and Formula Vee.

Jonathan Weisheit pulled to pit lane early on Saturday but escaped with a win on Sunday after “throwing the kitchen sink” at Roger Siebenaler’s No. 72 Autowerks/Hoosier Mysterian M2.

The Eastern Conference Majors Tour wraps August 1-3 at Summit Point Raceway. The next U.S. Majors Tour event is in the Northern Conference at GingerMan Raceway, July 12-13.

More information from the BFGoodrich Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour, including results, can be found at SCCA.com/WGIMajors.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — Provisional race winners for Sunday’s BFGoodrich Tires SCCA Watkins Glen Super Tour at Watkins Glen International. Drivers are listed by class: name, hometown, and car.