Last weekend at Lime Rock Park saw Tony Ave, of Maiden, NC, continue his stellar series performance in the #4 Lamers Racing/McMahon Group/Pro-Motor Corvette. Ave's performance led the field throughout the entire weekend, landing him on the pole for the start of the race. When the green flag dropped, the 59-lap race to the end.
Since ending a 16-year drought in Trans-Am racing, Ave has dominated the season, with this win making three in a row. The last time this happened was in 2005, when Klauss Graf took three in a row. This win extends Ave's lead in the championship standings by 91 points, over fellow COrvette driver, RJ Lopez.
Photos:
Nate Siebens/SCCA
The Trans Am cars have been absent from Lime Rock since 2003. The natural terrain road course, near Lakeville, CT, is barely over a mile and a half long, so lap times are typically under a minute. Piloting the track in something as strong as a Trans Am Corvette takes a particular discipline.
"You can’t be afraid of the fences. It’s just a real good, high-speed place. There’s a lot of bravery to going fast. The three fastest corners, there’s no runoff area, so you just have to be committed, I guess," explained Ave.
Others found their hands full getting the most out of their cars on the short track. "The car is all over the place," explained RJ Lopez of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. "It's really scary going up that hill when you're kind of sideways. I don't know. It's not fun, but hopefully we'll put new tires on it and it all comes together." Lopez qualified in third place, but crashed out on lap 51 of the race, ending up in fourth spot.
The 2009 series champion, Tomy Drissi, of Hollywood, CA, started the race from P2 and finished second in the #5 Knight and Day Jaguar XKR. On his battles with Ave, Drissi said, "We just had to chase him, and then I was pushing so hard that I didn’t keep my cool, I didn’t take care of my tires and he could because he could pace me. Five laps into the race, it was already starting to go loose. It was a handful today."
Third place went to Simon Gregg, of Ponte Vedra Beach, FL. The #59 Derhaag Motorsports Chevrolet Corvette slipped into the podium spot when Lopez slid off course into the tire barrier between Turns 2 and 3.
The second half of the Trans-Am schedule will kick off in two weeks on the temporary street circuit in downtown Toronto, Canada.
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