Fine Weekend at Watkins Glen Keeps Thwaits Up Font with Trans Am Elite
September 13, 2021
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Watkins Glen, NEW YORK - September 13, 2021 - Driving the No. 4 Franklin Road Apparel Chevrolet Camaro, Ken Thwaits enjoyed a fine weekend on his first competitive visit to Watkins Glen, September 11 and 12. There he claimed two top five finishes to cement his place among the elite group of TA drivers. The Watkins Glen doubleheader constituted Rounds 8 and 9 of the TA Class in the 2021 Trans Am presented by Pirelli Championship season and was billed as the Watkins Glen SpeedTour.
That speed was unfortunately blunted somewhat by a series of yellow flag cautions in both races. 2020 XGT Champion Ken pronounced himself nevertheless more than satisfied with the weekend's events in spite of slipping one place in the Drivers Classification to P5. We spoke to him after Sunday’s race and his enthusiasm was clearly undiminished, "I love The Glen! I love the fans here. The track is fantastic, absolutely fantastic and I can't wait to come back."
Notably, Ken collected the Masters award in both Saturday and Sunday's races to make two podium appearances on the weekend.
Ken posted a fastest lap of 1:50:563 on Sunday en route to finishing in P5 and about the second race in particular he went on, "We had a lot of cautions. At the beginning of the race it was great because we went green for a long time. It was awesome, but this car is just not good on restarts. We're starting on too low tire pressures. We've got to work on that."
Ken spun following the final restart but fortunately avoided any damage and was able to pick up the pace again, "I thought 'Oh boy' but everybody missed me. I don't know if there was oil out there because it just snapped on me. I soldiered on and took off again."
Saturday's race saw Ken finish just outside the podium in P4 but it was similarly marred by cautions, with spins and collisions always a possibility in all-class races with so many cars on the track. Paul Fix and Oscar Teran had a coming together on the first lap but that only helped Ken who summed up his experience Saturday with the following words, "There were too many cautions. We knew with this many cars there would be some wrecks but I didn't think it would happen on the first lap. I hate to see it but when cars crash in front of me but the fact is that's two we don't have to pass! I came close to hitting fire trucks, ambulances, they were everywhere!"
He went on, "When we were running, once we were up to temperature the car really came to me. We ran down Amy, and then they threw down another yellow with six laps to go. I don't know what would have happened because she's an experienced driver and drives a wide car when she needs to."
Having collected 44 points over the weekend, Ken now sits in P5 in the TA Class Drivers Championship, just one behind two time Champion Amy Ruman and 33 points ahead of sixth placed Simon Gregg. He concluded, "Amy is one or two points ahead of me for fourth in the Championship so we'll see if I can't get ahead of her in the next race."
That next race for Ken is a trip to Virginia International Raceway, where Ken won the XGT race last year and set a new lap record of 1:52:858 in the process. Don't forget, Ken and Franklin Road have been supporting Trans Am all season and there is a commemorative t-shirt available to highlight the inaugural Music City Grand Prix at www.franklinroadapparel.com
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The Showtime Motorsports brand includes Ken Thwait's racing team and racecars, and an outstanding classic Camaro collection. Showtime
