Peterson and Lawrence fend off challengers
May 9, 2014
The Trans Am Series kicked off the 100 Miles of Luna-C weekend at Road Atlanta with an early morning practice session. 39 members of the Trans Am field participated as competitors felt out the legendary southern road course and began to fine-tune their cars for this afternoon’s qualifying session at 2:05 p.m.
In TA, Doug Peterson picked up right where you would expect a Champion to, in front. His time of 1:21.087 in the #87 3Dimensional.com Chevrolet Corvette led all TA class competitors and the entire session. The defending champ was followed closely by Amy Ruman, in the #23 McNichols Company Chevrolet Corvette, with a 1:21.986, and John Baucom, driving the #86 Baucom Motosports/ Roadraceparts.com Ford Mustang, with a 1:21.964. The top three were followed by Cliff Ebben and Simon Gregg, who rounded out the top five for the TA class.
Cameron Lawrence, behind the wheel of the #1 CTEK/ Northstar/ Miller Racing Chevrolet Camaro, followed Peterson’s suit with a 1:28.087, setting the pace for the TA2 class, as he has all year. Bob Stretch made his return to the top three in the #87 FixRim Mobile Wheel Repair Chevrolet Camaro with a 1:28.161, just a tenth off of Lawrence’s time but strong enough for second place. Trans Am rookie Ron Keith, in the #25 Mike Cope Racing, continued his strong start to the 2014 season with a 1:28.801, the third fastest in the class for the session. Stretch’s teammate Tom Sheehan and Keith’s teammate Kevin Poitras completed the top five.
In TA3 International, points leader Russ Snow, in the #20 Carbotech Chevrolet Corvette, led the way with a 1:29.218, a solid three seconds off Jason Berkeley and Norman Betts who were second and third. In TA3 American Muscle, Rich Jones made his return to Trans Am for 2014 in style, leading the group with a 1:34.373, narrowly beating out Todd Napieralski and Chris DeSalvo.
Trans Am will return to the track twice more today, first for another practice session at 11:40 a.m. EDT, then once more for qualifying at 2:15 p.m., as the Trans Am Series prepares for tomorrow, May 10, and the 100 Mile Trans Am races, with TA2 at 9:25 a.m. and TA and TA3 at 10:55 a.m.
To keep up on all the action with the 100 Miles of Luna-C and all things Trans Am visit www.gotransam.com, Twitter at @gotransam and Facebook at www.facebook.com/gotransam.
