Paul Fix wins at VIR for second year in a row, Cameron Lawrence captures 20th career victory in TA2
September 27, 2015
Ernie Francis, Jr., and Randy Mueller take TA3 honors as rain soaks Trans Am field
ALTON, Va. [September 27, 2015] – Paul Fix and Cameron Lawrence emerged victorious from a rain drenched Round 9 of the 2015 Trans Am Championship at Virginia International Raceway, as both returned to their winning ways atop the TA and TA2 podiums. Likewise, Ernie Francis, Jr., and Randy Mueller captured wins in TA3’s American Muscle and International Groups, adding to their trophy cabinets for the year; as they, and the rest of the 49 starters, weathered what were three days of torrential rain, wet sessions and a race that ultimately ended several laps short.
Paul Fix, in the No. 4 StopFlex.com/TheCarCoach.com Chevrolet Corvette, captured his second consecutive TA class win on the Virginia-based track in a continuation of what has been late season dominance for Fix over the past three years. The 2015 Championship marks the first full season of competition for Fix in recent years, and now the veteran Trans Am driver finds himself in the midst of a tight Championship battle with current points leader Amy Ruman, driver of the No. 23 McNichols Company Chevrolet Corvette.
Fix and Ruman started alongside each other as the race gridded by points due to the lack of a dry session for qualifying. Ruman ran in first through the initial seven laps, only to fall victim to the slick track conditions, sliding off course, leaving Fix to inherit the lead, which he retained for the duration of the race. Fix’s success on the day helped close the gap on Ruman, with only 14 points now separating the two drivers with three rounds to go.
“I came into this race not knowing what to expect,” said Fix. “Then, of course, our strategy went out the window when it started to rain. But we were just going to take the race as it came to us; I just kept my head down as I have all year long, just grinding away.”
Fix attributes his recent success to a dedication to a more calm, calculated and conservative approach to the second half of the season.
“I’m not caught up in the drama any more,” said Fix. “At the beginning of the season—yeah, we had some real lofty goals, as we wanted to start out on the top and let Amy chase us. But that obviously didn’t happen, so we’ve changed our strategy. We’re just running our own race and taking things as they come to us.”
Fix was joined on the TA class podium by David Pintaric, in the No. 57 Kryderacing Chevrolet Corvette, who finished second— a career high for the Ohio native and his first podium appearance of the year. John Baucom, in the No. 86 RoadRaceParts.com Ford Mustang, finished third, capturing his second consecutive podium appearance.
Cliff Ebben, in the No. 36 Stumpf Ford/McMahon Group Ford Mustang, would finish fourth, while Amy Ruman would finish fifth. Both drivers battled back for strong finishes after falling victim to the wet conditions with brief off course excursions, with both force to pit to clear collected grass off the their respective grills.
In TA2, Cameron Lawrence ended a dark and dreary weekend with an incredibly bright finish from behind the wheel of the No. 1 MOPAR Dodge Challenger. The current points leader began the race on pole for the TA2 class and held the lead for the entirety of the race, even taking the race lead overall briefly as the TA class struggled to put power down during the dampest portion of the race.
Ultimately, Lawrence captured his 20th career Trans Am victory, propelling him into sixth place overall in all-time Trans Am wins—tied with the illustrious company of Peter Gregg and Ron Fellows.
“It was a really awesome win for the whole team,” said Lawrence. “They worked hard on test day when we started off dry and we had a great dry setup, and they’ve had to work even harder dialing in a wet setup over the past few days. It’s great to bring home win number 20 for the team. It’s been a long time for us, by our standards, since being on the top step of the podium. I’m just happy and proud of this team for what we’ve accomplished.”
The win also goes a long way towards Lawrence’s pursuit of his third consecutive TA2 Championship, increasing his points lead to 30 over current points runner up Gar Robinson, driver of the No. 74 74 Ranch Resort Chevrolet Camaro, who would finish a disappointing 13th.
“It’s nice to add to our lead,” said Lawrence. “It’s unfortunate for the guys that didn’t have that great of a race, but that’s all part of the championship battle. We’re just working on doing our job as best we can. We’ve had some unfortunate circumstances in other races with other competitors, but we’re just running our race now. We would have been happy with another top three finish, but we just had a better car than anybody else today and came home with the win.”
Adam Andretti, in the No. 44 Engineered Components Chevrolet Camaro, finished second in what was his fourth podium appearance to the year. Andretti, another challenger to Lawrence’s throne, is now third in the TA2 points standings and just four points behind second position with 202 to Robinson’s 206.
Tony Buffomante, in the No. 34 BestLine Superior Lubricants Ford Mustang, finished third to complete the podium in what was his first top three finish of the year. Buffomante was also the recipient of the “Cool Move of the Race,” presented by CoolShirt Systems, for charging up eight positions over the course of the race on his way to the podium. Buffomante’s finish also completed yet another TA2 podium with all three of TA2’s pony cars, the Dodge Challenger, Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang, present.
Tommy Archer, in the No. 54 c3Controls Chevrolet Camaro, would finish fourth; while Dillon Machavern, in the No. 24 Heritage Motorsports Ford Mustang, rounded out the top five.
While Lawrence and Andretti held the top two spots for nearly the entirety of the race, third position was a revolving door of drivers with Shane Lewis, Tommy Archer, JJ Haley, Tony Ave, and, ultimately, Tony Buffomante all at one point running inside the top three. Ave made the charge twice, once from sixth position to third within the span of four laps, before pitting and falling down to 10th and powering back to third eight laps later. Unfortunately for Ave, the No. 70 Lamers Motor Racing Ford Mustang slid off course on the 20th lap of the race, causing heavy damage to the car and armco railing as the wet conditions claimed another victim.
In TA3’s American Muscle Group, Ernie Francis, Jr., in the No. 98 Breathless Racing Chevrolet Camaro, captured his sixth win of the year, as the defending Champion continues his march towards what could be his second Trans Am Championship. The 17-year-old is the youngest Trans Am Champion ever and now holds a considerable points lead over current runner-up Todd Napieralski, driver of the No. 39 Tremec/SKF/Backstreet Chevrolet Camaro.
“We’re just trying to bring home consistent finishes up front,” said Francis. “We’re trying to max out the points the best we can, and the best way to do that is by winning. I’m trying to get a lock on the Championship before the final few rounds. This year has been up and down for us. We had some back luck early on at Sebring and Homestead, but everything started to turn around mid-season and we’re working hard to defend, and capture, this Championship.”
Virginia native Robert Korzen, in the No. 88 Elite Classic Collector Cars Ford Mustang, and Napieralski, who finished second and third respectively, joined Francis on the American Muscle podium. The podium appearance was Napieralski’s sixth of the year and solidifies him in second place and as the sole true contender to Francis in the title race.
Randy Mueller, in the No. 0 Epic Motorsports/MCM Holdings BMW M3, captured his second victory in the International Group this year as the combination of Mueller and the BMW platform proved too much to handle, reaping the rewards of a long weekend of wet sessions and hard work— despite starting at the back of the field.
“We’ve got a good chassis to start with,” said Mueller, “but we spent a lot of time working on our wet setup. A lot of people don’t want to go out in the rain; they don’t want to risk the car or put in the work. But we’ve spent the time to figure out a really good wet setup, and it shows.”
Mueller, like all competitors, was faced with the grueling conditions of multiclass racing, paired with less than ideal conditions and multiple restarts.
“It’s tough out there. It’s very dynamic out there. There’s no cookie cutter approach to it; you just have to deal with it as it comes. My plan was to start off relatively slow and build the speed. I figured the race would come to me, and I didn’t want to get caught up in any turn one incident. We had all the restarts we had to keep dealing with, which were a little bit sketchy with all the different classes and their characteristics. But you just have to be cautious and deal with the circumstances as they come to you.”
Mueller was joined on the International Group podium by current points leader Lee Saunders, in the No. 84 Landsearch LLC Dodge Viper, who finished second for his seventh podium of the year. The result once more padded Saunders’ point cushion as the clear front-runner for the 2015 International Group Championship. Milton Grant, in the No. 55 Courtyard Hotel/ Sentry Storage Porsche 997 GT3, brought home third, his first podium placement of the year.
In total, the 49-car Trans Am field completed 22 laps around the 3.27-mile course at Virginia International Raceway, including three full course yellows. Ultimately, the race was checkered early due to damaged armco railing that would take longer to replace than the remaining time allotted.
The Trans Am Series will now travel south to NOLA Motorsports Park for Round 10 of the 2015 Trans Am Championship, on October 11th as the Series commences the final three races of the 2015 season.
