ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Scott Smithson scored his second-straight overall TCR win in Sunday’s drama-filled TC America race at Road America.
Toby Grahovec outdueled James Clay for the TC class victory, while Tyler Gonzalez won in the TCA division.
Victor Gonzalez Jr. and Roy Block finished second and third in TCR, while Austen Smith finished behind Clay for third in TC. Kevin Boehm and Tomas Mejia finished second and third in TCA.
As TCR pole sitter Gonzalez brought the field to green and successfully launched, drama ensued behind him in the TC field as a number of machines came together and crashed just prior to the start/finish line.
TC championship contender Johan Schwartz was collected along with Chandler Hull and Bryson Lew. Race officials immediately issued a full-course yellow and then issued a red flag to stop the clock and allow crews to clean up the front straight. The drivers involved all walked away from the incident.
Of note, Gonzalez spun in turn one as the yellow came out and was shuffled to the back of the TCR field.
After an extensive cleanup, the race restarted with 38 minutes remaining. On the restart, Tim Lewis Jr. led the field to green followed by Block. Behind them Smithson slotted into third, while Gonzalez charged up into fourth through the first few corners of the restart lap.
In TC, Grahovec launched into the lead ahead of Clay. Jonathan Newcombe led in TCA, pursued by Gonzalez.
Over the next number of laps, Smithson began his hunt for the lead in TCR, while heated back and forth battles raged between Grahovec and Clay in TC and Newcombe and Gonzalez in TCA. By lap five Smithson had moved into second and pursued leader Lewis with under a second buffer between them.
On lap six Smithson closed on Lewis and the two machines came together through turn one, with both drivers deftly saving slides to continue heading the overall field. On lap seven Smithson passed Lewis for the lead through turn five.
Lewis then fell into the clutches of Gonzalez in the Kettle Bottoms section of the track and by lap eight Smithson crossed the line ahead of Gonzalez and Lewis, while Grahovec and Clay continued their battle in TC. Behind them, Gonzalez took over the lead in TCA and began to pull away from the rest of the class field.
As the race entered its final stages, Smithson continued to hold a comfortable lead on Gonzalez, while Kevin Boehm began a furious late race push to try to catch Gonzalez.
On the white flag lap, Clay led over Grahovec, but Grahovec executed a thrilling, high speed pass for the lead through the kink and at the checkered crossed the line .112 seconds ahead for the TC victory. Smithson crossed the line by 1.4 seconds over Gonzalez, with Block in third. Gonzalez won over Boehm by .817 seconds, with Mejia crossing the line third.
“He (Gonzalez Jr.) had some pace, and I kept making mistakes and I was really wearing my fronts down,” said Smithson. “Luckily for the back section I had the carousel and the kink to just pull on him otherwise he probably would have gotten by me.”