WILLOWS, Calif. — The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Western Championship Race 2 at Thunderhill Raceway Park was a display of two dominant flag-to-flag victories by championship contenders.
Brody Goble led every lap until the checkers, clinching the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series championship and becoming the first two-time TA2 title winner in the Western Championship. Ken Sutherland scored his fifth-consecutive TA Cup victory, solidifying his points lead in a title hunt that will go until the final race at Circuit of The Americas.
Brody Goble (No. 69 Brown Bros. Ford Lincoln Ford Mustang) came into Race 2 at Thunderhill Raceway Park looking for redemption after an engine issue in yesterday’s race took him out of contention.
Earning the top starting spot after laying down the fastest lap in yesterday’s race, Goble took the green flag from the point position and never looked back. He opened up a gap over second-place starter and Race 1 winner Tim Carroll (No. 46 CRDMFG.com Chevrolet Camaro), and his advantage only widened as the laps ticked by. Goble was even able to make the pass on two TA Cup competitors, who had the advantage of taking the green flag ahead of him in a split start, putting him in position to finish second overall.
The race almost made it from flag to flag without a caution, but with just four laps to go, chaos erupted behind Goble.
Carroll and Brian Lock (No. 44 Helium Mobile Toyota Camry) had been running second and third in class, and were nose to tail for nearly the entire event. On lap 31, the two drivers got together, with Carroll spinning off the track and into the wall.
The yellow flag was waved, and with so few laps remaining, the race was unable to get back to green. Lock crossed the finish line second despite his involvement in the incident, but after the race, he received an avoidable contact penalty, which relegated him back to the fifth position. Kyle Kelley (No. 80 UPR.com/PKK Motorsports Ford Mustang) was promoted to second, and JC Meynet (No. 28 B-Bar Ranch/Killer Shrimp/RFR Chevrolet Camaro) was scored third. Championship contender Mia Lovell (No. 40 Nitro motorsports Ford Mustang) finished fourth after an early off required a quick pit stop to clean grass off her grille. Carroll was ultimately scored eighth following his incident.
“This was redemption for yesterday; a little bit of redemption for the boys,” said Goble. “We worked hard on the car after yesterday’s parts failure. It’s really nothing anybody did wrong, it’s just one of those things, so I wasn’t too frustrated by it. Not a whole bunch you can do but put your head down and get it back again today. Normally I’d be happy for a one-race weekend, but I’m pretty grateful that it was a doubleheader this weekend, and we can go home happy. Unfortunately, Mia [Lovell] had some issues today. It was a good, good battle with her all year long on the points race. I’m super thankful for Brown Bros. Racing, M1 and TeamSLR. COTA is next and we’ll have some fun over there and see if we can race against the National boys and girls.”
The green flag for the TA Cup race looked much as it did yesterday, with points leader Ken Sutherland (No. 85 Kallberg Racing Dodge Challenger) leading Michelle Nagai (No. 72 Nagai Racing/Berkeley Jet Drive Chevrolet) and John Moore (No. 27 JM Environmental Ford Mustang) over the stripe.
Nagai and Moore battled right off the bat, with Moore taking over the second position on the very first lap. After five laps, Nagai made her way back around Moore, while Sutherland checked out. Lap after lap ticked by, with Sutherland opening up a more than 12-second lead over Nagai. While CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series leader Brody Goble ultimately passed Moore and Nagai, Sutherland had an insurmountable lead.
The safety car was deployed with four laps remaining, closing up the field, but with only a handful of laps to go, green-flag racing was unable to resume. Sutherland took the checkered flag under yellow as the overall winner, followed in class by Nagai and Moore.
While Sutherland did not mathematically clinch the championship, he holds a 68-point advantage over Moore going into Circuit of The Americas.
“This was a great race,” said Sutherland. “It’s not as much fun to just go out and manage a gap, but it’s a lot easier on the heart. I thank my team for giving me such a great car to be able to do that. Thanks to my team. Thanks to Patty and Kurt [Kallberg], my wife, Carrie, and all that friends that came out to watch.”
