Kuzma Rolls Again!!!
Week 4 of The Langley Track Championship saw 13 cars in the garage area and everyone had their sights on the #113 of Charlie Kuzma who has been beatable only by tech issues so far this season. Once again he set the pace in Happy Hour with a lap of 14.865 while Darryl Tiezzi made a late session surge and found a hot lap of 14.893 to post the second fastest time of the session. Qualifying would be a carbon copy with Kuzma winning pole position with a lap of 14.843 and Tiezzi putting his #16 outside pole with a lap of 14.922
Kuzma led the field to the green flag but it did not take long for the action to be slowed by a caution as contact between the #59 of Michael Allen and the #804 of Russell Duquette sent Allen for a spin but no damage resulted. As expected no leaders hit pit for any adjustments at this stage.
The restart saw Kuzma maintain his grip on the field as TJ Christ was able to use the low line to gain the 2nd spot over Tiezzi as the field got sorted out. On lap 12 Tiezzi was able to retake the runner up spot as he got under the #55 of Christ and brought the #4 of Shane Gross along with him. On lap 41 Christ had issues off of turn 2 and ended up in the infield drawing a caution. He suffered no damage but his worn tires prompted a visit to pit road and the attention of his team. Seizing this rare mid race caution several leaders hit pit road for service however Kuzma, Gross, Tiezzi and the #29 of Clifton Cockrell opted to play the cards they were dealt and stayed on track.
On the restart Kuzma would drop the hammer and wave good bye to the field. Behind him the action was furious as Harned and Allen made use of their fresh tires and took the fight to those drivers that elected to stay out. More trouble would find Christ on lap 61 as heavy contact with the wall resulted in him being forced to retire the #55 for the night.
He would not be the last driver to encounter problems though as defending series champion Jay Harned used his fresher tires to advance to the 2nd position but on lap 83 heavy contact with the wall resulted him him spinning into the infield and losing a lap.
The last 30 laps of the race saw a tremendous battle for 2nd between the #29 of Cockrell and the #4 of Gross. Gross was all over his bumper but could not force a mistake and had to settle for 3rd. Eric Nordhoff had a front row seat for the battle but did not have enough car to challenge as an early wall encounter left the car too tight in the corners. Allen overcame his lap 1 spin to salvage a great top 5 run.
Top 5.
1. #113 Charlie Kuzma
2. #29 Clifton Cockrell
3. #4 Shane Gross
4. #22 Eric Nordhoff
5. #59 Michael Allen
Week 5 will begin next Friday night when the gates open for practice at 8:30EST
Race you there!
