Twin Ring
QUALIFYING:
Tipton's Race Recap: "WOW!!! What a race! Let's start with Tim Latham. He qualified second and ran strong the entire race bringing home GearUp's first win of the season. He held off some very stiff competition with a green/white/checker finish. Unfortunately, he was stripped of the win and disqualified due to a passing the Pace Car under yellow while entering pit. Brian McEvoy was his solid and steady self, starting sixth and flowing back & forth through the field to finish in sixth. Brad Herman held an absolute clinic at turning laps and passing cars at Motegi. He was involved in an early race incident when another driver got loose exiting the turn and came down the track into him. After a minor repair and four fresh tires, he came back out of the pits on a mission. He managed to come from 35th to finish P9. Mike Politis started from 15th stayed clean and patient using pit strategy to pour it on in the end to finish P11. Unfortunately, the team was on a bye week for team the championship competition so there wasn't any points or wins earned."
No 6 - Michael Politis
" I’ve put on a pretty strong performance for myself tonight. Although the start of the race wasn’t as good, my second stint was the best of the season. I was quick and on par with the drivers ahead and was moving forward. I found myself back in 22nd, worked my way up to 13th with good consistent pace and better pit strategy thanks to Tipton, he navigated me through the later stages of the race. When the last caution came out with 2 laps to go I was disappointed, I felt like I could have passed two more cars to get 11th since they were slightly off-pace. Everyone pitted and I really wanted to take 2 tires but took 4 instead. Ultimately after a couple last laps of mayhem, I edged out a couple more drivers to get 11th spot. I was going to get 11th one way or another. The boys Timothy Latham #5 and Brian McEvoy #79 are driving on a high level and it’s great to hear them working together in the front!
No 79 - Brian McEvoy
"Well, it was a P6 kind of night. Qualified 6th, which was a great result and starting spot. Only bad part was being on the outside on the start and got hung out. After a couple of early cautions, I was able to Settle in about 10th spot. Saved my tires and moved up to 9th for my first green flag pit stop. Pit strategy was solid all night and gained spots on strategy over the course of the race. Last green flag stop was on lap 81 and came out of the pits in 7th once the pit cycle was complete. Caution with 2 laps to go brought almost the entire field to pit road. I took 4 tires while others took 2. Restarted the race in 8th and gained a couple of spots on the crazy last 2 laps to bring it home in 6th for another top 10 on the season. Great job by the GearUp team tonight. Congrats to Timothy Latham #5 for the big win. Awesome drive all night. Come back of the race award goes to Brad Herman #85 who was involved in an early caution and restarted at the back and drove through the field to finish P9. Thanks to GearUp, Franklin Motorsports and Latham-Grafix for their support. Thanks to spotter Tipton for keeping us straight on the strategy all night. "
No 85 - Brad Herman
"Qualifying for the race didn't go as planned and just didn't have the pace and started mid field p.14, was making a lot of ground on the bottom and was feeling great with race pace. Ended up getting taken out early by someone getting loose on top, had to fix my damage and start in the rear p.31. Put my head down and grinded hard as the rest of the race went green as i was able to get up to 9th as the caution flew for a GWC, could went better could went worse was a wild restart and happy to walk away with 10th and good points."