The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Western Championship race two at Portland International Raceway remained green from start to finish, leaving competitors to rely purely on their speed and skill throughout the 51-lap event. Tim Carroll in the No. 46 CRDMFG.com Chevrolet Camaro faced a formidable challenge from Michael LaPaglia in the closing laps, but ultimately led from flag to flag, claiming his first-career victory in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series. XGT competitor Chris Evans also led his class from beginning to end, dominating the event to take the overall race win.
Carroll took the green flag from the first position in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series after laying down the class’s fastest lap in Saturday’s first race and got off to a great start, pulling out ahead of his competitors. LaPaglia (No. 31 Papini’s Garage/F.A.S.T. Auto/Howe Ford Mustang) started the race from the runner-up spot, but struggled on the first lap as the front of the field jockeyed for position, getting shuffled back to fourth by the conclusion of the first lap and dropping to fifth by lap six. Third-place starter Tim Barber (No. 33 DIG Motorsports Ford Mustang) took over second, followed by fifth-place starter Ken Sutherland (No. 68 Kallberg Racing/Wyatt Fire Chevrolet Camaro), who had moved into third, and the top-three remained the same for the next 24 laps.
While Carroll led Barber by more than three seconds, LaPaglia was fighting his way back to the front, working his way into the third position on lap 26. Behind him were Kyle Kelley (No. 80 PK+k Properties/UPRacing.com Ford Mustang) in fourth and Sutherland in fifth, but both of them soon faced mechanical issues, with Kelley retiring due to a rear-end issue on lap 31 and Sutherland forced into the paddock with a stuck throttle on lap 37. That same lap, LaPaglia was able to make the pass on Barber, taking over second and setting his sights on the leader. LaPaglia was methodical in the closing laps, reeling in Carroll and narrowing the gap from more than 2s to a mere 0.2s, but despite his best efforts, he just couldn’t complete the pass before the checkered flag waved. Carroll crossed the finish line first to earn his first-career Trans Am win, followed by LaPaglia and Barber. Newcomer Cole Moore (No. 54 Naake-Klauer Motorsports Ford Mustang) finished fourth, and Saturday’s winner Barry Boes (No. 32 Accio Data/TRB Autosport Ford Mustang) finished fifth, overcoming a crash in Sunday morning’s practice session to earn his fourth top-five finish of the year.
“I think Tim [Barber] had some good words of wisdom in the beginning,” said Carroll. “He was like, ‘Just go when it’s green,’ and we just took off from there. I was like, ‘Let’s get a couple good qualifying laps in for the first start,’ and we did that. Then I thought, ‘Alright, we’re clicking off some cars, we’ll just keep doing this a little longer.’ Then halfway through the race, I was just counting the corners, getting all the marks and stuff, and I knew these guys were coming at some point in time. Once they got there, I thought, ‘It’s time for qualifying laps again.’ Then I think we started hucking it, and Michael [LaPaglia] was getting close to me in Turns 1 and 2, and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I think that’s going to be the spot if he’s going to do it.’ But I had some extra distance into 10. I was like, ‘Oh man, he’s coming.’ But it was awesome.
“I just really want to thank all the guys that helped make this possible: Scott Barnett, his brother Bruce Barnett. His wife’s here—everybody’s here—my wife’s here. This is like the biggest weekend for all of us, and it’s just so awesome to have all the support behind us. Special thanks to Alex for the engineering from M1 Racecars, that helped us out. I’m just super pumped to be able to be a part of those guys.”
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In XGT, Chris Evans (No. 92 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang) put on a clinic, leading every lap to earn the overall race victory and sweep his class this weekend. Second-place starter John Moore (No. 5 Central Welding Supply Ford Mustang) gave Evans a good fight in the opening laps, but used his car up early and faded throughout the race, giving Evans an insurmountable advantage to win his second race of the weekend.
“Well, luckily, John [Moore] had a little bit of trouble,” said Evans on the top step of the podium. “We talked about a strategy, about being smooth at the beginning, and it worked for five or six laps. Hats off to all these TA2 guys, especially the guys up in front. You know, I’ve got quite a little bit more car, so it’s really not a good comparison, but they drove great, and it was kind of cool watching them. I really want to thank Gary, and especially Jeff Jefferson and the crew. It was just really a great show, and I’m really thankful everybody showed up. Thank you.”
David Hampton in the No. 14 AR Motorsports Porsche Cayman GT4 CS MR was the only competitor in Sunday’s SGT race. He hit his marks from start to finish, working his way from 17th overall to 12th to claim his first-career SGT victory.
“This was really special, and I’m sorry I scared the other SGT guys away,” joked Hampton. “I thought it was a lot of fun yesterday, but apparently, they had some other issues going on. What a gas. I got to drive really hard, I got my best lap times, finally, towards the middle of the race. I couldn’t carry it on in the end. This was a lot of fun — really fun. It’s so great to see my family here; my brother showed up, my great friends. My crew is just absolutely awesome. These guys just will me to win.”
The Western Championship takes off the rest of the summer before returning to the track October 18-20 at Spring Mountain Motorsports Ranch for the Spring Mountain SpeedTour.