Day One of Entertaining Doubleheader Majors Weekend at VIR Complete - Speedway Digest

Day one of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour at VIRginia International Raceway ran the entire day under sunny skies. The race served as Round Nine for the Southeastern Conference and was the season-opening race for the Northeastern Conference.

Drivers in each of the eight race groups, made up of 28 Runoffs-eligible classes, took to the 3.27-mile, 17-turn circuit for a 25-minute sprit race. Conditions were good as drivers worked to put down some fast laps while they could, as Sunday’s forecast is calls for rain.

Spec Miata led the day off in a big way. With oil-dry on the course near the finish line, the opening moments saw six cars make contact just after taking the green flag. Three of those cars were able to continue the race, while three were not. The rest of the race, restarted on lap five, proved to be just as intense with a multi-car battle for the lead that included eventual race winner Dillon Machavern.

The wild nature of the Spec Miata race was a foreshadowing of what was to come later in the day. Many of the groups, including the big-bore cars of Group Five and the quicker Wings ‘n Things of Group Seven, has full-course yellow flag laps that bunched up the field. In each incident the driver was fine, but the same could not be said for the car.

In the production group, Kevin Leigh put on a clinic regarding how to race at VIR. Following qualifying he was the undisputed leader in his class, clearing his closest competition by nearly two seconds. By the time the checkered flag fell on the 25-minute sprint race, Leigh ran away from the rest of the field by putting 36 seconds between himself and GT-Lite winner Robert Lentz.

The small-bore formula group featured a pair of close finishes. In Formula F, Thomas McGregor took the win over James Stiehr by a slim margin of 0.282-second. Laura Hayes sealed a win in Formula Vee over Gary Kittell. Hayes crossed the line just 0.747-second ahead of her class rival.

Sunday’s races will conclude the two-race Majors event at VIRginia International Raceway. Eight 16-lap races are scheduled to start at 9:00 a.m. (EDT). With a significant chance of rain forecasted, things could get interesting.

Additional information, including interviews with the winning drivers and results, on the VIR Majors can be found at SCCA.com/VIRMajors.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.