In a close fought battle, Puskar Motorsports drivers Chris Puskar and David Daughtery captured the inaugural United States Endurance Racing Association (USERA) Spec Miata Endurance Championship race at Carolina Motorsports Park.

After qualifying, the King Rat entry was suffering from coil failure. They were able to make the race with the assistance of a coil they were able to borrow from the personal car of one of our race volunteers. McKeever Motorsports also experienced mechanical problems with a transmission failure but were able to get the transmission replaced just in time to make the race grid.

At the start, the Full-Lock Motorsports driver Brian Smith took the early lead with Puskar Motorsports driver Chris Puskar and King Rat Motorsports pilot Payton Wilson in close pursuit. Smith set the fast lap of the race, and the USERA track record, with a time of 1:54.018. The first 45 minutes of the three hour endurance battle would see the leader chain of Smith, Wilson and Puskar battling nose to tail until Smith was able to break away to a slight but commanding lead.

When the teams reached the fuel windows, and made their stops, Puskar handed the Puskar Motorsports Miata over to seven time SCCA National driver David Daughtery, who returning to the race in 1st place. Wilson pitted from 2nd and co-driver Mike Collins returned the King Rat Motorsports Miata to the battle in third place. Full-Lock Motorsports fell from 1st to 4th during the stops and were unable to regain the lead.

Punctuating the importance of a great pit stop to endurance events, and certainly winning the admiration of teams up and down pit lane, were the McKeever Motorsports crew. They made a blistering stop as McKeever handed the car over to Ed Romney. The team was able to leapfrog from 5th to 3rd with the stop! Romney would pass the King Rat entry a few laps later to take second, remaining there to the end.

Puskar Motorsports pilot David Daghtery then put on a driving exhibition, lapping the field to second place and giving the team a commanding lead in both the Team and Driver Championship points.

Final race results were:

Pos Car No. Points Driver Name(s) Team Name Best Time
1 26 89 Chris Puskar/David Daughtery Puskar Motorsports 1:54.321
2 2 42 Dan McKeever/Ed Romney McKeever Motorsports 1:56.997
3 1 40 Payton Wilson/Mike Collins King Rat Motorsports 1:54.648
4 94 84 Brian Smith/Larry Smith Full-Lock Motorsports 1:54.018
5 8 36 Tom Long/Shawn Dewey Dewspeed 1:57.058
6 40 35 Ben Hohn/John Kuitwaard P1 Motorsports 1:56.200
7 76 34 Rich Fohl/Craige Pelouze Long Road Racing 2:00.458

Additional points were awarded for:

Car #26 earned one point for pole plus 43 points for leading 43 laps
Car #94 earned one point for leading the most laps and 45 points for leading 45 laps

Round 2 of the Championship takes place tomorrow at Carolina Motorsports Park at 1:30pm.