Following up on Friday's victory in Round 1, Puskar Motorsports drivers Chris Puskar and David Daughtery captured their second victory in the United States Endurance Racing Association (USERA) Spec Miata Endurance Championship race at Carolina Motorsports Park today.

Qualifying for Round 2 was hard fought with King Rat Motorsports driver Payton Wilson edging out Dan McKeever (McKeever Motorsports) and Chris Puskar (Puskar Motorsports) for the pole. Wilson, whose primary car had been suffering from electrical gremlins all weekend, switched to a backup car for qualifying. Brian Smith would join McKeever Motorsports for the race. Smith had led the first half of Round 1 Friday in commanding fashion, so with McKeever's commanding second place finish in Round 1, the pairing of McKeever and Smith was expected to be hard to beat. The grid for Round 2 was set as follows:

Pos Car No. Driver Name(s) Team Name Best Time
1 1 Payton Wilson/Mike Collins King Rat Motorsports 1:53.456
2 2 Dan McKeever/Brian Smith McKeever Motorsports 1:53.772
3 26 Chris Puskar/David Daughtery Puskar Motorsports 1:54.374
4 40 John Kuitwaard/ Ben Hohn P1 Motorsports 1:55.475
5 8 Shawn Dewey/ Tom Long Dewspeed 1:55.605
6 27 Dan Puskar/Chris Puskar Puskar Motorsports 1:59.075
7 76 Rich Fohl/Craige Pelouze Long Road Racing 1:59.735

While the Friday race start was calm and orderly, the race start for Round 2 was anything but calm. Dewey got a great start and, along with Puskar, tried to make it three wide in to turn 1 as Puskar and Dewey both attempting to get by McKeever for second. Three won't go into 1 even at Carolina Motorsports Park. Puskar and Dewey continued but McKeever had a wicked 180 degree spin and would continue in last place. Wilson looked to be sitting in the catbird seat in first place as the rest of the field collected their wits, settled themselves and started chasing him down. At the end of lap one, the top three were Wilson, Dewey and Puskar.

In an amazing bit of driving, McKeever was back in third place by lap seven. On lap eight, Puskar passed Wilson for the lead which he and co-driver David Daughtery would hold on to until to the checker, relinquishing the lead only briefly during their pit stop on lap 54. During the stop, Wilson handed the car over to co-driver Mike Collins. But after the stop, #1 King Rat Motorsports Miata was reported as dumping fuel from the fuel filler on hard right hand turns. The team made a second stop a few laps later to secure the fuel filler cap, and returned to the race in fourth place. The Dewspeed #8, McKeever Motorsports #2 and P1 Motorsports #40 would have a spirited battle for third through fifth.

In the late stages of the race, the King Rat Motorsports #1, P1 Motorsports #40 and Dewspeed #8 all had to make a third stop for a splash-n-dash of fuel. Collins elected to turn the car over to Wilson for the final 8 laps.

Final race results were:

Pos Car No. Points Driver Name(s) Team Name Best Time
1 26 90 Chris Puskar/David Daughtery Puskar Motorsports 1:54.489
2 2 90 Dan McKeever/Brian Smith McKeever Motorsports 1:54.973
3 8 88 Shawn Dewey/ Tom Long Dewspeed 1:55.816
4 1 88 Payton Wilson/Mike Collins King Rat Motorsports 1:54.683
5 40 88 John Kuitwaard/ Ben Hohn P1 Motorsports 1:55.785
6 27 86 Dan Puskar Puskar Motorsports 1:58.895
7 76 84 Rich Fohl/Craige Pelouze Long Road Racing 2:01.226

Dan Puskar was recognized during the podium ceremonies for having driven the full race alone.

Round 3 of the USERA Spec Miata Endurance Championship will be at the Mosport International Raceway May 19-20, 2006.