James Moffat converted his pole position into a National Trans Am Series Race 1 victory. It was a Garry Rogers Motorsport Mustang one-two-three as he crossed the line ahead of team-mates Edan Thornburrow and Lochie Dalton.
“It was a perfect day for us, In terms of the title battle, pole and the race win,” said Moffat who extended his points lead with just two races remaining to determine the 2023 title.
“I am very, very happy; we will go back to work tonight make sure the car is in tip top shape tomorrow with two more races to finish off here tomorrow.”
Moffat led off the line as Thornburrow, Dalton and Cody Gillis (Mustang) followed close behind. Fellow Mustang pilots Ben Grice, Tom Hayman and Josh Anderson were next in the train ahead of the Camaros driven by Jack Loscialpo and Elliot Barbour.
The latter was able to get by Loscialpo as did Elliott Cleary (Mustang), but there would was contact between Loscialpo and Brett Holdsworth (Camaro) when he tried to follow Cleary through. Loscialpo would retire to the pits shortly after with front splitter damage.
Grice was able to pass Gillis and set his sights on breaking up the GRM trio. But he ran wide at Griffins Bend before an excursion through the McPhillamy Park gravel trap dropped him to ninth. A lap later, he and Barbour were caught up behind Anderson who erred with a gearchange in the Cutting, and they had considerable damage as a result.
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Their incident brought out the Safety Car, under which the race finished. Gillis held onto to fourth ahead of Hayman, Cleary, Holdsworth and Anderson despite the melee. American Robert Noaker (Camaro) finished ninth in front of Josh Thomas and Masters winner Mark Crutcher, both in Mustangs. In Hoosier Cup, Hugh McAlister was the winner.
