Dass Completes the Sweep as Adorno Denies Travis a Clean Weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park
Formula Race Promotions (FRP) hosted the penultimate event of the 2026 season this past weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park (CMP), the 2.279-mile road course in Kershaw, South Carolina. With the season entering its homestretch, the weekend delivered qualifying and Heat Race 1 for both the Atlantic/F2000 and F1600 Championship Series on Saturday, followed by Heat Race 2 and the Feature Races on Sunday. By the time the checkered flag fell, Harbir Dass had turned in a dominant, session-sweeping performance in Atlantic/F2000, while the F1600 field produced one of the weekend's biggest surprises.
“It's always exciting to roll into Carolina Motorsports Park as we head down the stretch of the season,” said Bob Wright. “The F1600 competition was tight all weekend, and we saw some great racing throughout the field setting the stage for an exciting final event in October at Barber!”
Atlantic/F2000 Qualifying
Harbir Dass set the pace in dominant fashion in Atlantic/F2000 qualifying, topping the session in his #06 K-Hill Swift 016-A with a 1:23.721 to claim both the outright pole and the Atlantic-016 class pole position. Alex Lima paced the Atlantic-Open class, qualifying second overall in his Tatuus F3 with a 1:27.705, ahead of Dustin Hodges and Aiden Zelaya. Drew Holtgraewe rounded out the Atlantic-Open front-runners in fifth, driving for Arrive Drive Motorsports. In F2000, Robert Wright set the class benchmark with a lap of 1:33.672 in his Elan DP08, edging out Eric Presbrey's Momentum Motorsports entry by four-tenths for the class pole.
F1600 Qualifying
In F1600 qualifying, Cooper Travis edged a tightly packed field to claim pole position with a 1:36.167, just three-tenths clear of Robert Dusek III's Eric Langbein Racing Ray F1600 in second. David Ybarra, Axel LeRoy, and Jake LeRoy put three K-Hill Motorsports entries inside the top-five, with all three separated from the pole time by less than a second. David Adorno topped the F1600 Masters class in sixth overall with a 1:36.999, leading Charles Anti, Steve Oseth, Bob Reid, and Greg Peluso in the Masters order. Boss Patel and Christian Menezes rounded out the top-eight for BGR Piper RaceCars, while Roman McCurdy completed the top-ten.
Atlantic/F2000 Heat Race 1
Harbir Dass converted his pole position into the overall and Atlantic-016 class win in Atlantic/F2000 Heat Race 1, completing all 20 laps without challenge. Aiden Zelaya brought his Ligier F3 home second overall to take the Atlantic-Open class win, while Eric Presbrey turned the tables on qualifying pacesetter Robert Wright to claim the F2000 class victory, crossing the line third overall to Wright's fourth. Drew Holtgraewe and Dustin Hodges rounded out the Atlantic-Open order in fifth and sixth. Alex Lima, who had qualified second overall and on the Atlantic-Open pole, saw his race come apart after trouble on track — despite the setback, Lima still turned the second-fastest lap of the race at 1:30.182, quicker than second-place finisher Zelaya, before completing just 15 of the race's 20 laps to finish seventh.
F1600 Heat Race 1
Cooper Travis backed up his pole position with a victory in F1600 Heat Race 1, comfortably leading the final 7 laps and setting the fastest lap of the race at 1:37.277 in the process. David Ybarra and Axel LeRoy completed the podium in second and third for K-Hill Motorsports, with Boss Patel and Christian Menezes following in fourth and fifth for BGR Piper RaceCars. Jake LeRoy crossed sixth to give K-Hill Motorsports three cars inside the top-six. Charles Anti led the F1600 Masters class home in seventh overall, ahead of Steve Oseth, Roman McCurdy, Bob Reid, and Greg Peluso to complete the class order. It wasn't a clean race for everyone at the front of qualifying, though, as Robert Dusek III — who had turned the second-fastest lap in qualifying and led the race for the first five laps, setting the second-fastest lap of the race — was forced to retire after seven laps. David Adorno, the Masters class polesitter, was also unable to complete the distance, retiring alongside Dusek after seven laps.
Atlantic/F2000 Heat Race 2
Harbir Dass continued his weekend of dominance in Atlantic/F2000 Heat Race 2, taking the Atlantic-016 class win and the overall victory while lowering his own weekend-best lap to a 1:22.529. Dustin Hodges and Drew Holtgraewe rounded out the overall podium in second and third for Arrive Drive Motorsports, both completing 18 laps to lead the Atlantic-Open class. Aiden Zelaya, the Heat Race 1 Atlantic-Open winner, could only manage fourth this time out after completing 16 laps, despite turning the second-fastest lap of the race at 1:29.750 — quicker than both drivers who finished ahead of him. Eric Presbrey again led the F2000 class home, crossing fifth overall.
F1600 Heat Race 2
Cooper Travis made it two-for-two in F1600 Heat Races, backing up his Race 1 win with another victory at the front of the field. Masters driver David Adorno tried a bold inside passing move at the start, which led to contact with Axel LeRoy spinning him off the track and scattering many in the field. Adorno would go on to finish second overall but would later get penalized 15 of his 23 points earned for his overly ambitious start. Robert Dusek III bounced back from his Race 1 retirement to finish third, with Boss Patel and David Ybarra completing the top-five. Axel LeRoy turned the third-fastest lap of the race at 1:36.950 but was classified ninth, while Charles Anti, Steve Oseth, Bob Reid, and Greg Peluso rounded out the F1600 Masters class behind Adorno.
Atlantic/F2000 Feature Race
Harbir Dass capped off a dominant weekend at Carolina Motorsports Park, sweeping every session he entered en route to victory in the Atlantic/F2000 Feature Race. Dass backed up his qualifying pole position and twin heat race wins with another start-to-finish victory, claiming the Atlantic-016 class win, and comfortably locking up the Atlantic 016 Season Championship. Aiden Zelaya in his Ligier F3 car rebounded from his Heat Race 2 result to take the Atlantic-Open class win in second overall, with Dustin Hodges and Drew Holtgraewe in their Arrive Drive JDR F1000s completing the overall Atlantic Open podium. Due to his running on Hancook vs the series spec Hoosier tires, Aiden would get moved back to third on the Atlantic Open podium. Eric Presbrey swept the F2000 class for the weekend, finishing fourth overall ahead of class rival Robert Wright, who rounded out the top-six. It wasn't a clean weekend for everyone at the front, though, as Alex Lima — who had qualified second overall — withdrew from the Feature Race, closing out a tough weekend that began with so much promise on Saturday morning.
F1600 Feature Race
David Adorno provided the biggest storyline of the weekend, converting his strong Heat Race 2 competitiveness into an outright victory in the F1600 Feature Race — a Masters class driver topping the entire F1600 field. David’s fastest lap time of 1:36.984 was bested only by David Ybarra, who was five hundreds faster at 1:36.928. Boss Patel and Christian Menezes completed the overall podium in second and third for BGR Piper RaceCars, with Jake LeRoy fourth despite turning a faster lap than both drivers ahead of him at 1:37.372. Steve Oseth, Charles Anti, Bob Reid, and Greg Peluso rounded out the Masters class order behind Adorno. Cooper Travis, the winner of both weekend heat races and Saturday's pole position, had a disappointing race in his quest for the overall championship. Cooper led the race for the first nine laps: David Ybarra took the lead after Turn 3 on lap ten, and in the attempt to retake the lead in Turn 11, Cooper and David had contact. This incident, while causing only a minor hiccup for both drivers at the time, would later end both of their races due to unseen damage. David, just three turns later, with a severed brake line, would plow into the back of the then race leader Robert Dusek III, ending his race and forcing Dusek to retire after lap 15. Cooper, continuing in fourth place in the tight lead pack, passed #75 Axel Leroy on lap 16, but suspension damage would contribute to a spin on the final lap in Turn 11, collecting Axel and dropping them both to the back of the field.
With the checkered flag falling on Carolina Motorsports Park, FRP now turns its attention to the final event of the 2026 season at Barber Motorsports Park over the October 16-18 weekend.
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