Grant Flag-to-Flag at Road Atlanta
Braselton, GA - From pole, 2015 Atlantic Champion Keith Grant led every lap to win round two of the 2016 Atlantic season Sunday afternoon at Road Atlanta. Grant bounced back from a rare DNF on Saturday to take the victory in the No. 40 Polestar Swift 016/Mazda. Saturday winner Ryan Norman challenged Grant early but was forced to make an unscheduled visit to the pits and eventually rejoined the race many laps down.
"It was a much better day today," said Grant, who was able to keep Norman at bay in the early laps of the race. "Had a good car, thanks to Polestar for all the work in getting the car ready."
The field lined up for a perfect start just after 3:00 p.m. eastern local time, and while Grant led from pole over a challenging Norman, the safety car was dispatched not soon thereafter for an incident involving Kirk Kindsfater, Lee Alexander and Lewis Cooper.
Chris Ash also retired in the early stages of the race, which was run to its 40-minute time window due to the safety car period.
On the restart, Grant was able to hold the lead over an aggressive and challenging Norman, in the No. 48 K-Hill Motorsports Swift 016/Mazda. Norman would stalk Grant lap after lap but fell back from three tenths of a second to one second and then two, before pitting.
Rich Zober, driving for Comprent, inherited second place from Norman and ran there for the majority of the race but pitted with what appeared to be a part failure late in the race.
Kirk Kindsfater, driving for K-Hill Motorsports, was second of the Swift 016s in Atlantic Championship competition in his No. 32 Swift 016/Mazda.
Bob Corliss won the Atlantic Challenge with a last lap pass on Bruce Hamilton. Both drivers were in Swift 014/Toyotas, with Corliss driving for Comprent and Hamilton with K-Hill.
"It was a great race," said Corliss. "I was caught up in the melee in turn 10 on the first lap and dropped way behind. Comprent gave me a great car."
Hamilton added: "Corliss finally caught me. I screwed up in turn seven on the last lap and he got in the draft and that was that."
In a race of attrition, the No. 99 of Johnpaul Ciancimino was also forced to retire on lap 13.
Full results from all three series are available on www.F1600Series.com, www.F2000Series.com, and www.AtlanticChampionshipSeries.com.
Next up is weekend two of seven, scheduled to take place Watkins Glen International, May 13-15.