Portante First at Summit Point
Summit Point, WV - Peter Portante charged through the field to win the 11th round of the 2017 Atlantic Championship Series held on Saturday at Summit Point Motorsports Park. Portante, driving the No. 24 for K-Hill Motorsports, joined the pace lap late and could not start from pole, having set the absolute track record in morning qualifying. Starting from the back, the points leader moved through the field quickly, taking the lead from David Grant on lap 13. Grant finished second for Polestar while Matt Miller completed the podium in his season debut.
Quotes from the Top Finishers:
Peter Portante:
"This is great. You can put a monkey in that car and make it go fast, so all the credit goes to the boys at K-Hill Motorsports and Guinness. It was an amazing race. We caught the field on the pace lap and then battled with Keith (Grant) and David. I didn't get to battle much with Keith, something happened to him. But David, he is always fun to battle with."
David Grant:
"We went one direction with the car this morning, and went the other way this afternoon. The car just wasn't there like it was earlier. Hopefully we'll get it back right and do it again tomorrow."
Matt Miller:
"It has been a good weekend so far, I hope it continues. I was here three years ago and it's great to be back in the Atlantic Championship Series."
John Burke (1st - Masters):
"It was a fun race. Forty minutes went by faster than I thought. The Company Motorsports car was hooked up and ran well the entire time."
Of note, Championship contender Keith Grant ran as high as second early in the race but retired with a reported mechanical problem.