Millville II: AIM Autosport race report

AIM's Ostella 7th, Pegram 2nd in Expert Class
AIM Autosport rebounds in 2nd New Jersey race

Millville, New Jersey (2010.06.28) AIM Autosport celebrated a successful outing at New Jersey Motorsports Park yesterday afternoon as David Ostella finished 7th in a Star Mazda Championship race. AMA Superbike competitor Larry Pegram finished 2nd in the Expert Class (16th overall) while Walt Bowlin, driving the third AIM Autosport entry, fell far behind after contact necessitated repairs.

Qualifying for the afternoon race took place in morning and David secured a 9th-place start for his Global Precast car with a lap of 1m-16.761s at 101.770mph. He was in the midst of a closely-matched pack in which 6th to 12th were separated by just 0.209s. Larry and Walt qualified 21st and 22nd, respectively. Both felt comfortable with the performance of their Tampa Bay Jaw Surgery cars, but needed to be more aggressive during qualifying runs.

The race started at 3:05pm, the middle of a hot afternoon, with the track temperatures sitting at around 120ºF. David got away quickly, passing one car at the start and another by the first corner. As the field came around to complete the first lap, David was up to 6th.

For Larry and Walt, things did not go as well. The first lap saw Larry spin, while Walt was involved in a collision and suffered damage to his front wing and steering system. Larry fell behind the pack and continued but Walt had to head back to the pits where the AIM Autosport crew started repairs.

David hung on to 6th place, but the hot track got to his tires, gradually affecting his pace. On lap 12, he slipped to 7th when Jorge Goncalvez took advantage of the situation. Unable to fight back, yet having the measure of those behind, David adjusted his pace to manage his tires to the finish.

Following his spin, Larry soon caught the tail-enders and began working his way up the order. After dispatching some stragglers in the first few laps, he spent 16-laps reeling in the group ahead. He gained a place on lap 19, another on lap 23 and one more on lap 24 to claim 16th place. At this point the gap to the next group of cars looked insurmountable, but Larry kept pushing. He didn't catch them, but their advantage was much smaller when time expired and the checkered fag came out.

Walt ran a pretty lonely race after stopping for repairs. His car felt good, thanks to the crew's handiwork, and the lap times were comparable to his Masters Class competitors, but there was no way of making up the 3-lap deficit. Continuing all the way to the checkered flag, Walt gained some much-needed time at the wheel--after missing much of the season due to a broken collarbone--and picked up some points for his efforts.

Following today's race, AIM's full time driver, David, lies 11th in the Driver Standings, while AIM Autosport holds 5th in the Team Championship. The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear now has a few weeks off before a pair of races at Joliet, Illinois, July 31 and August 1.

-source: aim autosport