2016 PCC Lites: Race 8: Georgia

Fisher Dominates From Pole



Jeff Fisher, driver of the #27 Syzygy Engineering Zastava, took the win at Road Atlanta today after winning the pole and leading all 30 of the race's laps.  The event was constrained to 30 laps and 45 minutes in accordance with the PCC Lites rulebook.

Fisher, a former Trans-Am standout in the mid-2000s, made the move over to stock car competition in 2008 to drive for Syzygy Engineering in the PCC Lites Series.  A former winner in the Trans-Am series at this track, he was able to use his knowledge of the circuit to fend off challenges from Jean-Francois DeVila, Lucien Eckdahl Jr., Patrick O'Hannigan, and Dustin Oliver to take the win by nearly thirty seconds.  

With this win, Fisher, who had a very slow start to the season, moves up into the top-10 in points for the first time this season.  He currently sits 10th in points, 71 points behind points leader Sam Burkhart.  Fisher's team Syzygy Engineering gains three spots in Team Points, moving from 11th to 8th with Fisher's win.  Unfortunately, Fisher's teammate Kelly Thomas wrecked early after contact with Denny Adams and finished 31st after starting 17th.

Sam Burkhart Finishes Outside Top-Ten, Retains Points Lead



"We could have done better," said Sam Burkhart as he got out of his #51 Beyer Sound Systems Zastava at the end of the PCC Lites Round of Georgia.  Burkhart finished the race in 11th position after starting a promising 6th, owing to a bad pit stop by his crew and poor navigation of lapped traffic.  Early in the race, Burkhart had managed to work his way into the top-five, but was never a contender for the win.  A bad pit stop set him back to 15th place, but he managed to pick his way through the field and finished just outside the top-ten.

Burkhart was unamused, though. "This team has to be at the top of their game if we're going to repeat this year.  [Justin] King, [Dustin] Oliver, [Casey] Lester all having great runs and the level of competition in this series is going up each race, we need to stay perfect if we're gonna stay at the top of this series because everyone else is catching up fast."

With this finish, Burkhart continues to hold onto the points lead, leading by a full race over second-in-points Justin King.  Burkhart's team Johnson Racing Sam Brown Racing currently sits at the top of the Team Points, but is likely to defer their promotion at the end of the season to remain as a development team for Johnson Racing in the PCC Cup Series.

Gibson Impresses on Debut



If you had told Clay Gibson just over a month ago that he would be making starts in the PCC Lites and Cup Series in the same weekend, he probably would have laughed in your face. After Gibson won the PCC Truck race at Nelson Ledges though, Gibson's dream was just about to become a reality.  AJ Murphy, primary driver of the #28 AJ Murphy Racing team, stated earlier in the season that he would step aside for the road courses in order to give the team a better chance at a promotion spot in both Lites and Trucks. Gibson got the call to drive two weeks prior while the series was in Chicago that his services would be needed once again, this time for the Lites series, and he didn't hesitate one second to jump at the opportunity.

Gibson placed the car solidly in the top ten in qualifying, and managed to work his way up into 2nd place early in the going before fading back before green-flag pit stops began.  After pit stops, Gibson was 10th, but fought his way past two cars to bring his #28 Wilson Harnesses Zastava home in the 8th position.  

With this finish and Casey Lester's top-ten result, AJ Murphy Racing vaults three spots from 8th to 5th, securing a provisional promotion spot, pending the actions of Sam Brown Racing and Lambert Motorsports at the end of the season.

Matthews Crashes Hard on Lap Two



Tiffany Matthews and second-in-points Greg Maddox tangled at the start of lap two on the front stretch, taking each other into the turn one gravel trap and tire wall.  Both drivers would retire from the event, with Maddox falling from second to eighth in points as a result of his DNF.

F S # DRIVER INTERVAL LAPS LED POINTS STATUS
1 1 27 J Fisher 95.506 29 29* 185 Running
2 16 31 D Oliver -30.75 29 0 170 Running
3 10 11 P O'Hannigan -R- -31.17 29 0 165 Running
4 8 22 J King -34.35 29 0 160 Running
5 22 25 D Adams -34.35 29 0 155 Running
6 2 92 L Scurry -R- -38.95 29 0 150 Running
7 4 34 A Lambert -57.46 29 0 146 Running
8 7 28 C Gibson -59.70 29 0 142 Running
9 14 29 C Lester -1:00.05 29 0 138 Running
10 19 919 R Carpant -R- -1:12.44 29 0 134 Running
11 6 51 S Burkhart -1:13.43 29 0 130 Running
12 30 8 R Llave -1:18.79 29 0 127 Running
13 25 191 D Van Hall -R- -1L 28 0 124 Running
14 27 44 J Hofacker -1L 28 0 121 Running
15 15 48 D Jones -1L 28 0 118 Running
16 35 964 R Pritchard -R- -1L 28 0 115 Running
17 31 42 D Wormer -R- -1L 28 0 112 Running
18 11 18 A Pausington -1L 28 0 109 Running
19 9 39 L Eckdahl Jr. -R- -1L 28 0 106 Running
20 3 67 J DeVila -1L 28 0 103 Running
21 23 06 T Tauger -R- -1L 28 0 100 Running
22 36 60 M Tauger -R- -1L 28 0 97 Running
23 20 07 M Beck -R- -1L 28 0 94 Running
24 24 7 A Sanders -R- -1L 28 0 91 Running
25 13 93 G Macena -1L 28 0 88 Running
26 33 89 JC Carpenter -2L 27 0 85 Running
27 26 12 B Juveno -2L 27 0 82 Running
28 28 6 C Fitzgerald -R- -3L 26 0 79 Retired
29 29 972 D Bouchard -R- -5L 24 0 76 Header
30 34 007 A Constantine -R- -22L 7 0 73 Header
31 17 72 K Thomas -25L 4 0 70 Accident
32 32 24 B Belushi -R- -25L 4 0 67 Accident
33 21 79 I Parsons -25L 4 0 64 Accident
34 5 43 J Beverley -26L 3 0 61 Accident
35 18 16 T Matthews -26L 3 0 58 Accident
36 12 08 G Maddox -26L 3 0 55 Accident