Graulty Takes Double In STC Opener

The STC kicked off it's fourth season with a visit to the class Mid Ohio circuit. This season of the Sport Touring Challege features the Street Stock and Mustang challenging each other head on. This first round featured two 20-minute races. The first race set the grid through an open qualifying session. The second race's grid was set by inverting the top 11 finishers from the first race.

Race 1

Daniel Graulty and John Middleton were the class of the field during qualifying, both putting in a time over a half second faster than the next qualifier, Matthew Voigt. The two front runners got away quickly leaving the rest of the field to battle it out into the Mid Ohio chicane. A quick spin by Joe Junior into the Keyhole caused some mayhem and bunched the field up. The battle for 3^rd raged between Luc Poulin, Mike Kelley, Tim Stoll, and Julio Palacio, but after a quick spin Poulin fell back in the field. Excitement in the midfield came from 5 cars all within 2 seconds of each other. 9^Th through 14^th place would be battled hard between Steet Stocks and Mustangs alike. The charge of the race came from Matthew Voigt, who served a black flag penalty on lap 1, but managed to pass his way back up the field to finish 12^th. Daniel Graulty took the easy win after Middleton ran into shifter issues.

The top five of race 1:

1. Daniel Graulty

2. John Middleton

3. Mike Kelley

4. Julio Palacio

5. Mike Young

Race 2

The grid for the start of race 2 was set by inverting the finishers from race 1 starting at 11^th place and on up, putting David Boden in a Mustang on the pole position. The start led to disaster for John Middleton, who ended up in a 2 car wreck, leaving his car badly damaged for the remainder of the race. Daniel Graulty had a lightning start and was up to 7^th spot by the end of lap 1 and battling with Kelley and Young. David Boden had a good start as well, leading the first lap of the race, but a mistake in the twisty back section of Mid Ohio sent Boden into the tires and out of the lead. The battle for the lead came down to Luc Poulin, Daniel Graulty, Mike Kelley, and Mike Young, with the next group just a few seconds further behind. Coming onto the back stretch Poulin ran in to trouble, pulling his H-shifter off his desk :\, allowing Graulty to get a run on him and take the lead. Graulty led Kelley and Young to the finish, giving him an impressive double for Round 1 of the ISRA Sport Touring Challenge.

The top five of race 2:

1. Daniel Graulty

2. Mike Kelley

3. Mike Young

4. Julio Palacio

5. Jason Pitts