The Pro IT series hit New Jersey Motorsports Park on June 6^th in Millville, NJ. Round three included a full field of over 30 drivers ready to take to the track and battle for class and overall win. The Pro IT race format included optional participation in the Jersey Devil National allowing drivers to double dip in the SM and STU class while still participating in the Pro IT. Qualifying for Pro IT was Sunday morning and the race was right after lunch on Sunday afternoon. 

It was hot – no doubt about it. When I got out of the car for qualifying I just about had to take a knee during the drivers meeting. Fortunately there was plenty of cold water on hand and several of us stood there downing glass after glass. The qualifying sessions ran smoothly with no full course cautions and a strong number of spectators taking in the great field cars and drivers. The first seven qualifiers were separated only tenths of a second – all in the 1:34 range with the top ten drivers all under 1:37. This was going to be a hard fought race!

Following lunch the cars gridded up to race with much anticipation. Matt Rooke of RidgeSpeed Racing was on the pole and he brought the field to the green flag in a nice, tight formation. At the green I was able to take the lead with the greater torque of my ITR Porsche 968 and it was a dogfight going into turn 1 with many drivers fighting for position. From what I understand there was no major contact and the race was on! From all accounts the race was a highlight to watch with many changes in position across all of the classes. Joe Diminno was duking it out with Marc Cefalo in ITA, Matt Rooke, Rob Driscoll and Jeff Henderson were swapping positions in ITS, SM had a nice battle going on with Nick Leverone, Jon Farbman and Dennis Valet battling for the front spots, Chris Schmidt was our sole ITB driver and a nice battle in ITR with Dr. Robert Breault, Fred Fox and Rob Thiele and your race reporter.

Several top competitors had to drop out due to overheating issues including pole sitter Matt Rooke and drivers Eric King and Rob Thiele.

The highlight of the race was the last two laps where Rob Breault was able to run me down with two laps to go. I hadn’t seen him reeling me in and he was able to pull ahead on the front straight, totally taking me by surprise. I was able to reel him back in at the 'Devil' and was on his bumper for the pass going under the white flag and one lap to go. We both battled for the lead going into turn one and then Rob was held up by a lap car leading onto the back straightaway. I was able to pull alongside him going into the kink and we both made contact at high speed. I was on the inside, he was on the outside. Both cars sustained damage but we were able to continue. Apparently it was quite a show with some major sideways action and tons of tire smoke. Both cars recovered and I started watching my mirrors as the ITR BMW of Brealt was on my tail. (As competitors we are still debating that contact!) My son Christian said afterwards, “That was way cooler than any NASCAR race!”

Unfortunately I spent too much time driving in my mirrors and missed my brake point going into the 'Devil,' drove wide into the grass allowing Breault to retake the lead with Rob Driscoll in his ITS BMW to take second overall. This was on the last lap and boy was there some colorful language on my in-car video! In hindsight while the race had been mine to win, Breault made an incredible run through the field. He came from sixth qualifying position to run me down. I am mad at myself for my last lap error but respect the drive of Breault to win it. Been a tough season so far with some great opportunities but no W’s on the board yet – but hey, we are only halfway through the season with more great tracks to visit and great guys and gals to race against!