MILLVILLE, NJ, 18 July – It
won’t be the usual suspects
for the second Ford Racing
Mustang Challenge race of
the weekend at New Jersey
Motorsports Park. On his
debut race weekend, Deven
Cates laid down a scorching
lap to match the scorching
temperatures, securing his
first pole in Mustang
Challenge competition. On
his first flying lap, he put
in a lap of 1:32.530
seconds, easily the fastest
lap of the entire weekend.
Lining up alongside is
rookie Kyle Gimple who fell
a tenth of a second shy of
claiming the pole for
himself as both drivers vie
for not just Sunday Group
Mangement “Rookie of the
Race” honors to benefit the
Austin Hatcher Foundation,
but also the overall win to
close out an exciting
double-header race weekend.
Newly
minted championship leader,
and the first of the usual
suspects, Tony Buffomante
will start from third on the
grid. Race 1 polesitter Dan
Aweida completes row two in
fourth position.
“I’m
getting a more used to the
car,” said Cates who has
experience in other
production-based series and
now drives the No. 68
Mustang for Capaldi Racing,
“and I managed to pull out a
good first lap. Now, if I
can focus on pulling ahead a
bit in the opening laps,
maybe I can convert this to
a win. This may be our last
race of the season, but a
good finish could change
that.”
A Capaldi
Racing Mustang FR500S on the
pole is no surprise, except
for when it’s not driven by
Buffomante. Cates was
indeed recruited to the team
by Buffomante and the two
drivers shared data and car
set-up throughout the
weekend, to good effect.
“I’m
really proud of and happy
for Devin. I’ve raced with
his dad and been following
Devin’s performances in
other series and suggested
they come over here and give
the Mustang Challenge a try
when one of his other drives
ended,” said Buffomante,
driver of the No.34 Capaldi
Racing Mustang.
Though
temperatures were still on
the very warm side for the
morning qualifying, they
were slightly down on the
highs seen earlier in the
weekend, contributing to the
faster speeds. That fact
also meant a return to a
more normal qualifying
pattern calling for a quick
out lap, put in a flyer, and
let the tires cool for
another run for a fast lap.
At that point, it’s call it
a day, for qualifying at
least, and hope that your
best lap is good enough.
“I’ve
been working hard on my
driving technique and I
think it paid off in this
session,” said Gimple who
drives the No. 81 Flying
Horse Motorsports Mustang of
his best qualifying effort
to date. “I didn’t stay out
too long to save my tires
and now with a front row
start, it will be a big
advantage for the race.”
Gimple
drove a stellar race
yesterday, narrowly missing
out on the podium, in part
do to having used up his
tires too much early in the
running as well as during
qualifying.
“I
thought we’d be okay with
our first lap,” said
Buffomante of his own
qualifying effort. “But, it
wasn’t good enough. Still,
I’m pleased for Devin, and
I’ve picked up a few more
points on Jason (van Kluge).
He’s a good racer, and any
advantage I can get on him
in the championship is a big
plus.”
von Kluge
lines up in fifth place for
this afternoon’s race.
Alongside will be Pratt Cole
and yesterday’s race winner
Ben Crosland starts from the
seventh position. The
differential among the top
seven is just over
eight-tenths of a second.
Race 2
gets underway at 11:00 AM
EDT. Live timing and
scoring is available at
mustangchallenge.com.
