Race Recap - Roush Performance Wins Third 2011 Race at New Jersey

Billy Johnson leads the Frederick Motorsports FR500C and the temporarily-renumbered #68 Boss 302R with New Jersey Motorsports Park's "Villas" in the background.

Roush Performance notched their third Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge win of 2011 at New Jersey Motorsports Park, the fourth for a Ford Mustang Boss 302R. In winning the B+ Foundation Heroes 200 on July 23rd, drivers Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson returned to second place in the driver’s championship standings.

Besides each other, the competitors had to battle triple-digit ambient temperatures during the weekend. As the mercury rose throughout each day, the track got slipperier. Teams that managed their tires and the heat effectively would fare best in the race Saturday afternoon.

Joe Foster rides a curb in his #15 Mustang Boss 302R. The ubiquitous school-bus-yellow car was badly damaged at Laguna Seca when Scott Maxwell tangled with Kyle Gimple's #68 Mustang FR500C. This white Boss 302R was called up to service from Ford Racing's stable.

The Mustangs and BMWs were quickest in practice. Capaldi Racing’s Tony Buffomante found the track’s sweet spot during Saturday morning’s qualifying, clocking a 1:29.956-second lap for the pole. Not only was the time surprising (the first and only lap in the twenty-nines the entire weekend), but Buffomante did it in a borrowed car. The familiar red, black, and white #16 Multimatic Boss 302R was loaned to the Capaldi Racing drivers after their FR500C was badly damaged in a tangle with Scott Maxwell’s #15 Boss 302R two weeks earlier at Laguna Seca. (Eagle-eyed readers will remember the same car was loaned to Rob Finlay and James Cameron at Watkins Glen after their #50 car was destroyed at Lime Rock).

Joe Foster (#15 Multimatic Boss 302R) qualified second quickest, followed by Andrew Aquilante (#35 Subaru WRX STI), Jack Roush Jr. (#61 Roush Performance Boss 302R), and Jade Buford (#33 Kinetic Motorsports BMW M3). The quickest of the Camaros was Robert Stout’s Mitchum Motorsprorts #6.

At the race start, Tony Buffomante held the lead to turn one, flanked by Joe Foster and Jack Roush, Jr. After only leading a lap, Buffomante spun in turn four, handing the lead to Joe Foster. Buffomante watched helplessly as the field freight-trained past him before he rejoined the race in 21st position. Joey Atterbury’s #62 Mitchum Motorsports Camaro moved up to third. By lap fifteen, Jack Roush Jr. moved into the lead, and Foster dropped back to third behind Atterbury.

The Racer's Edge Motorsports apexes the entrance to turn three during Saturdays' race. It started 18th and finished 11th.

Just after the half-hour mark came the first full-course caution. Because of the excessive heat, some teams planned on a two pit-stop strategy in an effort to have fresher tires on the slippery track for the run at the end. Some even elected to change drivers twice. Others were on a one-stop strategy, gambling that the race would have enough fuel-saving caution laps to make two hours of fuel last an extra thirty minutes.

When Grand-Am announced the pits were open, the field approached pit lane. Jack Roush Jr stayed out with Atterbury following, but Joe Foster, running third, turned into pit lane. As Foster got out to hand the car to co-driver Scott Maxwell, the Multimatic Motorsports crew ominously raised the hood on the #15 Mustang Boss 302R. Their extended stay on pit lane made their chances for victory doubtful.

Todd Snyder (#21 Mustang FR500C) leads a trio of BMW M3's late in the race.

Six laps later, another full-course caution ensued after a Camaro and an ST-class Mazda tangled and were stopped at turn eight. Jack Roush Jr. briefly handed the lead to Atterbury when Roush ducked into the pits for a quick stop, but retook the lead when Atterbury stopped as well. Roush held the lead for the next twenty minutes, when the course went yellow again so safety crews could retrieve various stranded cars. With the race half over, the Roush Performance crew called Jack Roush Jr to the pits. With fresh tires and a full load of fuel, Billy Johnson took over driving duties and rejoined the fray. Todd Snyder inherited the lead (#21 Frederick Motorsports Mustang FR500C).

At lap 49, Todd Snyder continued to lead, but Billy Johnson fought his way up to fourth behind Hugh Plumb (#45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3). Tony Buffomante made it back up to second place after his early-race spin. Hugh Plumb took the lead from Snyder a few laps later, only to have his alternator fail from the heat. As the battery drained, Plumb’s engine misfired and anti-lock brake system failed, Plumb went off-course, and handed the lead to Billy Johnson. Plumb’s BMW was later stranded on course with a dead battery, and brought out the yellow flag so he could be retrieved.

On the re-start, Billy Johnson got a great jump on the field to hold the lead until the final caution period. Because of the extended clean-up, the race ended under the yellow, with Johnson taking his third win of the season with co-driver Jack Roush Jr. and Roush Performance. Mark Boden and Terry Borcheller followed in their #46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, with Todd Snyder and Scott Panzer rounding out the podium in their #21 Mustang FR500C.

Turner Motorsport’s Paul Dalla Lana finished sixth with co-driver Boris Said, who filled in for Bill Auberlen due to scheduling conflicts with Auberlen’s American LeMans racing schedule. The solid finish allowed Dalla Lana to hold the GS-class points lead, despite the points gained by Roush and Johnson after their win.

Johnson was joined on the podium by co-driver Jack Roush Jr., Mark Boden and Terry Borcheller (#46 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3), and Todd Snyder and Scott Panzer (#21 Frederick Motorsports Mustang FR500C)

The final race of the season is eight weeks away, at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In the Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge championship hunt, consistency is the key. Even with their three wins, Roush and Johnson’s 32nd-place finish at Daytona and 22nd at Laguna Seca means they trail Dalla Lana by sixteen points. In order for Roush and Johnson (who are currently second in the standings) to take the championship, Roush and Johnson would have to win and Dalla Lana would have to suffer his worst finish of the season: 13th or lower. That may seem unlikely, but anything can happen in this ultra-competitive series!

Images and Captions

The Racer's Edge Motorsports Boss 302R threads turns 11A and 11B during Thursday's test sessions. The front grill is missing presumably in an effort to get more cooling air to the engine in the hot conditions.

The setting sun pierces the haze after Thursday afternoon's testing. The sun would cook the region to triple-digit temperatures the following days.

The #68 Mustang Boss 302R of Tony Buffomante and Kyle Gimple (on loan from Mulitmaitc Motorsports) heads onto the front straight at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

Brad Adams and Ben Crosland shared the #95 Race With RP Mustang FR500C at New Jersey. They qualified 21st and finished 18th (fifteen laps down) after being stopped on course during the race.

Joe Foster powers his Mustang Boss 302R down New Jersey Motorsports Park's back straight during qualifying. He clocked the second-best time of the session, and started on the outside front row.

Tony Buffomante's father, Angelo, shades his pole-sitting son with an umbrella on the grid prior to the start of the B+ Foundation Heroes 200 at New Jersey Motorsports Park.