Dillon Machavern Rallies To Finish Eighth, Thad Moffitt 12th, After Grid Penalty Forces Both Drivers To Start From Back

Overview

Date: March 26, 2023

Event: Bennett/BridgeHaul 100 (Round 3 of 12)

Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli

Division: Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series

Location: Road Atlanta in Braselton, Georgia

Layout: 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course

Format: 40 laps or 75 minutes

Weather: Cloudy, low 60s

Race Winner: Connor Zilisch of Silver Hare Racing

TeamSLR:

Dillon Machavern – Started 9^th, Finished 8^th (Running, completed 34/34 laps)

Thad Moffitt – Started 13^th, Finished 12^th (Running, completed 34/34 laps)

Noteworthy: M1 Racecars was represented on the podium for the third time in the opening three races as polesitter Rafa Matos of Peterson Racing brought home a third-place finish for the second race in a row. M1 Racecars swept the podium at the season-opening race two weekends ago at Sebring (Fla.) International Raceway by the race-winning Matos, his Peterson Racing teammate Austin Green in the runner-up position, and TeamSLR driver Connor Mosack finishing third after qualifying on the pole and leading 20 of the 27 race laps.

Dillon Machavern, Driver No. 17 Heritage Automotive/Unifirst SLR-M1 Racecars:

“I’m certainly disappointed with the way it started, the way we were sent to the back, and we’re definitely looking for some clarification there. But otherwise, the TeamSLR M1 Racecar was fast. These guys did a great job making a game-time decision and putting a good setup on the car for a drying racetrack. And we were fast out there. Driving from the back up to eighth place is certainly not an easy feat, and I owe a lot to the team for giving me a good car. But again, it’s just disappointing because we should’ve already been up there fighting and we definitely would have moved forward more. The car had the speed that we were looking for, which is definitely encouraging. It was something that I didn’t really feel like we were totally there, yet, at Sebring. But now we have that, and it seems like we’ve figured out a good communication strategy for getting the setup right. So that’s encouraging moving forward, but it’s just a shame that we weren’t able to show all our stuff today.”

Thad Moffitt, Driver No. 43 Victory Impact/Safety-Kleen Chevrolet Camaro:

“This was an eventful race for me. It was the first time for everything – first time in the rain, first time on slicks in the rain, first time with a red flag for a car in the fence, first time that it rained, dried and then rained again while we were racing. I probably should’ve wrecked with the amount of experience I have, I probably should’ve went off at least once. My main goal was to just stay on the racetrack today and we accomplished that. I feel like we had speed, though. We were reading lap times and running some 1:25s in traffic, so I felt like we had the speed to run top-seven or top-eight again, just needed to put ourselves in a better position. Rolling off from the back of the field is always going to be a long day. Hopefully we can put ourselves in a better position at Lime Rock in eight weeks, but now I have to sleep on this one for the next eight weeks. Overall, three 12^th places, we’ll just try to improve that by 11 the next time, but three 12^th places to start the year for a kid who’s never road raced is not half bad.”

Next Up

Round four of the 2023 Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series takes TeamSLR and its fellow competitors next take to the track May 26 and 27 at Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut, for the Trans Am Memorial Day Classic. The event on the 1.478-mile, seven-turn road course begins with an open test session the morning of Friday, May 26, followed by practice and qualifying that afternoon. The 68-lap, 75-minute feature race will run Saturday, May 27, at 1:20 p.m. EDT. Coverage will be live streamed via the Trans Am Series and SpeedTourTV channels on YouTube, with a delayed broadcast on MAVTV set for 8 p.m. EDT on Thursday, June 1.

About TeamSLR:

TeamSLR (Scott Lagasse Racing) competes fulltime in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s newly renamed Big Machine Vodka Spiked Coolers TA2 Series in a multifaceted effort that includes dedicated entries in the TA2 division, customer programs, driver coaching and car construction. Its history dates back to 1985 and covers a wide spectrum of motorsports, including NASCAR, IMSA, SCCA, ARCA and ASA. TeamSLR is a family-owned organization run by Scott Lagasse Sr., and Scott Lagasse Jr., The father-and-son duo have combined to win more than 100 races and seven championships across a variety of series and styles of racecars, from paved ovals to road courses to dirt tracks. For more information, please visit us online at www.TeamSLR.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on LinkedIn.

-TeamSLR-