LAKEVILLE, Conn. — It’s been all 19-year-old Helio Meza all the time in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series this season, winning every pole, leading every lap, and winning every race, but in a wet and slippery Memorial Day Classic at Lime Rock Park, it was finally somebody else’s turn.
Alon Day, a teammate of Meza’s at Team SLR, captured the pole, led the most laps, and drove his No. 17 JSSI Chevrolet Camaro into victory lane during the Trans Am Series by Pirelli’s annual trip to Lakeville, Connecticut on Memorial Day Weekend.
There was a quick moment, early in the 68-lap event from the 1.53-mile road course, where it looked like the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series was in for another dominant performance by Meza, but in the slick conditions, Day was able to use his veteran experience to get the race-lead back, while Meza faltered.
“I didn’t know exactly what to expect when I started the race,” Day told Racing America. “I love to drive in the rain, but here, such a narrow track, very fast, if you just touch the grass a bit, you go straight into the wall, so, it was a very difficult [68 laps], but 100% concentration, and it’s really demanding and I can’t do it without [Scott Lagasse, Jr.], without this guy I wouldn’t be here. I must thank everyone at Team SLR, they gave me a rocket, yet again.”
The victory by Day means an extension of Team SLR’s win streak in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, which has now extended a full year, and dates to last Memorial Day Weekend at Lime Rock Park when Nitro Motorsports and Sam Corry last went to Victory Lane.
Team SLR once again swept the three podium positions in the CUBE 3 TA2 Series, with part-timer Ben Maier finishing in the runner-up position, with Connor Mosack in third place. Mosack wasn’t originally scheduled to be in the field for Saturday’s event but was tapped to fill-in for Lanie Buice after she crashed hard in a Late Model at Tri-County last weekend and chose to forgo this event as a precaution.
In just his third-ever CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series start, Max Reaves, a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, scored an impressive fourth-place finish in a third entry for Silver Hare Racing. Jackson Tovo battled hard with Reaves throughout the final portion of the event but had to settle for fifth place.
Ethan Tovo was sixth, with Helio Meza finishing a shocking seventh. Adrian Wlostowski, Eric Cayton, and Gian Buffamonte rounded out the top 10.