LunatiK Battles Some Crazies Two Rounds In

This past Tuesday June 28th, the LunatiK drivers took on Long Beach Street circuit on a hot afternoon in SoCal. A week before that the drivers were in Germany to take on Hockenheim with a massive field of 60 cars competing in two championships. Pro Team consisting of Drew Becker, Devan Horvath, and Davis Bush III had a solid showing in week 1 with Becker placing 6th overall with great pace. Bush and Horvath did not have the qualifying pace and were in the first 3rd of the pack finishing p19 and p22 overall giving the team a top 3 in points. Amateur team of Luke Davis, Nick McLaughlin, and Alex Wright put in a solid effort all around with McLaughlin finishing p9 overall and 1st in the Amateur division. Davis struggled with a slide that put him back in the field and tried his best to make up spots but with the massive field this season was a tough say. Wright put on a defensive clinic in the AM field battling for multiple laps end on end without giving up position earning himself a solid p31 finish. The second AM team of Ryan Patrick, Rob Campbell, and Collin McKenzie had some ups and down just like their fellow competitors. Patrick took him p2 in the AM class with a 12th place overall finish. Campbell unfortunately was taken out in turn 1 on the opening lap that saw him get a meatball flag and close to 15 minutes of damage that needed to be repaired.  Campbell never gave us and ran the required number of laps to score points for the team. McKenzie had a tough go with being in the middle of the pack and trying to gain spots but was ultimately turned around by Caleb Leamon who put McKenzie back into a p37 as he acted like the event never happened. Enough points were scored for both AM teams to secure a 1st and 2nd place in the team championship. 

#22 Drew Becker

 

 

#62 Nick McLaughlin

 

 

#93 Rob Campbell

 

 

Long Beach street circuit would turn out to be a struggle with such a large field. All 3 teams were looking to improve for the second race of the season but some drivers got caught by the walls while others flourished. Nick McLaughlin once again took pole and p1 in for the AM division with starting in 9th to start the race. A clean race with a great overtake into turn 1 saw him finish p7 overall taking home mega points for himself in the AM championship as well as solidifying his team in 1st place. Fellow team members Luke Davis and Alex Wright had some great moments but with a field of 60 cars got into some snags that they couldn’t do much about.  Davis finished in p24 and Wright who drove a super clean race in P33 but couldn’t get by a large pack he was trailing with the narrow streets. Ryan Patrick once again took home 2nd place in the AM division behind McLaughlin finishing in 14th after a mega drive avoiding a lot of the carnage that was taking place in front of him. Patricks points also make sure he stayed in p2 in the championship and keeping his team in 2nd place overall with a LunatiK one two in the AM team championship. Campbell and McKenzie qualified right next to each other with Campbell in p20 and McKenzie in p21. Both drivers looked to get a hot start following each other but ran into some issues down the road. McKenzie made a mistake in turn 1 and locked up the brakes sending him into the soft wall that damaged his car slightly but was still able to keep going. Later in the race he ran into another AM driver who refused to hold his brakes when spinning and caused McKenzie to make contact with the vehicle putting him down in the order. Campbell pit early and was making up time as the other cars started to make pitstops when a fellow AM driver lost the rear end on the back front straight and decided to make a 12 point turn in the middle of the track which caused a multi car pile up the Campbell couldn’t avoid. McKenzie finished in p26 and Campbell in p38. LunatiK’s pro team only consisted of Devan Horvath and Drew Becker tonight as the third team member David Bush III was on holiday. Becker couldn’t get it going in qualifying with his car feeling a little more unstable than anticipated but finished right behind Patrick in p15. Horvath also couldn’t get anything going in qualifying and started in the mid pack and was making his way through the field when his old teammate turned him in the fountain area of the track causing him to tow back to the pits and not hinder anyone else’s race. He got back out there and finished in p37 to add some points to for the team. The pro team is sitting in 4th place overall in the championship as the level of competition at the front is way more drastic than the past two seasons. 

#33 Alex Wright

 

 

#24 Ryan Patrick

 

 

#32 Devan Horvath

 

 

The next race is set for July 5th, at 9:30pm EST in Japan at the newly added Fuji Speedway. McLaughlin and Patrick look to continue their dominance in the Amateur class while their teammates look to bounce back and have strong showings at the newly added track. Becker and Horvath look to gain some more time and improve as they look to really take the battle to the front of the pro division. Bush will be back for the team to have the team at full capacity to maximize points. Make sure to follow us on twitter and instagram to stay up to date with LunatiK. The race next week will be broadcasted on RaceSpot TV’s youtube channel with qualifying starting at 9:30pm EST and race start at 9:40pm EST. More pictures of both events can be found in the gallery page!