Munroe Falls, Ohio – In Amy Ruman’s quest of her second championship title, this was exactly the kind of weekend the Ruman Racing team likes to have – dominant. Ruman had her sights set on a win in this weekend’s Round 2 of the Trans Am Series Championship at Road Atlanta in Braselton, GA, and she achieved just that.
Ruman, in the No. 23 McNichols Co. Corvette, led every session of the weekend, including capturing the pole position in Saturday’s “One Shot” qualifying with a blazing fast time of 1:20.584 over Ebben with a 1:21.069, and Fix with a 1:21.282. On a cold crisp southern Sunday afternoon with a 4:15pm green flag, Ruman launched out immediately to the point and never looked back. She built a huge lead during the first 14 laps of the race, followed by three different double yellow cautions allowing the field to bunch up. Virtually unchallenged the whole race, Ruman held off a late race charge from John Baucom and sprinted out from the pack once more attaining the fastest race time on lap 31. The race was checkered under the final caution period a few laps shy of the scheduled 40-lap race due to heavy impact by a TA4 competitor into the wall.
“My Dad just has the setup dialed in here at Road Atlanta,” said Ruman. “We were fast right off the trailer this weekend, led every session, and last year we had a dominant race as well. I don’t really know, I just like this track and we have the setup working—we changed a few things but it was for the better. We laid down a really good lap at the end of the race, a 1:21.744, so I was pretty happy about that. The McNichols 23 today was on fire. I’m glad that we’ve rebounded like we have from Sebring—we should have had that win; I just made an error and that happens sometimes. Hopefully that’s done and over-with, and we’ll move on with more wins and get the ball rolling from here.”
With such a strong win this weekend, Ruman catapulted into first place in the 2016 Championship Points standings. However, she does not take the early lead for granted.
“The season is so long and so much can happen,” said Ruman. “We had a nice lead last year, and it dwindled away midseason. I’m just taking each race one at a time. If we have a bad race, we’ll move on from it; if we have a good one, we’re just going to try and continue the momentum and persevere. We’re chasing our second championship, and I’m here to defend that title—hopefully we’ll wrap that up and do it again this year.”
This was Amy Ruman’s third career victory at the iconic Road Atlanta circuit, after capturing her historic first ever Trans Am win here in 2011 and also taking the win here last year in 2015. Ruman moves into first in the Championship points standings with a total of 54. Kerry Hitt remains in second with 45, while John Baucom moved up to third with a total of 39.
Sponsor: McNICHOLS CO. is the nation’s largest distributor of Perforated and Expanded Metals; Wire Mesh; Bar, Plank, and Safety Gratings; Stair Treads; Matting; and more. Products are carried in all styles and materials–stocked for 24 hour shipment. “Inspired to Serve”™ 800.237.3820 mcnichols.com.
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Race Info/Scoring/Results: www.gotransam.com Live Timing/Twitter Feed: www.gotransam.com/live-timing-and-scoring/
Ruman Racing, Inc., is based in Munroe Falls, Ohio.
