Information By: LAZ DENES / TEAMSLR – LAKEVILLE, CT
18-Year-Old New Englander Evan Slater Starts Second, Fends Off All Challengers;
Strong Start by Barry Boes Ruined by Midrace Contact, Soldiers Home 16th
Overview:
Date: May 25, 2024
Event: Memorial Day Classic (Round 5 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series
Location: Lime Rock Park in Lakeville, Connecticut
Layout: 1.48-mile, seven-turn road course
Format: 68 laps or 75 minutes
Weather: Sunny, upper-70s
Winner: Rafa Matos of Nitro Motorsports
TeamSLR:
● Evan Slater – Started 2nd, Finished 2nd (Running, completed 68/68 laps)
● Barry Boes – Started 7th, Finished 16th (Running, completed 65/68 laps)
Noteworthy:
● Slater’s performance in his first TA2 outing since last August at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International earned him the Cool Boxx Coolest move of the Race award.
● Boes’ qualifying effort this weekend equaled his career-best of seventh first set in May 2019 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
Evan Slater, Driver No. 17 Cube 3/Franklin Road/Paul Racing Enterprises/Tom Haas Foundation/SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:
“It was super fun to be back in one of these Trans Am TA2 cars. TeamSLR, Scott Lagasse Jr., they gave me an amazing car for this race. It was a ton of fun, we finished second. It definitely wasn’t an easy race. We were trying to put pressure on Rafa and we were hanging with him for a while. Then we got a little unlucky with some lapped traffic and he pulled away, but we closed it right back up and we were fighting to be up front and maybe even get a win. I was happy with P2 and am thankful for all my sponsors – Cube 3 Architecture, Franklin Road Apparel, Paul Racing Enterprises, and the Tom Haas Foundation – for making this weekend possible. We wouldn’t be here without them, so huge thanks to them. I’m going to enjoy this P2.”
Barry Boes, Driver No. 27 Accio Data/SLR-M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:
“I had a good M1 Racecars machine and it got better all weekend. I was really excited for the race. Qualified seventh overall and first in Pro-Am, and the race was going well. I was first in Pro-Am, lost a couple of positions overall at the start, looked like I was going to be making them up again as I had pace on some of the guys in front of me. But then on the second restart of the race I got taken out. The car got hurt but I was still running people down and was moving my way forward. But then some cautions bunched us up some more and that was about all we were going to be able to get. I thought this was going to be the day we were going to get past this recent string of bad luck, but fate had other ideas. On to the next one.”
Next Up:
Round six of the 2024 Cube 3 Architecture TA2 Series takes TeamSLR to the Pittsburgh International Race Complex for the Pitt Race SpeedTour, June 7-9. The three-day weekend kicks off with a pair of TA2 test sessions Friday, June 7, at 8:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. EDT. TA2 practice is set for 9 a.m. Saturday, June 8, followed by qualifying at 2:20 p.m. The 37-lap, 75-minute race around the 2.75-mile, 19-turn road course is set for 9 a.m. Sunday, June 9, with series partner MAVTV providing live television coverage augmented via live video stream on the Trans Am channel on YouTube.