Local Nashua driver BJ Piekarski sped to the track at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the SCCA National race this past weekend. The Toyota of Nashua sponsored driver struggled in qualifying on Saturday with only being able to pull off a 13th place (out of 24) starting position (out of 24) after running on older tires and knew that getting to the front would be wishful thinking as weather would be approaching the area on Sunday.

Luckily BJ is not a rookie to racing in the rain however, and was able to come off a strong 3rd place in the SCCA Runoff’s last fall at Lime Rock Park, Ct. As the clouds came over New Hampshire Sunday BJ took the green flag and jumped up to the top 10 by lap 3 of the event. Patiently BJ was able to move his way up thru the field and battled top notch SCCA national drivers such as Craig McHaffie. The closer he got to the front, the harder they were to pass however, until he caught up to Tom Capizzi and swapped the 3rd position back and forth a total of 4 times and had their fair share of bumps and nudges around the tricky New Hampshire track.
 

Coming to the last lap, Piekarski trailed Capizzi by 2 car lengths in 4th and made a move to the inside as they came off turn 2. Capizzi made a block on BJ and made slight contact as they entered the road course. Piekarski fought back as he made a daring move entering the last corner on the outside after Tom Capizzi went slightly off track the previous corner. The two battled side by side making contact and Piekarski came home with a strong 4th place finish.

BJ Piekarski would like to thank Toyota of Nashua and Gate City Collision for the support and looks forward to a strong 2012 season!