Local race car driver, BJ Piekarski (Nashua) competed in this past weekend in the SCCA’s biggest regional race, the N.A.R.R.C Runoffs at the historical Lime Rock Park in Connecticut. Piekarski’s road racing roots started in 1994 at the age of 9. He had competed previously at Lime Rock Park, but it had been almost 10 years. In 2002, Piekarski grabbed a victory on the famed course.

During the most recent race weekend, Piekarski struggled in practice, but was able to qualify 9^th on the starting grid out of 25 cars.

The race started in the pouring rain and unfortunately there was a wreck in front of Piekarski in the third corner of the first lap. With much help from his spotter, Mike Rancourt (Nashua resident), he was able to get around the wreck. However, he had to drive through the wet grass and fell back to the 16^th position, which made for a long race ahead. Piekarski has had many other races in the rain, in which it seems to fit his driving style, and this race was no different. He started to improve by picking off 1 to 2 cars per lap throughout the 35-lap race. By lap 30, Piekarski was up to 5^th and quickly closing in on the 3^rd and 4^th place cars. Piekarski made a daring move on the outside of turn 1 and passed both vehicles and was able to hold them off and had a strong podium 3^rd place finish.

This race capped off a very successful SCCA season for Piekarski. He finishes the season with 5 top 5 finishes, 6 top 10s, and 1 victory in September at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

Special thanks go out to crew members Mike Rancourt, Luke Labonte and Flat-Out Motorsports.