Kent Claims First MX-5 Cup Pole of 2009 Season at Road Atlanta
BRASELTON, Ga. - In his series debut, Lyonel Kent, of Powell, Tenn., captured the pole for Round One of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, part of the Classic Motorsports Magazine Walter Mitty Challenge at Road Atlanta. Ara Malkhassian, of Sonoma, Calif., will complete the front row for Saturday's race.
Lyonel Kent scores pole for Saturday's MX-5 Cup race at Road Atlanta (Alison Merion photo).
Piloting the No. 13 ALARA
Racing/eData Solutions MX-5, Kent
worked the draft with teammates Malkhassian and Justin Piscitell to clock the
fastest lap of the 30-minute qualifying session, a 1:41.237 (90.322 mph).
Giving it everything he could, Kent
nearly lost it exiting Turn 12, but righted the car as it crossed start/finish.
"I knew it was my last-ditch
effort,” Kent
said. “I shifted at the last minute and straight-lined it, because I wanted to
keep the speed up. I feel sorry for my teammates though – I gave them a little
dusting.”
Shortly after Kent set his
provisional pole time, the No. 68 Hale Motorsports/ HighRiseFire.com MX-5 of
Michael Vitarelli made contact with the wall at Turn Four, necessitating a red
flag. The driver was uninjured in the incident, and after a brief cleanup, the
session resumed with five minute remaining. Try as they might, no competitor
could top Kent"s
lap around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course, and the ALARA driver was
ecstatic to learn he’d be starting his very first MX-5 Cup race from pole.
“This is amazing,” Kent beamed. “It’s
the best day of my life. I’ve got to thank ALARA Racing, eData Solutions, Ken
Marillo and my teammates Ara and Justin. We worked so well together out there.
I don’t know how we could have expected anything else, because this is just the
perfect day. I’ve been looking forward to this for so long. It’s a dream to be
here and words can’t explain what I’m going through right now. Hopefully
tomorrow will take the place of today as the best day of my life.”
After leading the majority
of the session with a 1:41.604 (89.996 mph), Malkhassian was bumped by his
teammate’s hot lap. It will be an all-ALARA front row for Saturday’s race, with
Malkhasian starting second in the No. 11 ALARA Racing MX-5.
Mark Jenkins, of Fairview, Texas,
qualified a career-high third. Driving the No. 25 Team MER/JBR/Traxxas/BFG/Simpson
MX-5, Jenkins had a rough ride out of Turn 12 early in the session, but got
back in a rhythm shortly thereafter, clocking a 1:41.698 (89.913 mph).
MAZDASPEED MX-5 Cup Shootout
winner Piscitell, of Patterson,
N.Y., will start fourth on the
grid. Piscitell’s fastest lap in the No. 89 ALARA Racing/DAMG Racing MX-5 was a
1:41.904 (89.731 mph).
Marc Miller, of Holland, Mich.,
completes the top five in the No. 28 Team MER/MOCA/RaceForAutism MX-5. Miller,
who was second-fastest in Thursday practice clocked a 1:42.022 (89.627 mph) in
qualifying.
Dean Copeland, Chris
Rhoades, Brett Smrz, Zach Ply and Mike Jenkins completed the top 10.
Round
One of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.
(EDT) on Saturday.
