Miller Leads Morning MX-5 Cup Practice in New Jersey
MILLVILLE, N.J. - Marc Miller, of Holland, Mich., led opening practice for Rounds Three and Four of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, part of Mazda Formula X at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Chris Rhoades, of Dallas, Texas, and Brett Smrz, of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, completed the top three.
Marc Miller in the No. 28 MX-5 at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Al Merion image).
After some morning rain, the
MX-5 Cup cars took to a slightly damp course for the first of two 30-minute
practice sessions. Driving the No. 28 MOCA/RaceNowforAutism/Sparco MX-5, Miller
had no trouble finding enough grip to set a quick out-lap and continued to
improve throughout the session. The current Championship point leader finally
settled on a 1:35.330 (84.968 mph) to top the time sheets.
"I think the Atlantic cars
(the session previous to MX-5 Cup practice) dried the track pretty good,”
Miller said. “We were chattering on the radio at the beginning of the session
and thought the track was pretty good.
[A wet track] was something we were worried about earlier today, because
we worked all day yesterday trying to develop a better balance for the car.
We"ve got a really good, driveable car now. The things we did last night for
this morning helped, so we’re just going to keep going in that direction.”
In his first visit to New Jersey Motorsports Park
as a driver, Miller has found the MX-5 Cup cars to be a great fit for the
2.25-mile track.
“I love this facility,”
Miller added. “It’s a challenging course. It’s got a little bit of elevation
and a lot of corners that you can pull big speed through. The MX-5’s forte is
corner speed and you can really exploit that at a track like this. It’s really
fun and challenging.”
Miller was followed on the
time sheets by his own teammate, Rhoades. Driving the No. 33 Team MER/Zebra
Air/Sparco MX-5, Rhoades clocked a fast lap of 1:35.330 (84.968 mph).
Smrz in the No. 6
AMG/InTouchPhysicalTherapy MX-5 was third fastest in the session. The former New Jersey resident
entered a 1:35.832 (84.523 mph).
The most recent MX-5 Cup
race winner, Todd Lamb, of Atlanta,
Ga., was fourth quickest.
Piloting the No. 84 AMG Racing/Traqmate/Luna-C Racing MX-5, Lamb clocked a
1:35.970 (84.401 mph).
Justin Piscitell, of Patterson, N.Y.,
completed the top five in the No. 89 ALARA Racing/DAMG Racing MAZDASPEED MX-5.
Piscitell recorded a 1:36.058 (84.324 mph).
Mike Jenkins, Zach Ply,
Lyonel Kent, Nick Mancuso and Ara Malkhassian completed the top 10.
The second MX-5 Cup practice
session at New Jersey
Motorsports Park
is scheduled for 2:45 p.m. (EDT) today. Live timing and lap notes are available
on the series’ web site. Saturday’s Round Three and Sunday’s Round Four race
will both be broadcast live on HDNet at 1:00 p.m. (EDT). For the latest news
and results, visit www.mx-5cup.com.
