First Half of MX-5 Cup Doubleheader at New Jersey Goes to Lamb
MILLVILLE, N.J. - Todd Lamb, of Atlanta, Ga., won the first of two SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup Races at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Marc Miller, of Holland, Mich., and Justin Piscitell, of Patterson, N.Y., completed the podium for the Round Three race, part of Mazda Formula X Presented by Cooper Tires.
Todd Lamb leads Marc Miller at New Jersey Motorsports Park (Al Merion photo).
Starting from pole, Lamb led
the field into Turn One. Unable to find a hole, third-starting Miller hugged
the inside, glued to Lamb's bumper, enabling him to move into second, past
Brett Smrz, of Coeur D"Alene,
Idaho. Miller and Lamb quickly
broke away from the rest of the field, working together to exploit the draft.
Racing for opposing teams, the
pair didn’t work together for long, as Miller began to take looks to the inside
of Lamb at the end of the front straightaway. On lap 14, Miller was able to
pull his No. 28 Team MER/MOCA/RaceForAutism/Sparco MX-5 to the inside of Lamb
in Turn One. As Lamb swung wide, briefly running off course, Miller took over
the race lead.
"Todd made a small mistake
in Turn Nine that allowed me to get just the right type of run,” Miller said.
“It allowed me to get to the inside of him and we did make a little bit of contact.
I don’t expect anyone to give me anymore than an inch and Todd gave me an inch.
I got a little sideways in the middle of the corner, had to correct, and,
unfortunately, made contact with him. We already talked about it. It was a
racing incident and certainly not intentional.”
Lamb recovered quickly,
re-taking the lead in the same corner the following lap.
Though Miller continued to
fill the mirror’s of Lamb’s No. 84 AMG/Traqmate/Luna-C Racing MX-5, no further opportunities
for a pass would present themselves, even as the pair dodged lapped traffic.
Lamb won the 25-lap, 56.25-mile contest by 0.997-second, setting the fastest
lap of the race, a 1:35.965 (84.405 mph).
“The best place to pass at
this track is going into Turn One at the end of the front straightaway,” Lamb
said. “I just needed to make sure I kept getting a good run off of Turn Nine
every time. One time I did make a mistake and that’s when [Miller] by got me.
The car got a tiny bit sideways because I got a bit greedy with the gas.
“I think we had a little
stronger car than Marc today and I knew that the draft would help me catch back
up. I just put it back down to third in the dirt, made my way back onto the
track, put the hammer down and caught back up.
“I’d love to celebrate and
be ecstatic, but we’re already focused on tomorrow. We’re going to go at it
again and it’ll be fun.”
It was the second race
in-a-row that Lamb edged out Miller for the win. While he was pleased with his
MX-5 in the race, Miller is hoping Team MER will make the right adjustments for
Sunday’s Round Four race.
“Team MER gave me a car that
was really consistent, great under braking and it rolled through the middle of
the corner really well,” Miller recalled. “In Turns One, Two and in the
Chicanes it worked really well, then again through Turn Eight. Our biggest
problem was coming out of Turn Nine onto the long straightaway, which is
probably the most important turn, so we’ve got a little bit of work to do
tonight to make it better for tomorrow.
“I felt that we ran each
other clean through the whole race and it was definitely a tough race keeping
up with Todd. Hopefully, if we do our homework, we’ll be able to get him
tomorrow.”
Taking home his second
top-three finish of the season, sixth-starting Piscitell lost some ground on
the start, but was able to work his way back up to fifth. After coming out on
top of a tough battle with Smrz for fourth, Piscitell, in the No. 89 ALARA
Racing/DAMG/MAZDASPEED MX-5, caught Zach Ply for the final podium spot.
Piscitell and Ply would continue to trade places for the duration of the race,
with Piscitell getting the final world on the white flag lap.
“The battle with Zach was
great,” Piscitell said. “Both of our cars were running well. I was able to put
my head down early on and catch up to him. Within the last three or four laps I
think we swapped places every lap. I ended up getting him on the last lap going
into Turn One. I can’t say enough about the DAMG/ALARA Racing MX-5 Cup car - it
was running phenomenal all day. I had a rough start today, but I was able to
put my head down and come back.”
Driving the No. 27 Team
MER/Insight Beverage MX-5, Ply, from Joliet,
Ill., took home a career-best
finish of fourth.
Out of sight from the battle
for third, Ara Malkhassian, of Sonoma,
Calif., finished fifth in the No.
11 ALARA Racing MX-5. He was followed by teammate Lyonel Kent who
finished sixth.
After starting 14th, Stan
Wilson, of Mt. Juliet, Tenn., crossed the finish line seventh in
the No. 92 Hale Motorsports/NetEvidence/Alliance 1 MX-5. Making up more ground
than any other driver in the race, Wilson
was awarded the Carbotech Hard Charger Award. Jeff Mosing, Chris Rhoades and
Dean Copeland completed the top 10.
Miller continues to lead the
Championship with 178 points followed by Piscitell with 155. Ply (148), Wilson
(139) and Lamb (128), who missed Round One at Road Atlanta, complete the top
five. Each driver will drop his lowest scoring race for his year-end point
total.
Today’s Round Three race was
broadcast live on HDNet. The one-hour program will be rebroadcast on syndicated
cable and satellite networks as well as posted on YouTube. A full TV schedule
is posted on the series web site.
The second half of the MX-5
Cup doubleheader at New Jersey
Motorsports Park
will also be broadcast live on HDNet. Round Four follows the same schedule as
Round Three, with qualifying at 8:45 a.m. (EDT) and racing at 1:05 p.m. Live
timing and lap notes will be available at www.mx-5cup.com.
