MX-5 Cup Win Number Four for Lamb at Barber Motorsports Park
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Todd Lamb, of Atlanta, Ga., claimed his fourth-consecutive SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup win in Round Five at Barber Motorsports Park, part of the Porsche 250 Presented by Legacy Credit Union weekend. Marc Miller, of Holland, Mich., and Justin Piscitell, of Patterson, N.Y., completed the podium.
Todd Lamb leads Marc Miller at Barber Motorsports Park (James Jordan/MAZDASPEED photo).
Starting from his fourth pole
position in-a-row, Lamb led the MX-5 Cup field into Turn One at the start, but
had heavy pressure from second-starting Miller and third-starting Piscitell. Pushing
hard in an attempt to avoid another runner-up finish to Lamb, Miller's No. 28
Team MER/MOCA/Race Now for Autism/MMP MX-5 was all over Lamb"s bumper in the
opening laps. Miller set the fastest lap of the race in the process, turning a
1:44.787 (81.765 mph) and establishing the MX-5 Cup race lap record in the
series’ first visit to the 17-turn, 2.38-mile track.
Miller’s attempt were in
vain, however, as Lamb’s No. 84 AMG/Traqmate/Luna-C Racing MX-5 began to
steadily pull a gap.
"We’re still learning about
these BFGoodrich tires,” Lamb said. “We knew coming in that we’d have to
conserve tires for this race, so I figured Marc [Miller] would try pressuring
me right away to try and get me to burn the tires off. After that, we were just
biding out time and letting the race come to us.
“I knew the car setup was
going to be good after qualifying yesterday. I wanted to get to the halfway
point before I started pushing it and I got lucky because [Miller and
Piscitell] fell off a little bit, so at that point it was just a matter of
running nine-tenths and keeping the car in first.”
Unchallenged and breezing
through slower traffic, Lamb won the 26-lap, 61.88-mile contest by 3.965
seconds over Miller, averaging 81.765 mph in the race, which ran without a
single yellow flag.
“I’ve got to thank the AMG
guys,” Lamb concluded. “They’ve done a fantastic job. They’ve been working
non-stop to get the car exactly the way we want it. We’re always brainstorming
to figure out what the car needs to go faster and this track is a great example
of needing a car that’s right straight from the get-go.”
His quick pace early in the
race would come back to haunt Miller, as third-place Piscitell was able to catch
the current point leader in the closing laps.
“At the beginning of the
race I thought we had something for [Lamb] today, but then as the tires got
hotter and the track got greasier, we just started to lose forward bite. From
there, it was about trying to keep the tires cool.
“I got stuck behind a couple
lapped cars. That really didn’t help at all, because once you lose the draft
it’s kind of tough to keep up. There were definitely a couple situations out
there that helped Justin [Piscitell] close back up. I could tell that he was
cooling his tires and I thought 'that’s pretty smart, I wish I could have done
that,’ but I really wanted to see if I could hang with Todd and if the two of
us could pull away.”
Miller was able to hold
Piscitell off and take his fourth runner-up finish in-a-row. Though Lamb has
won four of the opening five rounds, he missed the season opener, which keeps
Miller at the top of the Championship points. Miller leads Piscitell, 292 to
293. Lamb is third with 256 points. Lamb will have the opportunity to drop his
lowest scoring race from his point total. If drops were applied to the points
as they stand after Round Five, Lamb would be leading Miller, 256 to 235.
“I don’t think anyone should
complain about four second-place finishes, but when it’s to the same person it
does get frustrating,” Miller said. “We hope we’ll have something for him next
weekend at Autobahn. More of us at Team MER have experience there. Three of our
drivers are based in the Midwest and have been
around that track plenty of times. That helps going into the weekend. I think
if we start out quicker, we may have a better chance of having something for
Todd come race time.”
Driving the No. 89 ALARA
Racing/DAMG Racing/MAZDASPEED MX-5, Piscitell took home his fourth third-place
finish of the season, though if the race had been one lap longer, he may have
had the opportunity for a career-best second place.
“I think if we’d had one
more lap, I would have been able to get a little closer to [Miller] and gotten
inside of him in at least one of the corners. “[Miller] and I both heated our
tires up pretty good in the beginning trying to chase down Todd, so I started
to relax a little sooner than Marc might of to cool my tires down a bit. Then,
I just tried to work my way back up at the end.
“I’m still gunning for that
first win. I’d really like to be able to make it to the top step of the podium.
We’ve got another five races left to try and chase these two guys down.”
The battle for fourth, fifth
and sixth was one of the best races on the track before Ara Malkhassian spun from
fourth on lap 11. Sixth-place Nick Mancuso, of Mettewa, Ill.,
took advantage of the situation, picking up two spots in the No. 29 Team MER/ LakeForestSportsCars/Tire
Lyna MX-5. It was the second-consecutive fourth-place finish for Mancuso. His
teammate, Zach Ply, of Joliet,
Ill., completed the top five in
the No. 27 Team MER/Insight Beverage Co. MX-5.
Teammates Mark Jenkins and
Jeff Mosing finished sixth and seventh, respectively.
Lyonel Kent, Robert
Michaelian and Christopher Rhoades completed the top 10.
Advancing five positions in
the race, from 23rd to 18th, in the No. 44 Steve Bottom Racing MX-5, Steve
Bottom, of Newport Beach, Calif., was awarded the Carbotech Hard
Charger Award.
Round Five of the SCCA Pro
Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup will be broadcast on syndicated cable and
satellite networks. A full schedule is available on the series’ web site.
Round Six heads to Autobahn
Country Club in Joliet, Ill., July 24 – 26. More information is
available at www.mx-5cup.com.
