Lamb Prepares to Re-Write the MX-5 Record Books at Autobahn
JOLIET, Ill. - As the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup heads to Autobahn Country Club for Round Six, the question on everyone’s mind is: Can anybody stop Todd Lamb?
MX-5 Cup is ready for another green flag (James Jordan/MAZDASPEED photo).
The driver of the No. 84 AMG/Traqmate/Luna-C
Racing MX-5 has won each of the last four races from the pole and his margin of
victory seems to be growing with each checkered flag he takes. Even with his
stranglehold on the MX-5 Cup winner's circle, Lamb still does not lead the
Championship points. Since Lamb missed the opening round at Road Atlanta, that
honor goes to Marc Miller in the No. 28 Team MER/MOCA/RaceNowforAutism/MMP MX-5.
Luckily for Lamb, each driver will get to drop their lowest scoring race from
his or her point total. This will allow Lamb to drop the zero points scored at
Road Atlanta, while Miller will likely have to drop some solid points. If one
were to factor total points with drops today, Miller would actually be trailing
Lamb by 35 points.
This weekend is the perfect
time for Miller to break out of his runner-up rut. Following Round Five at Barber Motorsports
Park, Miller conceded
that it would be silly to be upset with four second-place finishes in-a-row,
but the fact that they"ve all been to the same person have left him frustrated.
While Lamb may have had a slight edge at Barber Motorsports Park last weekend with
his previous race experience there, Team MER and Miller may have some home
field advantage this time around, as two of the team’s drivers are from the
Chicago area, and team co-owner Jason Saini
has had plenty of practice around the 18-turn, 3.56-mile course.
Team MER driver Zach Ply
calls Joliet, Ill., home and even works at Autobahn
Country Club. The driver of the No. 27 Team MER/Insight Beverage Co. MX-5
continues to put in solid performances, most recently a fifth-place finish at Barber Motorsports
Park. Considering drivers
new to this course will have a short period of time to learn its 18 corners,
Ply could be looking at his first MX-5 Cup podium of the season this weekend.
Ply’s teammate Nick Mancuso
is from nearby Mettawa, Ill., and is coming on strong in the second
half of the season. The No. 29 TeamMER/LakeForestSportsCars/TireLyna MX-5
driver has now collected back-to-back fourth-place finishes and is rapidly
climbing the point standings.
Currently second in the
Championship, Justin Piscitell knows exactly how Miller feels about Lamb,
because it’s the same way he feels about Miller. Piscitell has finished third,
behind Miller, for the last three races in the No. 89
DAMGRacing/MAZDASPEED/ALARA MX-5. Though it may be frustrating, it’s still very
impressive for a driver who had next to zero racing experience before entering
MX-5 Cup.
Piscitell is also leading
the charge for the ALARA Racing team. After a solid weekend at New Jersey Motorsports
Park, team principal Ara Malkhassian
had a rough go of it at Barber
Motorsports Park.
The driver of the No. 11 ALARA Racing MX-5 was struck by another car early in
the race, then exited the contest early with mechanical trouble. He now finds
himself ninth in the point standings, just a few clicks behind teammate Lyonel Kent in the No.
13 ALARA Racing/eData Solutions MX-5, who’s yet to regain the form he showed in
the opening round at Road Atlanta.
Stan Wilson is also looking
to refresh his performance. The No. 92 Patron/NetEvidence/Alliance1 MX-5 Cup
driver scored Hale Motorsports’ first-ever MX-5 Cup podium in Round Two at
Mazda Raceway, but has since struggled to keep the car inside the top 10. It’s
too bad the Carbotech Hard Charger award is based on where you line up on the
grid, because Wilson put on quite a show at Barber; after contact on the
opening lap sent Wilson from 11th to the back of the field (24th), the 2007
World Challenge Touring Car Rookie of the year spent the rest of the race
clawing his way back to 13th.
Just like Round Three and
Four at New Jersey
Motorsports Park,
all the action from Round Six at Autobahn Country Club will be broadcast live on
HDNet, Sunday, July 26 at 12:05 p.m. (CDT). For those who don’t get HDNet or
need their fix before the race even goes green, live timing and lap notes will
be available all weekend, plus the new MX-5 Cup Twitter account (twitter.com/MazdaMX5Cup)
will be busy with updates. Keep checking www.mx-5cup.com
throughout the weekend for the latest MX-5 Cup news and results.
