ALTON, Va. - The 2009 SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup season will come to a close this weekend in spectacular fashion, as the series will make its VIRginia International Raceway debut with a doubleheader finale event.
MX-5 Cup racing action heads to VIR for the 2009 season finale (Al Merion photo).
The 2009 season has been all about Todd Lamb. The driver of
the No. 84 AMG/Traqmate/Luna-C Racing MX-5 has won every single race since he
joined the series for Round Two at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and started from
pole for all but one of those victories (Road America). Lamb is focused on
earning the Championship this weekend and may opt to play it safe, even if it
means breaking his seven-race win streak.
"VIR is one of my favorite tracks,” Lamb said. “I have a lot
of laps there, so it is quite fortunate that the Championship will be decided
there. A perfect season (nine wins) would be nice, but the Championship is the
primary goal.”
Lamb enters the weekend with a 15-point cushion in the
Championship standings, or a 44-point cushion if you factor in dropped races
(each MX-5 driver drops his/her lowest scoring race from their point total).
Such numbers do not bode well for the rest of his MX-5 Cup competition. Though
the point deficit is not insurmountable, Marc Miller and Justin Piscitell would
need to have perfect weekends, and Lamb to finish well back, to surpass him in
the point standings.
Driving the No. 28 MOCA/RaceNowForAutism/Sparco/MMP MX-5,
Miller has been on Lamb's heels all season. The only other driver to win this
season besides Lamb, Miller has consistently finished second or third after
taking the season opener at Road Atlanta. He"d be in a better position this
weekend to fight Lamb for the title had it not been for a costly point penalty
at Road America.
There could be some magic in the air for Miller this weekend, though, as he
returns to a part of the country he’s quite familiar with. Miller grew up in
nearby Smith Mountain Lake
and started his racing career at area dirt tracks.
After scoring his first MX-5 Cup pole position at Road America,
Piscitell has hit an uncharacteristic slump. The MAZDASPEED MX-5 Cup Shootout
winner has struggled to return to the podium the last two rounds after scoring
three in-a-row mid-season. A fifth-place finish at Road America and a seventh
place at Miller Motorsports Park have allowed Lamb and Miller to slip further
away in the point standings and left Pisctiell with his work cut out for him
this weekend in the No. 89 ALARA/DAMG Racing MX-5.
Currently fourth in the Championship standings, Zach Ply had
been looking forward to Round Eight at Miller Motorsports Park, likening the
corner-happy course to his home track Autobahn Country Club. A 13th-place
finish was certainly not what Ply was hoping to take away from the weekend in
his No. 27 Team MER/Insight Beverage Co. MX-5, but he’ll have two races at VIR
this weekend to try and make up the ground lost to Piscitell.
Teammates Mark Jenkins and Nick Mancuso are neck-and-neck
for sixth in the point standings at the moment, and with fifth-place Stan
Wilson not entered, whomever collects the most points at VIR could move into
the top five in the final standings. Mancuso is still searching for his first
podium in the No. 29 Team MER/Lake Forest Sports Cars/Tire Lyna MX-5, while
Jenkins is hoping to make a return after scoring his first career-podium at
Road Atlanta in the No. 25 Team MER/NJR/Traxxas/BFG/Simpson/Amsoil MX-5.
MX-5 Cup veteran Ara Malkhassian has only two more
opportunities to score a podium finish in his No. 11 ALARA Racing MX-5 before
the season closes. Malkhassian has scored at least one top-three finish since
the series began in 2006 and continues to extend the record for most MX-5 Cup career
starts at each event. He missed Round Seven at Road America, but will be able to drop
the zero from his point total, which will likely advance him a spot or two in
the final standings.
Log onto www.mx-5cup.com
all weekend for live timing and lap notes from VIR. News and results will also
be available throughout the event. Keep checking back for an updated schedule
to see when the 2009 SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup Finale will air on
your local cable or satellite provider.
