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| Miller Wins Thrilling MX-5 Cup Season Opener at Road Atlanta |
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BRASELTON, Ga. (May 2, 2009) - In his series debut, Marc Miller, of Holland, Mich., won Round One of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup, part of the Classic Motorsports Magazine Walter Mitty Challenge at Road Atlanta. Mark Jenkins, of Fairview, Texas, finished second, followed by Justin Piscitell, of Patterson, N.Y.
Starting fifth, Miller played it cool on the start and opening laps to ensure his No. 28 Team MER/MOCA/RaceForAutism MX-5 stayed in one piece for the full 22-lap, 55.58-mile race.
"I checked up a little bit at the start," Miller said. "This is my first MX-5 Cup race and I've seen a lot of race video of things happening on the first lap. I knew the car was really good, so essentially I just checked up and slotted into fourth. I was comfortable there and I waited for the race to come to me."
Indeed the race would come to Miller, but first he'd have to wait through a four-lap caution period, while corner workers cleared the No. 7 Copeland Motorsports/King Rat/Syncs MX-5 of Dean Copeland from Turn Seven. When green flag racing resumed on lap eight, Miller was still fourth behind then-leader Ara Malkhassian, followed by Lyonel Kent and Jenkins.
Kent would fall back shortly after the restart with transmission trouble in his No. 13 ALARA Racing/eData Solutions MX-5, leaving Jenkins and Malkhassian to battle for the lead. Miller then took advantage of a passing attempt by Malkhassian to get by the No. 11 ALARA Racing MX-5.
"It looked like Ara went in to pass and I rolled around the outside of him in 10B and up the hill," Miller recalled. "I got by him again, he went through Five and jumped around, then I was able to pull alongside and get him going into Six."
From there, it was a three-way fight for the lead between Miller, Jenkins and Piscitell, as the trio worked the draft around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course. With two laps to go, Miller was able to break free, crossing the line with a 2.474-second margin of victory.
"Once I started to relax a bit, the car felt better," Miller said. "The competition is so close, you're really just trying to manage the car throughout the race. The last two laps, when I got a little bit of breathing room, I put my head down and ran two really good, clean laps. Once I broke the draft, they couldn't do anything with me."
Although it was Miller's first MX-5 Cup race, he is no stranger to the series, working with Team MER as an engineer for the past two seasons. The father of two was thrilled to score a win for the team and for a cause close to his heart, Race Now for Autism, which was founded by Miller and his wife Jackie, whose son Evan was diagnosed with autism.
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