There is little in racing more incongruous than putting an entire swarm of relatively low-power MX-5 Cup cars out on the long-straights of Wisconsin’s famed race course. This just shouldn’t work, the track is usually seen as one that rewards big power and even bigger cubic inches. The long start/finish straight is uphill for the sake of Pete. Can these little roadsters possibly put on a good show here? Hell yeah!
The great thing about MX-5 Cup is that the playing field is absolutely level. These racers are running cars that are identically spec’d, and feature exactly the same power and performance. There’s no balance of performance, no sandbagging, and no unfair. At the start of the race you’d be better off playing eenie-meenie than trying to pick a favorite to win.
It’s just a gaggle of young professionals racing wheel to wheel. If you make a mistake, the ramifications are huge. If you pick the right line it could be a boon. If you get the draft just right, you could win. But it also means four-wide, wheel banging, knock down drag out, pass in the grass kind of action.
These racers aren’t leaving anything on the table. Just check out this double-header of races from last weekend at Road America. The races are under an hour, and well worth watching, but if you’re busy, just watch the last ten minutes of each race to get a really good feel for the action.
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Race one is taken at the checkers by Robert Noaker, a 15-year-old MX-5 Cup phenom. He took his first win in the series last July.
The race two victor is Selin Rollan, born in 1994, who took the lead of the race just a few corners from the finish.
I don’t think anyone can reliably predict an MX-5 cup winner at any track, but even less so here at RA.
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