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Rafa Matos
Second-year Atlantic racer Raphael Matos (#6 ProWorks) is a much better race car driver than a baseball player but he completed a remarkable triple play Sunday, winning his third consecutive race to open the 2007 Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.
After scoring wins at Las Vegas and Long Beach to start the season, Matos made it three victories in three weeks as he led all 43 laps at JAGFlo Speedway at Reliant Park Sunday afternoon. The 25-year-old Brazilian rising star also claimed a piece of Atlantic history as he became the first driver in 17 years to capture the first three events of a series season. Mark Dismore won five straight races to open the 1990 campaign as he went on to score the Atlantic Pacific Division title in the last year that Atlantics featured split divisions.
Matos didn’t have an easy drive to the landmark victory. Starting from the pole, the native of Belo Horizonte, Brazil had a decent launch to the standing start on the 10-turn, 1.683-mile street circuit as he held the lead through the treacherous Turn 1. American Carl Skerlong (#24 King Taco/USRT) of the US RaceTronics team produced a fantastic start, however, making a daring move to outside in the first turn to jet from fourth into second place.
After the lone caution flag of the race – caused by an opening-lap accident involving Ryan Lewis (#15 NCPI/Deans Knight/Wasteco) of Walker Racing and Genoa Racing’s Richard Heistand (#37 Eola Capital Investments) in Turn 3 – Matos enjoyed a good re-start at the green flag, keeping Skerlong in his rear-view mirror.
