SCCA Pro Racing’s Continues its Pacific Coast Tour

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Less than a month after tearing up Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, the SCCA Pro Racing SIRIUS Satellite Radio Mazda MX-5 Cup heads north along the Pacific Coast to picturesque Portland, Ore., for Round Four of the Championship.

With two wins this year, Jason Saini (No. 28 Autobarn Mazda/SafeRacer.com) arrives in Portland with a sizeable lead in the Championship, 27 points, over Ara Malkhassian. Saini took the win at Round Three a full 16.387 seconds ahead of Laguna Seca expert Matt Cross. Such a margin of victory is a rare occurrence in MX-5 Cup and speaks volumes of how finely tuned Saini has his MX-5. He will be hard to beat this weekend at Portland International Raceway, where he finished fifth last year.

After collecting his first-career win at Road Atlanta in April, a seventh-place finish at Mazda Raceway wasn’t exactly what Malkhassian (No. 11 Alara Racing) was aiming for to close the gap to Saini in the Championship. Now Malkhassian needs to worry about Cross (No. 80 Jason Hoover Motorsports/Hooverspeed) who is quickly gaining ground after a second-place finish in Monterey. Cross has been successful at Portland in SCCA Spec Miata racing, while Malkhassian’s race here last year ended early with mechanical issues.

Finishing fifth at Laguna Seca, Jesse Combs (No. 7 Coolgas Ltd. / Alara Racing) rebounded well from a poor race at Road Atlanta, which he exited early with car trouble. Combs now sits fourth in the championship, 13 points behind Cross.

Still making up for a fateful brush with the wall at the season opener while running second is Andrew Caddell (No. 30 TeamMER/AimSport/PinnacleMazda). The 18-year-old is slowly digging himself out of that hole with fourth-place finishes at Road Atlanta and Mazda Raceway. Hailing from Graham, Wash., will Caddell’s SCCA Spec Miata experience at Portland International Raceway pay off and get him his first MX-5 Cup podium this weekend?

Off the Championship radar but a threat none-the-less is Todd Buras. After the inncorrect brake pads were found on Buras’ car in post-race tech at Laguna Seca, the No. 56 BSI/Team Garcia/MOMO/Joe Gibbs driver had his second-place finish revoked. Buras had already missed Round One in Houston and the Laguna Seca DQ has pushed Buras all the way down to 24th in the Championship. It would be a mistake however, to count Buras out for a win this weekend considering he finished third in the Championship last season.


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