Sep 21, 2019
MONTEREY, CA (September 21, 2019) – Robert Stout was keenly aware of what needed to happen at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for him to earn the Battery Tender® Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires® Championship; he needed to win and his rivals needed to falter. Both conditions were achieved in Race One.
John Dean II continued his domination of the ND1 class with his 10th win of the season, part of a podium sweep for Sick Sideways Racing. The first woman to stand on a Global Mazda MX-5 Cup podium, Sarah Montgomery, improved on her personal best result by finishing second.
The fight for the Mazda MX-5 Cup Championship has been filled with drama. It began with practice when Championship leader Bryan Ortiz lost a motor and was unable to turn any laps. His Copeland Motorsports team was able to change the engine in time for qualifying, but Ortiz’s main rival, Selin Rollan, qualified on pole for both of Saturday’s races.
Everything was flipped on it’s head on lap two of Race One, when Rollan, who was running second, slowed to a stop with a broken gearbox. He was officially scored in 25th and earned last-place points.
Stout had taken the lead from Rollan on the opening lap and commenced a long battle with Luke Oxner for the lead. The two exchanged the lead several times before Stout took the lead for good in his No. 28 McCumbee McAleer Racing MX-5 with 16 minutes to go.
From that point the fight for the final two podium positions allowed Stout to pull out a 0.9854-second margin of victory.
"I'm just so happy for the team to be able to come back and do this,” Stout said. “It's easy to say 'all you have to do is win and someone else needs to be around fifth.' So, to have the two guys in front of me (in the championship), finish behind me (in the race) it was great. I'm definitely a little more nervous heading into Race 2 this afternoon now. Everyone started sliding around in the back half of the race, but I think I was managing tires better than anyone else around me and I think that benefited me in the end."