MONTEREY, Calif. – After falling back in the pack at the start of the race, Patrick Gallagher edged his friend and former roommate Robby Foley for the victory in Friday’s Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca.
Even at just half of a second, the winning margin is large compared to most of the Mazda MX-5 Cup finishes so far this year. The win marked Gallagher’s seventh victory of the season.
“I just didn’t get the start that I wanted – it was my fault – we were loose on the first lap and I went backwards instead of forwards on that first lap, just not being patient,” said Gallagher, who will officially collect his trophy and $200,000 Mazda scholarship this weekend. “I think we were back up to fourth or fifth after a few laps and then it gets harder and harder to get by guys getting closer to the front. Robby (Foley) and I were pretty equal. I got by him and then it was a knock down drag out fight for the lead. It was great, he’s one of my best friends and was my roommate, and we still do a lot of stuff together. So it was tough, we’d be getting into each other and then giving each other the thumbs up. It was hard but a lot of fun.”
Gallagher’s teammate Robert Stout edged even closer to his $50,000 target as he scored third place to grow his gap over Bryan Ortiz in the rookie of the year battle. The winner in the rookie standings will emerge with a $50,000 Mazda scholarship prize as Ortiz and Stout entered the race just seven points apart.
A back and forth battle saw Ortiz well placed in the closing stages of the race only to suffer a technical issue on the penultimate lap of the race.
“I didn’t care if we were in 15th or if we were in fifth, I just wanted to keep Ortiz with me,” said Stout. “We are very close in speed to each other so I was hoping we would have a close battle. I was able to hold off fourth for a long time and then I saw him go out. My goal was to just stay within one position of him. I was doing the math and as long as I stayed either in front or behind, I would be close enough to hopefully seal the deal tomorrow. All year long, Ortiz has been great, he is one of the best drivers in the series. I have a lot of fun racing against him. He is aggressive and I love to race against someone who is like that.”
Source : speedsport.com
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