MX-5 Cup: Landy Sweeps

Sebastian Landy wins second race at Road Atlanta; Drake Kemper claims Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge title.

Sebastian Landy, of Great Falls, Va., completed the weekend sweep at Road Atlanta after winning Round 12 of the SCCA Pro Racing Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires. Kenton Koch, of Glendora, Calif., and Joey Bickers, of Moorpark, Calif., completed the podium.

Landy notched his second career win, and first weekend sweep, in Mazda MX-5 Cup competition in the final round of the 2014 season. In the No. 49 Excitations.com/Atlanta Motorsports Group MX-5, Landy controlled most of the race that averaged 77.867mph around the 12-turn, 2.54-mile circuit by leading 17 of 23 laps. The race was slowed by wet conditions and an aborted start as the leaders picked up the throttle too early.

While Landy controlled the field from the front, Koch was pushing hard contesting for the race win, having already sealed the championship in Round 11. However Landy proved to have what it took to win.

Koch was trying to end his 2014 campaign on top. He was scored as the leader of the opening two laps until Landy was able to make the pass for the lead during lap three. At that point, Koch stayed within two car lengths of Landy. On lap 12, Koch was able to retake the lead but could not hold off the charging Landy and lost the lead two laps later.

Bickers was able to notch his first career Mazda MX-5 Cup podium after he piloted the No. 29 Mazda Motorsports/BFGoodrich® Tires MX-5 to a third-place finish. Starting 10th, Bickers found himself in the middle of an intense mid-pack shuffle for position. He bounced between sixth and ninth until he was able to make his move toward the front of the field, on lap 20. By lap 21, Bickers worked his way up to the rear bumper of Ara Malkhassian. On the final lap of the race, Bickers was able to get around Malkhassian and took his teammate, Devin Jones, with him.

Landy’s win wasn’t enough to improve his position in the standings, and he ended up third in the championship behind John Dean.

In the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge, Ben Albano, of Greenwich, Conn., took the final-round win of 2014, but it wasn’t enough to wrest the championship from Drake Kemper. Albano was second in the points, followed by Robby Foley.

In the No. 61 Project Yellow Light, SBMX-5, Albano was the polesitter but lost the lead by the time the field came back around after the green flag. He spent the remaining 22 laps in a close-quarters battle with Foley, trading the lead four times at the line.

Bryan Hixon, of San Antonio, Texas, was the third driver on the podium in the No. 63 Blackmore Partners/xBorder Foods & Wine SBMX-5. That marked his best finish of the season since his class win in Round Two at Sebring.

In the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge, Drake Kemper, of Toluca Lake, Calif., finished the season in first after collecting 689 Championship points. Albano finished second, 36 markers behind. Foley was third with 642 points.