Several Mazda drivers are leading SCCA’s conference championships at the midpoint of the season
With SCCA Northeast Conference Majors events completed at VIRginia International Raceway, Summit Point and Pittsburgh International Race Complex, the Conference championship is at its halfway point, and many of the class battles are proving intense.
Charlie Campbell is leading the F Production points in his Miata over two other Miata drivers, Daniel Thiel and Robert Garrison. Campbell swept the Summit Point Majors weekend and scored a podium at VIR and two in Pittsburgh to lead Thiel 125 points to 96; however, Thiel and Garrison have competed in only two weekends while Campbell has three.
Most of the Spec Miata drivers have yet to compete three Northeast weekends, including Marc Cefalo, and that makes his perfect 100 points all the more impressive. He swept both Summit Point and Pitt to build a healthy 27-point lead over Pete Phillips Jr.
Craig McHaffie has completed six races in Super Touring Lite in his third-generation MX-5, but he would still have the points lead even without his Summit Point sweep. McHaffie has been on the podium in every Northeast race so far this year.
John Weisberg hasn’t had quite that level of success in Super Touring Under in his NC MX-5, but a win and two more podiums have left him atop the standings at the halfway mark. Weisberg has competed in World Challenge Touring Car the last couple of years but is taking a step back to concentrate on SCCA Road Racing.
Owen Schefer had one tough race at VIR for the Sunday feature in Touring 4 but has otherwise won every race he’s entered in the Northeast, including the Saturday VIR race that attracted a pretty stacked field, including the defending national champion. Schefer is making a strong case for the RX-8 in T4.
Bryan Putt in his Elan DP02 is the only Prototype 1 competitor to do more than one weekend in the Northeast so far, so he has a healthy lead over a couple of Southeast racers that ran the combined Hoosier Super Tour event at VIR. In both Formula Mazda and Formula Enterprises 2, it’s only at VIR that any competitors have shown. In Formula Enterprises, though, Justin Huffman has been on a tear at Summit Point and Pitt Race with four straight wins to build a good lead over Keith McDonald, who only has two weekends under his belt so far this season.
The next Majors event in the Northeast Conference is June 22-24 at Watkins Glen International, which is also the final event of the Super Tour and should attract quite a turnout. Look for a full report on how the Mazda racers did here on MazdaMotorsports.com.
Northeast Conference Mazda Points Leaders
FP: Charlie Campbell, Miata
FE2: (tie) Rhett Barkau; (tie) Todd Vanacore
FM: (tie) Brad Yake; (tie) Nicholas Malone
P1: Bryan Putt, Elan DP02
SM: Marc Cefalo
STL: Craig McHaffie, MX-5
STU: John Weisberg, MX-5
T4: Owen Schefer, RX-8