Spec MX-5 Challenge heads this week to Utah Motorsports Campus for the 5th regular season round of the 2019 season. Points leaders Tom Martin III and Will Tally will be trying to secure strong points positions in Utah before heading to Road Atlanta in early November for the Spec MX-5 Challenge Championship.
Championship leader Martin (#09), who has earned every pole and won every race so far this year, looks in a good position to be the favorite after Utah. Martin, an aerospace engineer who designs autonomous aircraft, says “if you do the math, Will can’t get ahead of me in points at Utah, but he can catch up enough that he could easily win the championship at Road Atlanta, his home track.” Brian Falcon, Winding Road Racing mechanic, says “I’ve been on Tom’s crew for four years, and his strengths are consistency and performance under pressure, so he’s in a good position. But we’ve worked hard to make sure all the cars are ready to give Tom some competition.”
Will Tally (#53) is looking forward to making life tough for Martin. Dr. Tally is a spinal surgeon from Athens, GA. While Martin has been an enthusiastic data analyst for all the drivers this year, Tally is a good student and has been picking up his tricks and secrets. Tally also has some special knowledge gained in Spec Boxster and the Global MX-5 Cup car. Maybe Tally can show Martin there’s a new kid in town.
$70,000 will be on the line at Road Atlanta, so it isn’t hard to see why the calculators are out and the simulators are overheating. Interestingly, Adam Gonzalez (#87), who is third in championship points, is the only Spec MX-5 driver with Utah Motorsports Campus experience. Gonzalez learned to race at UMC and loves the track. He will certainly be thinking about playing a spoiler role as well as showing off his skills to friends and family.
Both races at UMC will be on Saturday, October, 5. We will live stream from the pole sitter’s car on Spec MX-5’s Facebook page.