2017 SVRA Brickyard Vintage Racing Invite

Mazda MX-5 Cup Hosts Rounds 3 & 4 As Part Of The SVRA Brickyard Invite

Mazda MX-5 Cup Hosts Rounds 3 & 4 As Part Of The SVRA Brickyard Invite

When the SVRA Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational hits the track this weekend, the Mazda MX-5 Cup will be part of the show.

Jun 14, 2017 by Dan Beaver
Mazda MX-5 Cup Hosts Rounds 3 & 4 As Part Of The SVRA Brickyard Invite
When the SVRA Brickyard Vintage Racing Invitational hits the track this weekend, the Mazda MX-5 Cup will be part of the show. 

The entire weekend will stream LIVE on FloRacing from Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, June 17-18. 

Indy will play host to rounds three and four of this series that typically races twice on a track during their weekends. 

Rounds one and two were held at Barber Motorsports Park in late April with Patrick Gallagher securing the wins in both events. After coming up just a little short of winning a Mazda championship, Gallagher knows the importance of banking points early in the season. 

Wanting the extra points that come with a win, Gallagher made a high-risk move on the last lap of round two to move past Mark Drennan. 

"I feel like those last three laps of the race, those were the three best laps of my life that I've ever driven," he said. "It was a risky move, but I wanted to win the race. I wasn't going to do that move every lap, but I was able to beat [Drennan] over the hill and I got by him. I've lost a championship by a point before, so I know how important every point is."

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Round one was no less dramatic and featured a one-lap shootout among those same two drivers. 

"My eyes got really big when I saw that we were going to have a restart!" Drennan said. "I felt like I was a little more hooked up than Patrick that point in the race and that I might have something for him. I just ended up on the wrong side -- for a couple of corners -- on that last lap and wasn't able to stuff it in there, and I didn't want to give up a podium."

Drennan finished second in both rounds, and as a result of their solid Barber runs, they lead the series in points heading to the Brickyard. 

In fact, Barber showed consistency throughout the top five. Nathanial Sparks finished third in both races, with Robby Foley bagging a pair of fourths. 

The grandeur of Indy is not lost on the competitors, including the points leader Gallagher.

"I raced there in a quarter midget when I was 6 or 7, but I've never raced at the actual road course. ... I mean, it's Indianapolis, so it is really cool to get the chance to race there," Gallagher said. "I've been there as a spectator for the Indianapolis 500 and for the IMSA races. It's probably one of the two or three tracks that you walk into and get goosebumps. I think you'll see 15 cars nose to tail, and I've been told that it's a pretty straightforward circuit."

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Where To Watch

Indianapolis Motor Speedway
4790 W 16th St,
Indianapolis, IN 46222

How To Watch

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