STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — After missing out on a podium in Race 1 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Justin Adakonis (No. 23 McCumbee McAleer Racing) knew exactly what he needed to do to capture the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin Race 2 win on Sunday.
Rookie Ethan Jacobs (No. 99 JDH Racing) finished second after an intense fight with Adakonis for the win, with polesitter Julian DaCosta (No. 95 BSI Racing) completing the podium.
Now in his second season of Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup competition, Adakonis scored his second win of the season and this time, it wasn’t behind a safety car.
With 37 cars taking the green flag under sunny skies, the opening laps of the 45-minute race were a little chaotic, but Adakonis had teammate and Saturday’s race winner, Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) to work with. By lap five, the duo had moved into the top two spots. When Jacobs joined them, the trio thought it was the appropriate time for a ceasefire. Fletcher, Adakonis and Jacobs calmly pulled away from the field.
It looked like clean sailing for the three drivers until the race’s halfway point when a small bobble from Fletcher caused the group to check up and lose momentum. The lead pack grew to five cars, now joined by DeCosta and Parker DeLong (No. 42 Parker DeLong Racing). The new sense of urgency allowed even more cars to catch them and become a pack of eight.
Moments later, disaster struck, when seventh-place Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) went sailing across the grass and into the Turn Four gravel trap. This brought out the race’s only full-course caution.
The race restarted with less than nine minutes to go and now the whole field was in attack mode.
Jacobs made his move, first around Fletcher, then two corners later around Adakonis for the lead. Adakonis got him back the next lap. Jacobs played his cards close to the vest until the white flag came out and he made his move into Turn Four. Adakonis saw it coming, let it happen, and got Jacobs back in Turn Nine.
Jacobs was out of time and passing opportunities. He crossed the line just 0.380-second behind Adakonis.
“I saw him (Jacobs) setting up that one by China Beach (Turn Four) and I thought back to that move I made on Jared [Thomas] at St. Petersburg,” Adakonis said. “I tried to set it up there and then cross him over. I went pretty deep, so I thought he would go in deeper, but he did a great job getting it stopped and turned. I saw him open up out of Turn Nine, so I just kind of stuck in there.”
The runner-up finish matched Jacobs’ career-best MX-5 Cup finish of second at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta at the end of last season.
“The car felt amazing, so I felt pretty comfortable hanging the outside there,” Jacobs said. “I did it a couple times, and then once you get up on top of that hill after China Beach (Turn Four), you can just kind of put the power down and then take that position over.
“I got a call on the radio saying, ‘next time by is white flag.’ So, I was like, ‘do I pass him now or wait for the white flag lap?’ I waited for the last lap. I thought I had him there, and then he made an amazing move into Thunder Valley (Turn Nine). It was a super clean pass and I can’t really argue with it.”
DaCosta may have started from pole position but ultimately finished third. Still, it was an upgrade from Saturday’s P21 finish.
“Definitely a really interesting start,” DaCosta said. “To be honest I expected it to be a little more calm. I fell back a couple positions there the first couple laps, and to be honest, I was okay with it, because this is one of those tracks where I’m not really sure you want to lead for the whole race, which I was pretty surprised that Jeremy [Fletcher] made that work really well. That kind of changed my mindset toward the end of the race.”
The top five was completed by a pair of rookie teammates: Matt Novak (No. 11 Advanced Autosports) in fourth and Cam Ebben (No. 55 Advanced Autosports) a career-best fifth place.
