SONOMA, Calif. — Helio Meza has done it again.
The 18-year-old driver from Spring, Texas put his No. 28 Alessandros Racing / SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro back in victory lane in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, dominating Saturday’s 40-lap event at Sonoma Raceway.
In what has been a season of domination, Meza remains undefeated in the series, taking home the first three victories of the year – at Sebring, Road Atlanta, and Sonoma – and after winning the season-finale last November at Circuit of The Americas, the Chevrolet development driver is a four-time CUBE 3 TA2 Series winner in four starts.
“It feels really good. Man, I don’t even know what to say, this team provides for me day in and day out, every weekend, and it goes all to their work ethic, they work so hard and we’re always super late working on the cars,” Meza said. “Even when we’re fast we’re always trying to be better and we know that everyone else is trying to catch up, so we can’t get complacent. We’re working hard and obviously it shows, 1-2-3 for SLR, and Lanie [Buice] won the West [Coast TA2 event], as well, so congrats to her.”
Throughout the 40-lap contest, Meza appeared to have a bubble against his teammates, Alon Day and Connor Mosack, who appeared to be his biggest challengers throughout the afternoon – although neither could get closer than a second-and-a-half.
Day finished in the runner-up position, with Connor Mosack, making his second of select appearances in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series this season, finishing third. Sam Corry was fourth, with Adrian Wlostowski holding off Buice for a top five position.
“There’s a lot of people who made this possible, I’m just the guy who pushes the pedals and turns the wheel left and right. So, all the credit goes to everyone around me.”
There was no sign of a struggle for Lanie Buice on Saturday when it came to capturing the victory in the TA2 West Coast Championship. Driving for Team SLR, Buice put her No. 27 Sunoco / Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet Camaro sixth overall in the event, which was good enough to be first in class.
Buice and Team SLR made the decision to register the No. 27 for the West Coast Championship this season for a couple of reasons; one, because sponsors wanted Buice competing at Laguna Seca, and two, because it was a championship that the driver-team combo felt they could win.
“It was a lot of fun. I cannot thank Team SLR enough, and Chevrolet for the opportunity to be out here and everybody just gave me a really good car this weekend, and I’m super grateful,” Buice said post-race. “Congrats to my teammates on the top three, it’s really cool to see, and I’m just super proud to be part of this group.”
Michael LaPaglia finished second in the West Coast Championship Class, and 14th-place overall – eight positions and 44 seconds behind Buice. Kyle Kelley (15th overall) was third in-class, with Graham Jacobson (18th overall) and Cole Moore (19th overall) rounding out the top five in-class.
Jared Odrick showed the field exactly why he’s the defending champion of the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series PRO/AM Division on Saturday, putting on a dominant performance at Sonoma Raceway to win for the second time this season.
Odrick (No. 00 Black Underwear / Helium Mobile Chevrolet Camaro) finished an impressive 11th-place overall, ahead of some heavy-hitters in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, like Tanner Reif and Noah Harmon, teammates for Silver Hare Racing, who finished just behind him in 12th and 13th.
“It was a great run,” said Odrick. “I couldn’t have done it without this guy, Troy, and TRD, and Jared, my crew chief, it was awesome. We raced really hard, we raced really good, and we’re going to get better next race.”
