Estimated read time: 4-5 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
TOOELE VALLEY — In last year's edition of the Utah Grand Prix, then-15-year-old Madison Snow of Pleasant Grove turned Miller Motorsports Park on its ear by winning two races in the IMSA GT3 Cup Challenge by Yokohama's Gold class. The series, which races Porsche 911 GT3 Cup cars in two classes (Platinum for newer cars, Gold for older) had never had such a young winner.
This year, at the seasoned-veteran age of 16, Snow moved up to the Platinum class, where the competition is tougher and the competitors more experienced. Despite the added difficulty, though, the results were the same in this year's Utah Grand Prix.
After winning overall in Saturday's first of two weekend races for the series, the youngster did it again on Sunday, taking the lead on the first lap and leading all the way to the checkered flag in his No. 62 Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports entry, posting a .510sec margin of victory over the No. 10 Wright Motorsports entry of stablemate Sean Johnston. The top three were the same as yesterday, with D. Bryce Miller completing the podium in his No. 35 GMG Racing entry.
However, Snow's storybook tale wasn't quite as remarkable today as yesterday. In Saturday's race, Madison's mother Melanie won the Gold class, marking the first time in memory that a mother-and-son team had won their respective classes in a professional automobile race. On Sunday, Melanie had to settle for second in class in her No. 56 Snow Racing/Wright Motorsports entry, finishing 4.65sec in arrears of today's Gold class winner, Angel Benitez Jr., in the No. 05 Ansa Motorsports entry. Fred Poordad rounded out the podium with third in class. The other local driver in the race, 19-year-old Sloan Urry of Park City, finished fifth overall in his Platinum-class No. 20 TruSpeed Motorsports entry.
The Touring Car and B-Spec classes of the SCCA Pirelli World Challenge Championship held the last of their three weekend races this morning on the 2.18-mile West Course, and it was a thriller from start to finish. Tristan Herbert claimed the overall and Touring Car class win in his No. 33 Brimtek Volkswagen Jetta GLI, completing a last-lap pass of Todd Lamb's National Karting News Honda Civic Si and posting a 4.360sec margin of victory. Ryan Winchester took third in his No. 72 Ligon Industries Honda Civic Si.
In the B-Spec class the battle was just as intense, with Sage Marie emerging victorious in his No. 45 HPD Honda Fit over teammate Conner Ford (No. 93), and Craig Capaldi taking third in his No. 86 Capaldi Racing Ford Fiesta. Dan McKeever of Grantsville ran in the top four early in the No. 09 Miller Racing Ford Fiesta, filling in for Braden Miller, who drove the car in Saturday's two races. However, a mechanical issue with the shifter caused him to drop back temporarily. He finished seventh in class.
The IMSA Cooper Tires Prototype Lites Championship ran two races today. Sixteen-year-old Tristan Nunez led early in the first race, but his No. 16 Performance Tech entry lost power midrace, handing the lead and eventual win to Mikhail Goikhberg (No. 10 JDC Motorsports). Goikhberg took the checkered flag 0.598sec ahead of Charlie Shears (No. 21 Comprent Motorsports), with Jon Brownson (No. 34 Eurosport Racing) taking third. Nunez' fortunes turned around in the second race, and he cruised to a 28.554sec margin of victory over Goikhberg, with Ritchie Holt (No. 29 Performance Tech) completing the podium
Tooele's Ian Lacey made it a clean sweep of the weekend in the Pacific F2000 Championship, winning two races on two days on two different track configurations. After winning on Saturday on the 2.18-mile West Course, he posted a second win on Sunday on the 3.048-mile Outer Course, bringing his No. 12 DFR Racing Van Diemen RF-01 home 2.248sec clear of Bobby Kelley (No. 21 DFR Racing Van Diemen), who also repeated his Saturday result. Camren Kaminsky (No. 34 PR1 Motorsports Van Diemen) finished third, another 20 seconds behind.
In the final race of the weekend, Jim Walsh went one better in the second Pirelli GT3 Cup Trophy USA West race than he did Saturday, taking the win in his No. 96 Red Dog Racing entry by a very close 0.228sec over Steve Miller's No. 7 Racers Group entry. Doug Baron completed the podium, more than 17 seconds behind. Loren Beggs (No. 03 911 Designs) won the Gold class and Mark Brouse (No. 59 Air Power Racing) again won the Silver class.
The next major event at Miller Motorsports Park will be The BigM Weekend over Memorial Day weekend, May 26-28. The FIM Superbike World Championship will return as the headlining series, once again making their only appearance in the Western Hemisphere. As was the case last year, support races will be provided by AMA Pro Road Racing, with the National Guard American SuperBike Championship, the GoPro Daytona SportBike Championship, the Motorcycle- Superstore.com SuperSport Championship and the Vance & Hines XR1200 Championship, as well as the second annual DRIFT BigM Superbike Super Celebrity Mega Kart Showdown, on the schedule. There will also be live music throughout the weekend and a major tribute to our armed forces in recognition of Memorial Day.
To obtain tickets for or information about The BigM Weekend, or for information regarding Miller Motorsports Park, call 435-277-RACE (7223) or visit the track's website at www.MillerMotorsportsPark.com.
