Courtesy of Mazda Motorsports: Survival was the name of the game for Round Nine of the Battery Tender Global Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich at Portland International Raceway on Saturday. Luke Oxner (No. 77 White Racing), driving for the two-car White Racing team, wisely navigated through two incidents in Turn One to take his first Mazda MX-5 Cup win ahead of leading rookie racer Selin Rollan, who finished second as Robert Stout crossed the finish line in third.
Starting from second, Oxner was initially concerned that he had a poor start that would rob him of his shot at a podium finish. As it turns out, it may have put him in exactly the right spot to avoid a multi-car collision in Turn One.
“Well right off the green flag, it was just so frustrating because I lost four spots right at the start,” Oxner said. “Then there was just some kind of chaos going on, people getting antsy and I managed to dodge them all.”