Birmingham, AL (July 17-19) —Round 5 of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series came to Barber Motorsports Park, a new venue for the series, and Jenkins Brothers Racing was there for another weekend of close racing. After a challenging weekend in New Jersey for Round 4 of the cup series, Mike and Mark Jenkins and the Jenkins Brothers Racing/Traxxas/BF Goodrich/Simpson/Amsoil/Mazda MX-5 Cup team eagerly anticipated resuming their charge in the Drivers Championship.
 
Full of momentum, the Jenkins Brothers Racing/Traxxas/BF Goodrich/Simpson/Amsoil/Mazda MX-5 Cup team of Mike and Mark Jenkins made a brief stop for Round 5 of the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series at the beautiful Barber Motorsports Park.  With a challenging weekend at New Jersey out of the way, Mike and Mark looked poised to continue their charge in the Drivers Championship.
 
Barber Motorsports Park (BMP), a 2.38- mile,  17- turn road course, was is a new venue for the Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup series.   , tThe lush green,  grassy landscapes and eighty80 feet of elevation create a country club type feel.   The opening practice session saw some damp conditions that intensified the challenge of learning a new track with so many blind corners.  Several of the other competitors had raced at BMP before,  and their experienceit showed in the first few sessions. When “Official” pPractice was over,  Mike Jenkins sat a modestwas positioned 12th twelfth and with brother Mark right behind him in 13ththirteenth as qualifying began..
 
Qualifying proved to be In typical MX-5 Cup fashion, qualifying saw  with a really closely packedthe field closely packed.   Mike, Mark and fellow MER teammate Christopher Rhoades worked together to navigate the cooler  thaen- normalthe  track conditions, which was cooler than normal.  Only a few minutes into the session, the trio were had taken over the third, fourth and fifth positionssitting third, fourth, and fifth 3rd, 4th and 5th.  As the session continued,ran on Mark was able to maintained retained an eighth 8th qualifying position, only just 0.5 seconds off the pace of current the MX-5 Cup point leader Marc Miller, who qualified second.2nd.   Mike ran some very competitive laps and managed a fourteenth 14th qualifying position, but he was onlya scant 0.4 seconds off of Mark’s pace.    and Lless thean one second covered the split between second 2nd and 14thfourteenth, confirming once again just how closely matched the cars and competitors are in MX-5 Cup racing...   
 
The race was scheduled right in the middle of the day on Sunday in some uA nearly cloudless sky and balmy 80-degree temperatures, considered cool weather by seasonal standards, greeted the drivers for Sunday’s race. nseasonably cool weather.  Still a balmy eighty-one degrees, there was barely a cloud in the sky when the green flag dropped.As the green flag turned the drivers loose,   tThe field funneled in to a single- file freight train without any as no competitor wanting to give an inchwas willing to concede a millimeter.   During his ascent among the competition, Mark set his sights on a Top 5 finish and calculated the use of a draft benefit from Lyonel Kent to help close the gap on fellow MER teammate Zach Ply. This drafting strategy was thwarted when Kent miscalculated Turn 10 and went four wheels off track. While managing a setup that progressively tightened during the race, Mark was making ground on Ply but had to settle for a sixth-place finish as the checkered flag fell. “Barber is a very demanding track with short straights and long corners that require a lot of patience” commented Mark. “The car was tighter than I prefer but it was very predictable during the close racing that defines MX-5 Cup.” The finish moved Mark up to a tie for Fourth in the Drivers Points Championship.
 
An intense battle quickly emergedimmerged between Mark and Lyonel Kent where the two passed and repassed each other several times throughout the race.  In the end, Mark and MER teammate Jeff Mosing worked together to win the battle against Lyonel and Mark finished the race in sixth 6th place.  “Barber is a very demanding track with short straights and long corners -- it really pushes a driver to stay focused” commented a gratified Mark, “The racing was really close today and when push came to shove, Jeff had my back and we were able to stay in front of the ferocious battle.”  The finish moved Mark up to a tie for Fourth in the Drivers Points Championship.
 
Mike had a very challenging race of his own. Struggling with a moderate understeer left and an oversteer right. , Mike quickly went into a conservative mode as he tried to manage his tires. “Every lap I would come into the tight left hairpin turn five and find myself slowing the car more, yet it still managed to understeer enough to limit my speed off of the corner” said a slightly frustrated Mike Jenkins. “We were trying a lot of different things on the car this weekend, and every time it seemed like we had made an improvement, the car would feel completely different in the next session. The problem was later found to be a bad camber/ toe eccentric on the left rear of the car. Stretched, it had loosened and removed left rear camber as well as added toe-OUT!” Mike was able to gain two spots on the opening lap, but saw very little opportunity from there on. After the long race, Mike finished twelfth in the standings.

For more info, visit MX-5 Cup website.