Five out of Seven Possible Wins for Cumming
Racing on their home soil for the first time in 2008, World Speed Motorsports all-Canadian lineup of Taylor Hacquard and Chris Cumming both responded with solid races at Trois-Rivieres, with Hacquard recording a top-ten finish while Cumming would capture his fifth Expert Class victory of the season in Round Seven of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear.
Bouncing back from a rough qualifying session that saw him contact the wall at the exit of the famed arch corner, Hacquard was a man on a mission in the race, slicing through the field in his #15 Wolfe Auto Group World Speed Motorsports Mazda after lining up sixteenth on the grid.
“We completely changed our set-up for today’s race and I changed my driving style a bit and it seemed to work well,” stated Vancouver, BC resident Hacquard. “We used the race as a bit of a test session but I was also careful to keep my nose clean. I was definitely catching the ninth place car at the end and if we’d had a couple of more laps I might have had a shot at him. It was a great team effort at the end of the day and there’s no doubt if we’d started the weekend off with what we had today then we’d have been a lot faster but it’s all part of the learning experience for me. It’s been a great experience competing at Trois Rivieres and I had a lot of fun racing today.”
“Taylor is doing a great job,” said World Speed Team Owner Telo Stewart. “He is improving his track knowledge and stretching his limits in preparation for his sophomore season. His goal is to stay in the top ten in the championship and he is right on target.” World Speed Motorsports Star Mazda champions Scott Bradley and Ace Carrio both won the championship in their second season following a similar plan.
Cumming’s qualifying and race was the mirror image of Hacquard. After turning in a blistering qualifying session to post the sixth fastest time, his best starting position in Star Mazda competition, Cumming found himself struggling early in the 40-lap event before regrouping in time to enable another visit to the podium.
“At the start there I was racing to the back unfortunately,” Cumming would explain. “I got distracted and lost my focus for those opening laps and it took a while to get back into the flow of the race. The World Speed crew worked hard all weekend and again I have to thank them for getting me onto the podium.”
With their return to form Hacquard climbs into ninth in the points standings with five races remaining while Cumming lurks just outside the top-ten in eleventh place overall and with a commanding 22-point lead in the Expert Championship as the series travels towards Toronto, Canada for the Grand Prix of Mosport in one weeks time at Mosport International Raceway.