BRASELTON, Ga. (May 3, 2008) 聙聯 Polesitter Eric Foss, of Fort Worth, Texas, won the first SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup race of 2008, part of the Classic Motorsports Mitty at Road Atlanta. Hooverspeed teammates Todd Buras, of Melbourne, Fla., and Brad Rampelberg, of San Jose, Calif., completed the podium.Car setup became a guessing game at Road Atlanta, after rain blanketed the 12-turn, 2.54-mile road course during the lunch hour. The shower ceased just as the group before the MX-5 Cup race took to the track and the teams watched on as a dry racing line began to form.Last minute decisions meant several cars were late to the pre-grid and the No. 70 GRE/Velocity-club.com/Red Line Oil/SCDA1 Mazda MX-5 of Elivan Goulart, from Shelton, Conn., opted to change from wet to dry tires while waiting on the grid, forcing the third-place qualifier to start from the back of the field.At the drop of the green, the No. 56 Hooverspeed/Pancreaticcure.org/Pancan.org Mazda MX-5 of Buras got a great start, taking over the early lead.聙聹It聙聶s notoriously slick at Road Atlanta in the rain,聙聺 Buras said. 聙聹We knew that, so we softened the car up. We made the right adjustments, because the car was great. At Turn One I was in second and by 10A and B I was first.聙聺The first lap was the only lap Buras would lead though, as polesitter Foss motored back into the lead. Two laps later, Foss聙聶 MER teammate and fellow front-row starter Ryan Schimsk, of Austin, Texas, took over the lead in the No. 81 Team MER/Airco Mechanical Mazda MX-5. From there, the top four: Schimsk, Foss, Buras and Rampelberg, settled into a tight, but comfortable pack and broke away from the field. When Schimsk bobbled on lap 15 of the 23-lap, 58.42-mile race, Foss seized the lead. Schmisk held onto Foss聙聶 bumper for several laps before falling back through the field.Just as Foss began to pull a gap on second and third place, the full-course caution came out for the No. 32 Hale Motorsports/Patron Tequila Mazda MX-5 of Ian Ziering, which was in the tires at Turn Three. Without enough time to clean up the corner, the race, which averaged 80.732 mph, ended under yellow. Following the pace car across the start-finish line didn聙聶t take away any of Foss聙聶 excitement for his first MX-5 Cup win. 聙聹I聙聶m elated,聙聺 Foss said. 聙聹I聙聶ve got to thank everyone: Team MER, Autobarn and Brook Co. It was a great race. Ryan is an amazing teammate and we really worked well together. I was bummed that he had a little miscue that set him back. In my mind he was the guy to beat today. 聙聹We guessed on the setup like I think all the teams did, because we didn聙聶t know what the conditions were going to be. We just happened to hit on a decent setup, but I would say it was optimal. Everyone was fighting the same issue. I got a little break toward the end with about three laps before the yellow. Maybe my home track experience helped me out, because I noticed I was able to pull on everyone in Turn One to Turn Seven, and I was finally able to break the draft and get away progressively.聙聺Despite some serious nose-to-tail racing with his teammate, Rampelberg, Buras was able to bring his car home in second. 聙聹It was a great race,聙聺 Buras said. 聙聹Everyone ran really clean and did a good job. Brad was fantastic. I slipped up once or twice and he got up there on my bumper instead of trying to go around. You couldn聙聶t ask for a better teammate than Brad, I mean, he聙聶s a National Championship driver. I think we聙聶re going to be a force to be reckoned with.聙聹I was really hoping we were going to go back to green, because I had my teammate behind me and we could have drafted down the back straightaway. Unfortunately, that didn聙聶t happen, but you can聙聶t knock the result.聙聹We聙聶ve got a new sponsor, Pancreaticure.com, and we聙聶ve got a great contest going: guess how many points the No. 56 car will have at the end of the season and you could win a two-day Skip Barber school. We聙聶re trying to raise awareness for pancreatic cancer, so visit us at researchracing.com.聙聺In his first MX-5 Cup race, SCCA Spec Miata National Champion and winner of the Mazdaspeed Driver Development Ladder MX-5 Cup shootout, Rampelberg finished third in the No. 14 Hooverspeed Mazda MX-5.聙聹We made the call to put dry tires on and obviously that was the right call,聙聺 Rampelberg said. 聙聹I slotted into fourth on the start. Then we had two MER cars followed by two Hooverspeed cars. At that point, it was just a waiting game to see who was going to fall off, who put the biggest wet setup on. Schimsk ran well, but then I think his tires got away from him. The Kumhos on my car worked great. At the end I thought I had something for Eric and Todd, but that just didn聙聶t happen.聙聹Getting on the podium is awesome anytime you do it, but especially being a shootout winner. Mazda has given me a great opportunity and I really want to do a good job for them this year as well as Jason Hoover from Hooverspeed, and P3 is a great place to start.聙聺Although he led an impressive 10 laps in his first-ever MX-5 Cup race, Schimsk would finish fourth. Also competing in his first MX-5 Cup race, seventeen-year-old Christian Franck, of Simi Valley, Calif., finished fifth in the No. 16 Alara Racing/Select Painting/ICC/CC7 Mazda MX-5.Following a race-long battle, Anders Hainer beat out last year聙聶s winner Ara Malkhassian for sixth place.SCCA Touring Three National Champion Robert Huffmaster, of Clarkston, Mich., finished seventh and earned the Hawk Hot Lap for turning a new race lap record of 1:40.707 (90.798 mph) in the No. 27 Team MER/Huffmaster Co. Mazda MX-5.Brad McAllister and Neal Sapp completed the top ten.Round Two of the SCCA Pro Racing Playboy Mazda MX-5 Cup moves north of the border to Mosport International Raceway, May 16 聙聯 18. News, photos, live timing and lap notes are all available at .