McCumbee McAleer Racing’s No. 23 Justin Adakonis scored his first career Mazda MX-5 Cup victory after fending off the No. 96 Jared Thomas of JTR Motorsports Engineering in a good old-fashioned street fight in St. Pete for Round 4.

No. 44 Bobby Gossett of BSI Racing took the early Lap 1 lead in the race, coming around the outside of Adakonis and Thomas at Turn 1, putting himself in a favorable position to capture back-to-back wins.

Shortly following the move, No. 22 Jeremy Fletcher of McCumbee McAleer Racing and No. 11 Matt Novak of Advanced Autosports were collected coming out of Turns 2 and 3, resulting in the first FCY of the race, which lasted 15 minutes.

Fortunately, both drivers walked away from their wrecked race cars after the hard hit.

Once the green flag dropped around the 30-minute mark, the battle began to heat up as Adakonis and Thomas overtook Gossett to fight for the lead.

Both drivers traded places numerous times during this portion of the race, with each diving down on the other to gain the upper hand.

During that battle, No. 31 Ethan Lampe of Advanced Autosports overtook Gossett for third and carried the position onto the main straight. Gossett stayed on Lampe’s tail, but a scuff against the wall held him back slightly.

The top four pulled away, with the battles for first and third intensifying with under 10 minutes to go.

No. 69 Glenn McGee of JTR Motorsports Engineering brought out the second FCY of the race, which led to a tense final shootout. However, the shootout only lasted a few moments once the green flag dropped, as No. 99 Ethan Jacobs of JDH Racing punctured a tire and stopped at Turns 2 and 3, resulting in a race-ending FCY and taking away Thomas’ chance to score the win after giving Adakonis all he can handle on the final green flag run.

Ethan Lampe provisionally grabbed third, however a post-race technical infraction due to a camber violation resulted in Bobby Gossett inheriting 3rd place due to Lampe’s penalty.

As for the guest drivers for the weekend, Earl Bamber would finish just outside the podium with a super strong 4th place effort, while Sebastien Bourdais collected a Top 10 finish to close the weekend.

Due to Bourdais & Bamber’s efforts charity efforts through this race, the duo was able to help donate over $300,000 dollars to John Hopkins All-Children’s Hospital.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Adakonis said following the win. “Definitely very emotional. Got all my family here watching, so it’s amazing, you know, I can’t really describe the feeling. It’s just so relieving to finally get it done after such a long time in the series, or I guess over a year in the series. So just so proud of these guys, MMR, they gave me a great car. They believed in me all year, so I am just excited for the rest of the year. You know, I keep digging, keep working, but I think it’s a sign for things to come.”

“We were really good in the long run,” Thomas said following a 2nd place finish. “This place is tough on equipment, can be hard on tires and brakes, so I laid back there for a few minutes. Got the brakes cooled off and went back at them.  Had some cautions and then we dueled it out. Great drive by Justin, well deserved. Happy to get a second place.”

As for if Thomas’ was frustrated regarding the FCY at the end, he stated “not too much. I’ve been on both sides of the coin when it comes to that.  You take what they give you and you move on.”

Bobby Gossett now comes out of St. Pete as the championship leader with 970 points, a 20-pt advantage over Jared Thomas with 950, and prior championship leader, Justin Adakonis, with 910.

The Mazda MX-5 Cup now gets an extensive race break, with the series returning to action at Mid-Ohio in early June. Until then, the series will head to Indy for a sanctioned test before returning to action.