2019 Round of Los Angeles

The 2019 Round of Los Angeles was the second race of the 2019 TM Master Cup season, held at the Maxwell Center.

Tom Moore took home his first win for Volpi Racing Team with Leonid Roderick calling race strategy, scoring a Perfect 70 points.

Watch
f4vHoAPW9Hg

Oh, so close: Matthews logs best career TMMC run
Most drivers would be content with a second-place finish in their second full-time Master Cup start in seven years. But for Ryan Matthews, it was more of a missed opportunity than a blessing.

"Damn, were we close," Matthews said. "I think if we had a few more laps we might have gotten back to Tom (Moore) and had a chance at him. But to be this close this quickly tells me how hard we've been working on our Master Cup program and it's bearing results.

"But boy, did I have a blast out there dicing it up with the pointy end of the field. Hope to do more of it as the season wears on."

Matthews didn't have a chance to get back to Moore during the scheduled race distance, in large part due to being held up by what was probably the most entertaining battle on the track: the fight between Lynxe Racing drivers Liv Eklund and Ingrid Haddeland. And he wasn't too thrilled with having a front-row seat for it as long as he did.

"I'm gonna have to have a word with both those Lynxe ladies," Matthews said. "I'm perfectly fine with them dicing it up for position the way they did. It was fun to watch. But they've gotta know who's around them. I'm not sure if they were listening to their spotters or not, but they had to know I was back there trying to race for the win."

And while he was booed lustily by the partisan Los Angeles crowd all throughout the race, Matthews said it didn't bother him. "It's motivational fuel," he said. "I'm used to it. Every time I raced (Tom) Delgado in New York I got booed. Doesn't matter to me."

Tom Moore Finally Wins First Race, in Dominant Fashion
While running for the IT, Tom Moore had two podiums and a few other grasps at victory lane. However, since those two seasons, Moore has not had been on the podium. Moore finally entered the Winner's Circle today at Los Angeles in front of friends and family from a couple states north. After getting out of the car, Moore immediately shook each of his crew's and engineers' hands and looked around for the person he credits more than anyone for winning, Leonid Roderick. "Leonid was one of my racing heroes growing up. He has taught me so much about racing, staying mentally focused, and remaining calm in just my short time with the team." Moore sat on the pole, also for the first time in his career in the TMMC, and ran in the top 4 the entire race. "For a good majority of the race, the car was on rails. I give all the credit in the world to my crew for that. It was a rocket." In the last stent of the race, Moore was able to hold off veteran Ryan Matthews, Saul Fischel, and avoid incidents with some very aggressive lapped cars. "Ryan Matthews is a great competitor who almost always races you cleanly. Saul is really young, but you would never know it based on how intelligently he drives. It was a ton of fun racing those guys in a clean, fun manner today. I am beyond happy to finally win a race in this series after getting so close a few years back." Moore now holds the points lead two races into this young season. Regarding that, he stated, "It's a really young season and there's way too many races to go to look much into that, but it's a great feeling. I can still hardly believe it when I see it on the points grid." Moore goes to one of his favorite tracks next, Carbondale.

Malone's Master Cup Debut a Major Disappointment
FARC Lowe Dollar Series regular Mike "Knuckles" Malone was looking forward to the Round of Los Angeles as a homecoming; he has not competed in the L.A. area, where he lives and opened his first Knuckles' Sandwiches restaurant, since 2014. Malone managed to secure a Promoter's Option for the race and a Saar Talon, which he prepared out of his shop in the City of Industry, otherwise unused after he signed with KAT Motorsports in FARC.

Malone qualified a strong 15th for his TM Master Cup debut, but the 200 laps that followed proved to be a major disappointment; while he avoided any incidents on track, Malone remained completely anonymous as he slid all the way down the running order to finish in 41st. In a post-race Periscope stream, he explained:

"I gave it my all in the driver's seat, but outside of that we just weren't ready for the big time. We had a good qualifying setup, but couldn't get it to turn during the race, and lost a bunch of time on our pit stop as well. I'm proud of the boys on my crew who have supported me since I was in street stocks, but these Master Cup teams have got world class athletes on their pit crews, top minds calling strategy and setups, and we just couldn't keep up."

"I'm just a humble guy who got lucky with my weekend hobby," referring to his first Lowe Dollar Series victory in 2018 at the ABQ Speedbowl. "We've done a lot with a little, and we got lucky again this weekend. It's cool that I can say I started a Master Cup race, I just wish I was able to show what I can really do on a short track."

Malone had previously expressed interest in also attempting to secure a Promoter's Option for the Round of Santa Clara, but it is unclear if the Golden State Motorsports Park would now grant him one after his disappointing speed at the Maxwell Center. Regardless, the #05 Knuckles' Sandwiches Saar may still make further appearances for the Round of Indianapolis and the season finale. For the time being, Mike Malone will turn his full attention back towards competing for the FARC championship.