Meza remains undefeated in CUBE 3 TA2 Series with win at Sonoma

Helio Meza has done it again.

The 18-year-old driver from Spring, Texas put his No. 28 Alessandros Racing/SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro back in Victory Lane in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series, dominating Saturday’s 40-lap event at Sonoma Raceway.

In what has been a season of total domination, Meza remains undefeated in the series, taking home the first three victories of the year at Sebring, Road Atlanta, and Sonoma. After winning the season finale last November at Circuit of The Americas (COTA), the Chevrolet development driver is a four-time CUBE 3 TA2 Series winner in four starts.

“It feels really good. Man, I don’t even know what to say, this team provides for me day in and day out, every weekend, and it goes all to their work ethic, they work so hard and we’re always super late working on the cars,” Meza said. “Even when we’re fast we’re always trying to be better and we know that everyone else is trying to catch up, so we can’t get complacent. We’re working hard and obviously it shows, 1-2-3 for SLR, and Lanie [Buice] won the West [Coast TA2 event] as well, so congrats to her.”

Throughout the 40-lap contest, Meza appeared to have a bubble against his teammates Alon Day and Connor Mosack, who appeared to be his biggest challengers throughout the afternoon, though neither could get closer than a second and a half.

Day finished in the runner-up position, with Connor Mosack finishing third in his second appearance in the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series this season. Sam Corry was fourth, while Adrian Wlostowski held off Lanie Buice to round out the top five.

CUBE 3 TA2 Series Race Results:

#28 Helio Meza – Alessandros Racing / SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro

#17 Alon Day – JJSI / SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro

#48 Connor Mosack – Friends of Jaclyn / Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet Camaro

#70 Sam Corry – Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry

#3 Adrian Wlostowski – CMI / Spot-On Services Ford Mustang

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TA2 West Coast

There was no sign of a struggle for Lanie Buice on Saturday when it came to capturing the victory in the TA2 West Coast Championship. Driving for Team SLR, Buice put her No. 27 Sunoco/Guthrie’s Garage Chevrolet Camaro sixth overall in the event, which was good enough to be first in class.

Buice and Team SLR made the decision to register the No. 27 for the West Coast Championship this season for a couple of reasons; one, because sponsors wanted Buice competing at Laguna Seca, and two, because it was a championship that the driver-team combo felt they could win.

“It was a lot of fun. I cannot thank Team SLR enough, and Chevrolet for the opportunity to be out here and everybody just gave me a really good car this weekend, and I’m super grateful,” Buice said post-race. “Congrats to my teammates on the top three, it’s really cool to see, and I’m just super proud to be part of this group.”

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for Buice, though. On the first lap of the race, the carbon fiber door flew off the side of the No. 27 and laid on the racetrack for the entire race. That debris didn’t draw a caution, as it was off the racing line, and didn’t seem to impact the Jackson, Georgia native’s race.

“Yeah, the door, I don’t really know what happened there,” Buice continued. “They were asking me, they were really hoping that someone had hit it, but it really just fell off, but it’s fine, I didn’t really need it anyways.”

Michael LaPaglia finished second in the West Coast Championship Class, and 14th-place overall – eight positions and 44 seconds behind Buice. Kyle Kelley (15th overall) was third in-class, with Graham Jacobson (18th overall) and Cole Moore (19th overall) rounding out the top five in-class.

CUBE 3 TA2 Series West Coast Championship Race Results:

#27 Lanie Buice – Sunoco / Guthrie’s Garage / SLR-M1 Chevrolet Camaro

#31 Michael LaPaglia – Papini’s Garage / North County Sand Ford Mustang

#80 Kyle Kelley – UPRacing.com / PK&K Properties Ford Mustang

#19 Graham Jacobson – Hertz Car Sales Chevrolet Camaro

#199 Cole Moore – JM Racing / Moore Motorsport Ford Mustang

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PRO/AM

Jared Odrick showed the field exactly why he’s the defending champion of the CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series PRO/AM Division on Saturday, putting on a dominant performance at Sonoma Raceway to win for the second time this season.

Odrick (No. 00 Black Underwear/Helium Mobile Chevrolet Camaro) finished an impressive 11th place overall, ahead of some heavy hitters in the series like Silver Hare Racing teammates Tanner Reif and Noah Harmon, who finished just behind him in 12th and 13th.

“It was a great run,” said Odrick. “I couldn’t have done it without this guy, Troy, and TRD, and Jared, my crew chief, it was awesome. We raced really hard, we raced really good, and we’re going to get better next race.”

Odrick was the only driver in the PRO/AM field who didn’t run into some kind of trouble throughout Saturday’s first leg of the Sonoma doubleheader, with Christian Lam, the class’s second-place finisher, getting into the tire barriers, and both Cale Phillips and Doug Winston running into mechanical issues throughout the event.

Cube 3 TA2 Series PRO/AM Race Results:

#00 Jared Odrick – Black Underwear / Helium Mobile Chevrolet Camaro

#66 Christina Lam – Helium Mobile / CDR Chevrolet Camaro

#64 Matt Gray – Ryan Companies Ford Mustang

#99 Cale Phillips – Nitro Motorsports Toyota Camry

#98 Doug Winston – TradeMentor.org / D&M Electrical

The CUBE 3 Architecture TA2 Series will compete again on Sunday, April 26 at 2:10 PM Local Time and 5:10 PM ET. Coverage of the event will be on RacingAmerica.TV, the Racing America 24/7 Channel, and the Trans Am Series YouTube Channel. The Racing America 24/7 Streaming Channel is available on The Roku Channel, Prime Video, My Free DirecTV, LG Channels, and PLEX. REVTV will serve as the official broadcast partner of Trans Am in Canada.