LA Honda World Racing Takes TCA Victory at Road America

To borrow a line from the old ABC Wide World of Sports TV program, the LA Honda World Racing’s (LAHWR) team enjoyed the thrill of victory this past weekend at the TC America Powered by Skip Barber event at Road America in Central Wisconsin.

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Driving the No. 5 LAHWR Honda Civic Si FE1 in the TCA class, Spencer Bucknum enjoyed one of the best weekends ever in his tenure with LAHWR.

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Not only did he earn the pole position (2:35.234 around the 4.048-mile, 14-turn permanent road course) for Race 1 on Saturday, Bucknum dominated the race and ultimately took the win, capturing the checkered flag by more than a half-second over the runner-up.

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“Very happy to be able to grab another win for the team,” Bucknum said while celebrating his Race 1 triumph. “The race was anything but smooth with lots of incidents the entire race.

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“However, we were able to stay clean and battle for the lead and was able to hold onto it until the end. Huge thank you to everyone at L.A. Honda World and HPD (Honda Performance Development) for the hard work. I’m excited to try and back it up tomorrow!”

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But that’s not all. Bucknum then nearly pulled off the weekend sweep by finishing second in Race 2 on Sunday, just missing back-to-back wins by a quarter-second.

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Driving the No. 73 Honda Civic Type-R TCX, Mat Pombo was the quickest driver of any on the track during Saturday morning qualifying with a pole-earning time of 2:22.709.

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It appeared both Pombo and Bucknum would go on to victory in Race 1. Unfortunately, Pombo never got past the opening lap.

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Exiting Turn 4 while in the lead, Pombo was struck from behind and became wrapped up in a spinning three-car crash, knocking him out of the race and finishing with a 10th-place showing in the TCX class’s 12-car field. Mat missed Race 2 on Sunday.

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“I qualified on pole (Saturday) for the race and was really looking forward to it. Got dive bombed into turn 1 on the start that I had to avoid a wreck on, then driving down the Sargento Straight, I got hooked and went for a wild ride," said Pombo. "Thanks to LA Honda World for the rocket ship, JAS Motorsport and Honda Racing/HPD as it was fun to get back behind the FK7 in a tuned down version. Wish it had gone better. On to VIR next weekend for Round 7 of IMSA TCR Michelin Pilot Challenge."

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Following the upcoming month-long hiatus, four more TC America races remain on the schedule: Rounds 11 and 12 at Sebring International Speedway in Florida on September 22-24, followed by the season finale of Rounds 13 and 14 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on October 5-8.

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