Downey finishes eighth in SPEED World Challenge
MONTEREY — In front of friends and family, Graham Downey made quite an impression in his debut at Laguna Seca’s Mazda Raceway Sunday, finishing eighth in the SPEED World Challenge race.
After picking up five positions, Downey, who moved to Morgan Hill from San Jose six months ago, received the Hard Charger award.
“I thought when I first came here I’d be lucky to even finish a race,” he said. “What a way to end the year.”
Despite living less than an hour away, the closest he has come to racing at Laguna Seca was three years ago during a track day.
Downey held the seventh spot for a couple of laps toward the end, but championship leader Jason Saini passed him on the last lap.
“Coming into turn 11, I braked and he took the inside line,” Downey said. “For my first race, I didn’t want to get involved in the championship race so I gave up the spot.”
Downey’s car suffered minor damage to the side during the race when he brushed against another car.
“It got hit by a couple of the Mazdas,” he said. “There was good battle going between the Accuras and Mazdas for the manufacture’s championship. so I thought I’d help Accura out and get in there and split them up.”
Previously, Downey raced in the NASA Honda Challenge. He won the 2008 and 2009 championships. And he’s been a regular at Infineon Raceway — his favorite track — for several years.
“I had a lot of success in NASA,” he said. “So I thought I’d give it a chance here and see what I could do here.”
He plans on racing in a 25-hour endurance race in December with his dad and brother. Downy did it last year for the first time. But the race got shortened because of fog.
MIXED MARTIAL ARTS
Sobrato senior wins first-ever tourney
Randy Pinkston, a former prep tennis standout and 2008 Times Athlete of the Year, is making headway in a sport he picked up less than a year ago.
The Sobrato High senior won the middleweight championship at a Sept. 27 mixed martial arts event in Fremont that featured 150 competitors. It was the first tournament Pinkston, 17, has entered.
“I had trust in my training, so I wasn’t nervous,” said Pinkston, who competes for Schutz MMA under American Kick Boxing Academy coach Lynn Schutz. “I specialize with my hands and mix in kicks.”
Pinkston is pursuing a professional career in mixed martial arts, one of the fastest growing sports in the U.S.
“I got hooked by it,” Pinkston said. “You don’t even feel anything when you get hit. The adrenaline is that much.”
