(Editors Note: This article was updated Oct. 5, 2024, based on official results and due to post-race penalty assessment.)
Starting on the Spec Miata pole at the SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco pole never guarantees a win – something Nicholas Bruni was happy about this year as he collected his third Runoffs gold medal in one of SCCA’s most challenging classes.
Yet, as you might expect in a class like Spec Miata, the story of this race began on the grid.
Spec Miata racer Charles Mctutus is no stranger to the Runoffs, meaning the Oct. 4, 2025, SCCA Runoffs Spec Miata race at Road America was a return to the norm for this driver. Starting on the Tire Rack Pole, Mactutus’ Mazda Miata would, in theory, have the advantage — although not by much. As is often the case in Spec Miata, the pole was determined by fractions of a second, with Charles Mactutus locking in a qualifying time marginally quicker than second-place qualifier Francisco Barroso and third-place starter Max Stallone The second row was filled out by Matt Stretch in fourth.
Unfortunately for Mactutus, this was hardly his year. Instead, another familiar face would stand atop the podium following the action-packed Spec Miata race.
Running 29 cars strong on the pace lap, the Spec Miata field took to Road America’s 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit on day one of the Runoffs’ Hagerty Race Days under a clear sky and all but perfect afternoon conditions.
This year’s race, it should be added, delivered drama from the start, with grid finalized only moments before the green flag following steward actions and protests. Then, Mactutus pulled off during the pace lap, his day ending before the race even began.
With the right row filing forward, the field took the green, and Stallone took full advantage of the shuffled to grab the lead and set the pace.
Into lap two, it was Stallone with Barroso on his tail. That front pack was also made up of Stretch, Ryan Maloney, and Bobby Gossett, with a gap back to Nick Leverone, and Nicholas Bruni. The five-car breakaway didn’t last long, as a mechanical issue with Sean Varwig’s car brought double-yellow-flag conditions and erased all gaps.
The restart launched the field into lap four with Stallone leading the shuffling group – something Stallone took full advantage of as Barroso, Maloney, Gossett, and Leverone all battled.
Starting lap five, Stallone got hung out to dry as a gaggle of drivers moved for the pass. Maloney absorbed most of that advantage as he was the next to grab the point. Then Gossett took a turn up front; then Barroso. Down the front straight to start lap six, Barroso got shuffled back with another grouping of the 13-car breakaway taking to the front.
Really, normal fare for Spec Miata.
Of note, several drivers drifted wide through the Kink, the new Grasscrete offering a safety buffer that allowed cars to run slightly wide without the same risk that section of the track presented at last year’s Runoffs.
Giving a turn-by-turn account of the action would be all but impossible, but know that Stallone was still in the hunt, taking the lead once more; then it was Barroso’s turn up front (again) in the now eight-car breakaway pack.
The first sign of potential winners came working lap 10, as Barroso and Bruni had put nearly a second on Kyle Greenhill, Tom Brown, Gossett, and more. Still, it didn’t last, the pack catching (and passing) the leader on the front straight with just three laps to go in the 13-lap race.
With the white flag out, Bruni led Barroso, Greenhill, and Gossett in a marginal four-car breakaway, all using every inch of pavement – plus some. Bruni took a defensive line into Turn 8, then again into the Carousel. Into Canada Corner, Barroso poked a nose to the inside but tucked back in, likely hoping for a run up the front straight.
At the stripe, it was Bruni in his No. 6 East Street Racing 1999 Mazda Miata over Barroso’s No. 48 IAG Arrow Group 2004 Miata by a scant 0.03sec. Another 0.3sec back, Greenhill claimed third, with Stallone in fourth and Gossett fifth.
In post-race Steward's actions, Stallone was moved to sixth and Bobby Gossett was moved to 16th. Those adjustments then advanced Tyler Brown to fourth and Ryan Maloney to fifth.
This was hardly Bruni’s closest Runoffs win, as he finished the 2023 Spec Miata Runoffs race so close that it was considered a dead heat, resulting in the first-ever tie at the Runoffs.
“Oh my God, so much emotion,” Washington DC Region member Bruni said after winning the race, adding that his daughter had had two open-heart surgeries after he won his first National Championship title in 2022. That, he said, was an emotional year. “She's had a third this year, so this one means as much as that first one.
“ almost got it at the end, I was shocked,” Bruni said. “He'll never know how much this one means. I just about passed out on that cooldown lap from screaming and crying so much.”
Barroso was gunning for his first Runoffs gold medal – the closest he’d come before this year was just last year when he ran from 16th to fifth.
“It's kind of separate emotions, you know,” he said. “I really wanted that one. So bad – I mean, my sixth Runoffs, my best finish, so I'm really happy at the same time. It's been a long, tiring week, and I can't wait to do it again next year.”
In third, Greenhill was happy to make the podium in his No. 42 Sneaky Moose Motorsports 2002 Mazda Miata, bettering his previous Runoffs finish by one position.
“It was amazing,” Greenhill said, “I don’t know what to say. This is awesome – I was in fourth place a few years ago, but you always want to do better.
The Sunoco Hard Charger award went to Jonathan Davis , who started 23rd and finished 11th.
The 62nd SCCA® National Championship Runoffs® Presented by Sunoco is the pinnacle of American amateur motorsports and crowns Sports Car Club of America™ Champions as part of the Summit Racing Equipment SCCA Road Racing program. In 2025, two Hagerty Race Days at Wisconsin’s Road America decide 23 gold-medal winners.
Live, online video coverage of Runoffs races is available over both competition days at SCCA’s Official YouTube Channel. Live timing and scoring for each race is also available at SCCA.com/live.
Below are final results for Saturday’s Spec Miata race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs Presented by Sunoco; with finish position, starting position in parentheses, driver, SCCA Region, car, and laps completed.
1, (5), Nicholas Bruni, Washington DC Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
2, (2), Francisco Barroso, Florida Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
3, (12), Kyle Greenhill, Chicago Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
4, (11), Tyler Brown, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
5, (6), Ryan Maloney, Washington DC Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
6, (3), Max Stallone, Lone Star Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
7, (14), Sean Noonan, New York Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
8, (9), Tyler Quance, Houston Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
9, (7), Nick Leverone, New England Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
10, (23), Jonathan Davis, Neohio Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
11, (21), Jackson Wolny, Chicago Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
12, (18), Samantha Silver, Land O'Lakes Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
13, (19), Andrew Devoto, Southwest Montana Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
14, (20), Senter Smith, Central Carolinas Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
15, (15), Tom Brown, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
16, (8), Bobby Gossett, South Carolina Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
17, (29), Ellie Gossett, South Carolina Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
18, (16), Shayne Sullivan, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
19, (22), Domenico Leuci, Glen Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
20, (24), David Moreno, Detroit Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
21, (17), William Wallis, San Francisco Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
22, (28), Zachariah Rosenberg, New York Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
23, (30), Keegan Bosch, Milwaukee Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
24, (31), Dan Harding, Neohio Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
25, (32), Brad Williams, Washington DC Region, Mazda Miata, 13.
26, (10), Elivan Goulart, New England Region, Mazda Miata, 12.
DNF, (4), Matt Stretch, Texas Region, Mazda Miata, 4.
DNF, (13), Sean Varwig, Chicago Region, Mazda Miata, 1.
DNF, (1), Charles Mactutus, South Carolina Region, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (26), Will Dodd, Neohio Region, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (27), Tom Sager, Chicago Region, Mazda Miata, 0.
DNS, (25), Brett Kowalski, Pan American Region, Mazda Miata, 0.
Race Stats
Length of Race: 52.62 miles
Overall Time of Race: 37:39.685 (avg. 83.838 mph)
Margin of Victory: 0.030 seconds
Fastest Race Lap: 2:44.430 (88.626 mph)
Lap Leaders: #103, Laps 1-3; 8; #5, Laps 4, 6; #48, Laps 5, 9-10; #6, Laps 7, 11-13
Sunoco Hard Charger: #16 Jonathan Davis
Photo by: Jeff Loewe
