By Barney The Flagman

The numbers will show that Adam Miles added “just” another victory to his résumé last Sunday, but the story of Race 6 at Imola was everything that happened behind — and sometimes outside — the white lines. Track-limit violations were the talk of the paddock: Pete Mobroten admitted he “started sneaking towards triple digits in practice” and still racked up more than twenty incidents in the race, joking that half his stream was spent telling his spotter to be quiet. By contrast, Miles, who had collected 56 offs in practice, kept it to a single 1x when it counted — a neat encapsulation of why his metronomic discipline is setting the gold standard this season.

Imola In Review

Miles converted another front-row start into a lights-to-flag win, stretching his haul to two victories and four podiums from six starts, all with the lowest incident rate among the full-timers. Colby Mann chased him home after an early scare at the Villeneuve chicane, and Bryan J. Kelly completed the podium, preserving his season-long run of finishing every race inside the top ten.

Further back, incident totals ballooned: rookie Andrew Hendrycks’s raw pace was blunted by five off-track penalties, while veterans Scott Bell and Karl Dronke quietly banked solid points. The chatter afterward centered on whether Imola’s 25x drive-through threshold is still the right deterrent.

Championship shake-up

Imola did more than bruise egos: when the league’s first drop week was applied at the halfway mark (three drops in total, one now burned), the standings swung dramatically. Miles’s Imola win, coupled with the subtraction of his worst result, vaulted him into the points lead on 228 pts, with Mann just three back on 225 pts. Kelly — leader coming into round six — suddenly finds himself 21 pts adrift in third on 207 pts despite still boasting a perfect six-for-six top-ten record. The Discord lit up when drivers realised the implications of the drop-week rule: “Three drop weeks make me feel not as bad now,” Steven Neal sighed, while Miles reminded everyone it’s “3 drop weeks, 1 fast repair” for the season. With two more discards to come, Kelly’s consistency keeps him very much in the hunt, and any stumble by the frontrunners will be magnified.

Form guide heading to Laguna Seca

After the kerb-hopping chaos of Imola, most drivers greeted the rhythm-based roller-coaster of Laguna Seca with relief. Early practice underscored temperature sensitivity: Jake

Achée’s shocked-Pikachu moment on seeing Miles lap four seconds quicker came with a reminder that every one-degree-F rise in track temp costs roughly 0.05 s in the F4, according to Miles himself. Forecast highs in the mid-70s should push lap times into the high-1:21s, while the Corkscrew will test bravery — and patience — as the sand at corner exit punishes even minor over-commitment.

Mann’s planned absence for an anniversary dinner hands Miles a golden chance to widen that slim three-point cushion, but watch Kelly: his smooth style dovetails with Laguna’s flowing middle sector, and he knows that a clean, drama-free run could claw back much of the deficit once the next drop week lands. Behind them, Travis Shoemaker announced he’ll “miss the race but will be back next week ready to steal some positions,” Aaron La lurks just 46 pts off the summit, and Karl Dronke’s quiet efficiency keeps him within striking distance if the leaders falter.

Six down, six to go. Imola showed the razor’s edge between perfection and purgatory; Laguna Seca will reveal who learned fastest — and who’s still counting X’s while the championship pendulum keeps swinging.