SCCA

North American MotorSports Expo includes exhibits, seminars, a lot of Mazda and runs alongside the SCCA National Convention. There is a wide variety of automotive and motorsports trade shows, but many of those are tough to get into or make use of unless one’s an industry insider. The North American MotorSports Expo and Conference, though, […]”

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Aaron Downey’s RX-3 has a lot of Runoffs E Production podiums to its name; now he wants to win a National Championship with it. Aaron Downey has one of the fastest RX-3s in the country, and he’s put it on the E Production podium at the Runoffs four times – including a bronze in 2014 […]”

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E Production National Champion Matt Reynolds is one of four nominated for the highest award in SCCA Club Racing. Four SCCA road racing superstars have been named finalists for the 2014 President’s Cup, presented annually to the driver demonstrating ability, competitiveness and success at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. One of those is Mazda racer […]”

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Mazda racers take Touring, Production and Prototype victories at Auto Club Speedway. After watching their fellow competitors in the Southeast get started a week ago, the SCCA Western Conference Majors Tour raced for the first time in 2015, opening the year at Auto Club Speedway. Seven race groups ran on the 21-turn, 2.8-mile circuit that […]”

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SCCA Southeast Conference Majors at Sebring International Raceway feature 13 wins for Mazda racers. Double victories were the order of the day for Mazda drivers at Sebring International Raceway for Rounds Three and Four of the SCCA Southeastern Conference U.S. Majors Tour, part of the SafeRacer Club Racing program. Four Mazda racers took a win […]”

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Southeast Conference races at Homestead-Miami Speedway include five double winners in Mazdas.

The off season seems ever shorter. For residents of the Southeast, it certainly is, as the sunny Florida weather allows an earlier start to the Southeastern Conference SCCA U.S. Majors Tour than is possible in other parts of the country. On the second weekend of the new year, SCCA Club Racers kicked off their season at Homestead Miami Speedway even as their pro sports car racing counterparts were testing for the Rolex 24 at Daytona in the northern part of the state. While championships cannot be won during the opening round of competition, the first event can certainly shape the title fight and lend some insight into the character of the remaining season. If there is one takeaway, 2015 should be quite a season as the determination of each competitor to win is already at fever pitch.

Seven race groups took to the 12-turn, 2.3-mile road/oval circuit each day to start the path to the Runoffs. This event marks the first time the Miami-area speedway has hosted a Majors event. The premiere talent and skill of this crop of drivers showed as lap records fell in nearly every class. Conditions for the record-setting day could not have been better on Saturday as the morning haze burned off, resulting in the sun breaking through the clouds.

That turned to light on-and-off showers followed by plenty of Florida sunshine for Sunday’s Round 2. When everything was done, five Mazda racers had claimed double victories and were well on their way to a great season.

As the opening act to the entire 2015 Majors season, Spec Miata did not disappoint. Close, fender-to-fender racing was the name of the game, and Elivan Goulart, of Shelton, Conn., was able to pull off the narrow win in his No. 70 SAC Racing ServicesMazda Miata, with a last-lap pass on Todd Buras.

A total of 42 drivers took the green, led by hometown driver Alex Bolanos. Bolanos took part in a close-quarters, four-car battle for the lead that included Buras, Denny Steyn and Selin Rollan. Goulart had missed a shift earlier in the race, dropping him back to sixth place. As the laps wound down, the leaders started to fight hard amongst themselves, giving Goulart the opportunity to reel them in. He was able to get the draft to work for him on the banking of Turns 11 and 12, which allowed him to make the outside pass stick for the win.

Nick Leverone, of Greenwich, N.Y., took the win in Super Touring Lite on Saturday and set a new lap record of 1:35.869 behind the wheel of the No. 3 Drillmasters Mazda Miata. He beat Mike Van Steenburg to the line by a 1.411-second margin. He repeated the feat on Sunday for the double win.

Formula Atlantic National Champion Conner Kearby, of Corpus Christi, Texas, started his title defense with a convincing win over Dudley Fleck. Kearby, in his No. 56 GK Motorsports/K-Hill Motorsports Swift 016, finished 9.277 seconds ahead of Fleck. Kearby also reset the Formula Atlantic lap record with a lap of 1:16.756. By his account, Kearby had a great opening weekend of 2015 with a pair of little-contested wins in the event.

Joining Leverone and Kearby in the double victory club were Ken Kannard, coming from Wisconsin to get an early jump on his season in his F Production Miata; Bill McGavic in his GT-3 RX-7; and Tim Myers, who took wins on both days in his Touring 4 RX-8.

The Southeast Conference Majors Tour resumes next weekend with a visit to Sebring International Raceway for Rounds Three and Four. On the other side of the country, the Western Conference gets underway with Rounds One and Two at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.

SCCA Southeastern Conference Majors
Homestead-Miami Speedway, Homestead, Fla.
Jan. 10-11, 2015

Round 1 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
Formula Atlantic Conner Kearby Corpus Christi, Texas Swift 016
Formula Mazda Doug Peterson Maiden, N.C. Formula Mazda
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy, Wis. Mazda Miata
GT-3 Bill McGavic Arcadia, Fla. Mazda RX-7
Prototype 1 Jacek Mucha Highland Beach, Fla. Mazda JMS016
Spec Miata Elivan Goulart Shelton, Conn. Mazda Miata
Super Touring Lite Nick Leverone Greenwich, N.Y. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Tim Myers Atlanta, Ga. Mazda RX-8

Round 2 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
Formula Atlantic Conner Kearby Corpus Christi, Texas Swift 016
Formula Mazda Carson Weeder Winter Haven, Fla. Formula Mazda
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy, Wis. Mazda Miata
GT-3 Bill McGavic Arcadia, Fla. Mazda RX-7
Spec Miata Selin Rollan Miami, Fla. Miata
Super Touring Lite Nick Leverone Greenwich, N.Y. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Tim Myers Atlanta, Ga. Mazda RX-8

Whether it is over the winter or between events, Sylvain Tremblay always aims to bring a different car to the track than the last time. That doesn’t mean a new car, just an improved one.

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Solo Champion used the power of positive thinking to win the 2014 C Street Prepared Ladies title at the 2014 SCCA Solo National Championships. The SCCA Tour events and the The Tire Rack Solo National Championships have a two-day format, where competitors test their skill on two different courses and the times are added. So […]”

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TO: Spec Miata Participants FR: SCCA, NASA, Mazda Motorsports, and the Spec Miata Working Group RE: Class Intent, Direction and Regulations DT: December 19, 2014 Mazda, SCCA, and NASA wish to thank the hundreds of SM drivers and owners who have provided their helpful feedback. With it, we have been able to investigate and reflect […]”

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The 2014 SCCA Touring 4 National Champion sells Mazdas when he’s not racing them. The old motorsports saying, “Win on Sunday, sell on Monday” doesn’t get any more applicable than in the case of Daniel Bender. In this circumstance, he’s the one doing the winning, in a Touring 4 Mazda MX-5, then selling MX-5s – […]”

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Jonathan Goodale’s 12A-powered GT-Lite MX-5 carried him to a podium finish at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. One of the great things about SCCA’s Grand Touring classes, more commonly known as GT, is the versatility. With tube frame chassis covered by fiberglass, aluminum or carbon fiber body panels, the cars can be chameleons – one kind […]”

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Racers chase richest prize in club racing – a ride in the Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires. Mazda has announced the date and some of the finalists for the single largest prize in club racing, the Mazda Club Racer Shootout. Since 2007 Mazda has annually promoted one talented club racer to the professional […]”

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SCCA Solo competitor took his RX-8 where few others dared tread – right into the Street Prepared category. Marc Monnar didn’t listen to the naysayers. If he did, he never would have built an RX-8 to compete in the Street Prepared category in SCCA Solo. If he did, he would have ended up with a Street […]”

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Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires champ beat drivers from throughout the Americas in a shootout to move on to world-wide competition. Mazda MX-5 Cup Presented by BFGoodrich® Tires champion Kenton Koch, of Glendora, Calif., will advance to the next stage of the FIA Institute Young Driver Excellence Academy after winning the Americas shootout […]”

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The qualifying picture begins to emerge as some competitors overcome hardships to make their race. Eric Prill topped the second qualifying session for F Production by nearly half a second in his MaxtonsFight.org/JPM/Hoosier Miata, an eternity around Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. The bad news for his competitors? He felt that he left some time on […]”

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Rachel Kerswill is the 2014 SCCA Solo National Championship champion in C Street Ladies. Rachel Kerswill has been to two SCCA Solo National Championships. The fact that her winning percentage is now at 50 percent isn’t that unusual. The unusual part is that she went from worst to first. Granted, there were a few years […]”

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Nearly 130 Mazda racers head to Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca to seek a Club Racing National Championship. Much has been made of the fact that, for the first time in 46 years, the SCCA National Championship Runoffs will be west of the Mississippi in California. And certainly many are celebrating the fact that the event […]”

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 Mazdas sweep each rear-wheel drive category at the SCCA RallyCross National Championships. A record-setting 110 drivers made the trip to the I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., for the SCCA RallyCross National Championships and their chance to take home top honors at the season-ending RallyCross event of 2014. The previous record was 104 entrants at the […]”

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A turn-by-turn breakdown of VIRginia International Raceway from the BEHIND THE ZOOM team. Join the forum on Wednesday, Sept. 24 from 7:30—8:30 PM EST. The National Auto Sport Association (NASA) heads to VIRginia International Raceway (VIR) on Oct. 3-5, 2014 for its famed OktoberFAST race event. With the significant elevation changes and winding corners VIR […]”

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Mazda racers earn nation-wide points championships in SCCA SafeRacer Club Racing program.     Following the conclusion of the SCCA U.S. Majors Tour season, 27 nation-wide points champions have been crowned in in the SafeRacer Club Racing program. Eight of those were Mazda racers – six in open classes and two in spec classes. The […]”

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Mazda drivers claim titles in SCCA’s championship event for autocrossers. The 2014 SCCA Solo National Championships have wrapped up four days of competition at Lincoln Airpark in Lincoln, Neb. A record 1185 competitors tackled two different courses, with about half taking to the two courses on Tuesday-Wednesday and the bulk of the eight Mazda Solo […]”

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SCCA Majors Racing Tackles Summit Point Seven race groups of 27 Runoffs-eligible classes put on quite an opening act during the Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014, SCCA Eastern Conference U.S. Majors Tour at Summit Point Motorsports Park, part of the SafeRacer SCCA National Racing program. While watching the on-track action, one could tell many of these […]”

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SCCA’s largest Club Racing event outside the National Championship Runoffs, the Chicago Region WeatherTech June Sprints, went off under mostly sunny skies at Road America this past weekend. For the first time, the event was a doubleheader as are all the SCCA Majors events. The June Sprints was Rounds 5 and 6 of the Northern Conference Majors Tour.

Saturday’s races were 10 laps, as opposed to the usual timed races, and Sunday’s were scheduled for 13 laps of the 14-turn, 4.0-mile circuit.
Danny Steyn was just one leader among eight drivers in contention for Spec Miata early, but the race came down to three top drivers sorting out the final laps alone. With the laps winding down, Todd Lamb was sandwiched between teammates Jim Drago and Craig Berry, left with the nearly impossible decision of going for the lead and falling to third, or staying in second to the checkered flag. Practically attached at the bumper for the final two laps, Drago was watching his mirrors while Berry looked for any opening to move around Lamb. None of the three drivers made a dramatic move, and crossed the finish line with Berry’s No. 2 East Street Racing Miata at the front followed by Lamb and Berry.

The Formula Mazda field was small at the June Sprints, but that didn’t lessen the excitement in the battle for the lead. Dale VandenBush led the opening lap, sneaking around teammate and polesitter Jason Vinkemulder. Vinkemulder found his way back around on lap two, with VandenBush leading laps three and four. Vinkemulder was back in front on lap five in his No. 10 Lake Effect Motorsports Formula Mazda, and edged just in front of his teammate. With clean air, Vinkemulder held the lead for the last half of the race and took the checkered flag.

Jim Drago, fresh off the Spec Miata win, couldn’t get his No. 2 East Street Racing Mazda Miata to fire on the grid. As the field rolled past him, his Super Touring Lite machine roared to life, and he caught the end of the field just before turn 12 on the pace lap. Drago worked through the field, and moved around then-leader Breton Williams’ No. 00 First Wealth Financial Group Mazda RX-7 on lap five to move into the lead and get clear, taking the checkered flag and sending his crew off to replace the battery in the Mazda.

Daniel Bender held off Jim Ebben for the Touring 4 win in the tightest race of the run group. Bender’s No. 10 Bravo Trailers/Autobarn Mazda Mazda MX-5 set the pace and kept in front of Ebben’s RX-8, eventually creating a gap by the checkered flag.

The racing saying “cautions breed cautions” was fresh in Lamb’s mind during a lap 10 restart of Sunday’s Spec Miata race, and knowing that helped him to a win.

With nine cars in the lead pack early in the race, a two-car incident near Turn 7 dislodged the tire barrier and brought out a full course caution. Steyn lost the lead immediately in the first race when his restart speed allowed the cars behind him to get a head of steam and draft by him going into Turn 1. When he brought the field single-file to the restart on lap 10, Steyn used a slower approach up the hill to try to hold the lead.

Unfortunately, rather than following the field to the green flag, drivers in the middle of the pack tried to anticipate the restart going through Turn 13. Eight cars were collected in the carnage and scattered throughout the Kettle Moraine countryside, all before the green flag came out. Unaware at the time of the extent of the damage, Steyn took the lead through Turns 1, 2 and 3, with Lamb’s No. 80 Cahall/Driving Coach/Hawk Performance Miata drafting down the hill toward Turn 5. Steyn left the door open to the inside, and Lamb went past. Lamb completed the move just before the full course caution flags came back out, freezing the field and bringing out the checkered flag early to complete clean-up. Lamb took home the winner’s trophy, with Steyn second and Eric Stearns third.

Some drivers seemed to exorcise some recent demons this weekend with sweeps in the Production classes. Jim Daniels had been bitten by enough little mechanical issues at Road America, both at the June Sprints and previous SCCA National Championship Runoffs, but recovered this weekend with a pair of victories. Daniels’ No. 176 WebLaps.com Mazda MX-5 pressed the pace from start to finish, running early with Joe Moser in a battle for the lead. Moser pulled off course early, with Daniels well ahead of Jon Brakke’s Miata, and Daniels pushed to the finish.

Ken Kannard swept F Production at his home course in the No. 51 Northwest Cable Construction/Hoosier Mazda Miata. The wins will help make up for five years of Road America Runoffs disappointment for Kannard, who had a series of issues that kept him from his true potential at the event.

All of the front running machines in the big formula group went out on rain tires, as the race began wet after a brief 15-minute shower. However, the strategy all changed late in the race when the sun came out and the track started to dry. Fabio Castellani led the opening 11 laps in the wet, and continued to get quicker as the race went on. His problem, though, was that by lap 10, when a clear, dry line began to appear, Sedat Yelkin’s No. 75 Everclear/K-Hill Swift 016/Mazda was going even faster. Yelkin moved around Castellani on lap 12 and looked clear, until he realized that Conner Kearby’s No. 56 GK Motorsports Swift 016/Mazda was even quicker by that point. Kearby closed a second-and-a-half on the final lap, getting to the gearbox of Yelkin at the checkered flag, but probably falling one lap short of challenging for the lead.

Bender (T4) and Drago (STL) completed their sweeps, as did GT-3 driver George Cichon, who took two victories in his Hoosier/MAZDASPEED/Cichon Racing Mazda RX-7.

The Northern Conference Majors Tour continues July 12-13 with Rounds 7 and 8 at GingerMan Raceway. The next U.S. Majors Tour events are the BFGoodrich® Tires Watkins Glen Super Tour at Watkins Glen International, in the Eastern Conference, and Portland International Raceway, in the Western Conference, both July 4-6.

SCCA Mid-States Conference Majors Tour

Rounds 5 and 6

Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wis.

June 14-15, 2014

Round 5 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
E Production Jim Daniels Germantown Tenn. Mazda Miata
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy Wis. Mazda Miata
Formula Atlantic Conner Kearby Corpus Christi Texas Swift 016/Mazda
Formula Mazda Jason Vinkemulder Spring Lake Mich. Formula Mazda
GT-3 George Cichon Jr. Rockton Ill. Mazda RX-7
Super Touring Lite Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Spec Miata Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Daniel Bender Northbrook Ill. Mazda MX-5

Round 6 Mazda Winners

Class Driver Hometown Car
E Production Jim Daniels Germantown Tenn. Mazda Miata
F Production Ken Kannard East Troy Wis. Mazda Miata
Formula Atlantic Sedat Yelkin Austintown Ohio Swift 016/Mazda
Formula Mazda Dale VandenBush Green Bay Wis. Formula Mazda
GT-3 George Cichon Jr. Rockton Ill. Mazda RX-7
Super Touring Lite Jim Drago Memphis Tenn. Mazda Miata
Spec Miata Todd Lamb Atlanta Ga. Mazda Miata
Touring 4 Daniel Bender Northbrook Ill. Mazda MX-5

For SpeedSource Race Engineering principal Sylvain Tremblay, the racing bug bit, appropriately enough, with a Mazda. That Mazda was far from any racetrack, however. “If you rewind the clock, I was 13-years old riding my bicycle in my little town of Lighthouse Point, Florida,” Tremblay explains. “I came across a Champion Spark Plug RX-3 on […]”

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