Category: USF2000

News and commentary on the USF2000 National Championship in the Mazda Road to Indy

Mazda Road to Indy – Preparing for the Ovals

Doug Patterson

All of the various series that are part of INDYCAR and the Mazda Road to Indy program have opened their seasons with road and street courses. Beginning next weekend, though, everyone switches to oval tracks! Racing on an oval is not as easy as going fast and turning left as those who attended the USF2000 Oval Clinic earlier this month learned. This past weekend, the Star Mazda Championship, in preparation for their coming sequence of three oval races, held an open test at the Milwaukee Mile. For many drivers in…

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UFS2000 – Diverse Field Finds Parity

Doug Patterson

Race #2 this past Sunday on the Streets of St. Petersburg was the fourth race of the 2011 Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda season, and it saw its fourth race winner as Cape Motorsports’ driver, Petri Suvanto, would take the checkers after starting from pole and successfully defending his position as Andretti Autosport’s Spencer Pigot mounted a challenge during a restart. In addition for separate race winners, the season thus far has seen five separate drivers on the podium and nine different drivers finish…

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MRTI – School’s In Session at St. Pete

Doug Patterson

As an educator, I completely approve of this fantastic move by the Mazda Road to Indy program to help young aspiring racers to learn more about the profession, business, and craft of motorsports. So many of us fans forget that there’s far more to being a successful professional racing driver these days that simply being fearless and fast. There’s so much more that today’s drivers need to understand about the business of motorsports, and business in general. Drivers have to be not only fast on the track, but also public…

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USF2000 – St. Pete Practice and Qualifying

Doug Patterson

Today was the first on-track activity at St. Petersburg for all of the series racing there this weekend: US F2000, Star Mazda, Indy Lights, IndyCar, and the SCCA World Challenge. I’ll talk about the World Challenge and other action later, but let me talk here about the US F2000 National Championship. You know that preview that I wrote yesterday? …yeah, chuck it out the window! The grid is ALL jumbled up, and that’s a great thing! The US F2000 grid increased by in size by a driver this weekend as…

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MRTI – Mazda Road to Indy St. Pete Preview

Doug Patterson

This is a rare race weekend. All three elements of the Mazda Road to Indy are going to be racing on the Streets of St. Petersburg on the same weekend. This will be rounds three and four for the US F2000 National Championship, and the opening rounds for the Star Mazda Championship and Firestone Indy Lights. Driver assignments are pretty much settled now, so lets take a look at the grids and preview this weekend’s Mazda Road to Indy races! You can download this weekend’s schedule for all of the…

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Mazda Road to Indy – Weekly Wrap-up: 3/11-3/18

Doug Patterson

This week was a busy week for the Mazda Road to Indy program! The Firestone Indy Lights series and the Star Mazda Championship series both had their pre-season “Spring Training” open tests at Barber Motorsports Park, and the US F2000 National Championship had both their final testing session, and their first two races at Sebring International Raceway. Along with the testing, we also had some late driver announcements, although I suspect we’re not finished hearing about those. Testing US F2000 The Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship held…

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USF2000 – Sebring Practice Summary

Doug Patterson

The off-season is over for the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda. They tested earlier in the week at Sebring International Raceway, but today was their first practice session before their race at Sebring later in the week. In testing earlier in the week, Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver Petri Suvanto was a mild surprise, posting a session best time of 2:05.146 and besting the presumed front-runners Andretti Autosports drivers Sage Karam and Spencer Pigot who posted times of 2:05.174 and 2:05.951, respectively.…

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USF2000 – Sebring Preview

Doug Patterson

At long last, the long, dark off-season is nearly over! This weekend, the Cooper Tires Presents the US F2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda joins the American LeMans Series Presented by Tequila Patrón at the historic Sebring International Raceway. The race at Sebring is the first of the seven-stop, nine-race USF2000 season. While the official entry list for the event is still forthcoming, we at least know who’s signed up with the series for the season. Here’s the official list of teams and drivers entered for the season so far.…

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USF2000 – Belardi Signs Two Former Formula Car Champions

Doug Patterson

Belardi Auto Racing wrapped up their Firestone Indy Lights roster late last month, and now they’ve secured two former formula car champions to be their drivers in the Cooper Tires presents the US F2000 National Championship powered by Mazda, Wayne Boyd and Cole Morgan. Wayne Boyd, a Belfast native, started racing in the Super 1 National JICA Championship where he had mixed results. After moving to cars, his results improved dramatically, winning the 2007 Northern Ireland Formula Ford 1600 Championship. He continued his winning ways the following year winning the…

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