The Mazda Road to Indy teams, at least the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires and the Firestone Indy Lights Series portions of it, did battle last weekend at the oldest active racing venue in the world, the Milwaukee Mile. Traditionally, the Pro Mazda and Indy Lights races at the Mile have usually been processional affairs, but there was more racing action and passes this year than there’s been in a while. On Episode 192 of the OpenPaddock.net Podcast, we had eluded to fact that, especially in Indy Light,…
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Pro Mazda – Race 2 at COTA Recap
Race 2 this afternoon for the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires at the Circuit of the Americas started out much like Race 1, with a giant furball headed into T1 and two drivers coming out worse for it. Yesterday’s winner, Juncos Racing’s Diego Ferreira, set the fast lap during Race 1 and earned pole position for Race 2. He would lose that spot to Andretti Autosports’ duo of Matthew Brabham and Shelby Blackstock as they would take advantage of Diego’s overshooting the T1 apex. Diego would fight all…
Read MorePro Mazda – Brabham Signs With Andretti Autosport for 2013
The 2012 Copper Tires Presents the USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda Championship Class champion (that’s a lot of championing!), Matthew “Matty Brabs” Brabham, has signed with Andretti Autosport to drive the #27 machine in the 2013 Cooper Tires Presents the Pro Mazda Championship. In 2012, Brabham raced Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing’s #83 Van Diemen in the USF2000 Championship Class, narrowly beating out his teammate, Spencer Pigot, by only seven points. 2012 was Brabham’s first season of racing in the United States after starting his career back in 2001…
Read MoreUSF2000 – 2012 Champions, Changes to FE, and a New Presenting Sponsor
The Championship Class The National and Championship class titles were both decided last Saturday during Race #2 at the Virginia International Raceway, the final race of the 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, and it was a good weekend to be a Cape Motorsports driver! Spencer Pigot, thanks to his setting the fastest lap time on his way to a dominant win in Race #1, started from Pole in Race #2 and took that advantage all the way to the checkers, making it a sweep for the…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Pigot Forces Championship Battle to the Last Race
The 2012 USF2000 National Championship Presented by Cooper Tires Powered by Mazda won’t decide it’s champion until the final race of the season set to take place tomorrow at 9:15am EDT. All season long, the two Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing drivers, #83 Matthew Brabham and #2 Spencer Pigot, have had a back-and-forth battle for the championship lead. After suffering a DNF in the second race in Baltimore, Brabham had a significant advantage over Pigot, leading by 41 points, 307 to 266. When the USF2000 drivers took to the…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Advantage Brabham
The Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship double-header on the Streets of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor saw major changes in the championship standings in both the Championship class and the National class. In one case, the lead was extended and the championship all but assured, and in the other the points battle got even tighter. The Championship Class The two championship contenders in the 2012 Cooper Tires USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda each came away from the two events on the Streets of Baltimore with a win. Brabham, however, comes away…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Sebring Race 2 Recap
Two races are now in the books for the 14-race Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda 2012 season. Race 2 at the Sebring International Raceway took place this morning right before lunch with all 36 entries from yesterday taking to the track again today. The starting line-up for Race 2 was determined by the fastest race laps in Race 1. Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing driver and Race 1 winner Matthew Brabham (@MattyBrabs) started on pole alongside his teammate Spencer Pigot (@SpencerPigot). ArmsUp Motorsports pilot…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Cape Motorsports Dominates at Sebring
Looks as though Race #1 of the USF2000 Cooper Tires WinterFest was no fluke! The Cape Motorsports trio of Spencer Pigot, Matthew Brabham, and Trent Hindman swept the podium in all three races held at Sebring International Raceway! Today, Races #2 and #3 were held, and the trio performed just as strongly as they did yesterday. There was one exception, Matthew Brabham. Matthew finished Race #1 in P2, nearly three seconds adrift of race winner Spencer Pigot. During Race #2, he set the fast lap of the race with a…
Read MoreUSF2000 – Cape Motorsports Sweeps the Winter Fest Race 1 Podium
The Cooper Tires Winter Fest, a six-race mini-series that preludes the Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda, began today with qualifying for Race #1 taking place this morning and the race itself taking place late this afternoon. Cape Motorsports dominated the 20-car field with a podium sweep and Spencer Pigot leading flag to flag. In second was Matthew Brabham, son of the famous sportscar driver, Geoff Brabham, and grandson to the famous Formula 1 three-time World Driver Champion. (no pressure, though). Rounding out the podium was…
Read MoreOpEd – Blocking in Modern Motorsports
The Blocking Problem Blocking is certainly nothing new in motorsports, or racing in general for that matter. As soon as two people raced each other on foot, I’m sure that the leader blocked the person behind and probably violently. In various types of horse racing, we see blocking and crowding a competitor against the rail, and given that automobile racing is simply an extension of horse racing, its no surprise that we see blocking in modern motorsports. The challenge of the various sanctioning bodies of modern motorsports series is to…
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