World Speed Motorsports and their #14 Star Mazda once again captured the top rung of the podium in the Star Mazda Series North American Championship at Texas Motor Speedway, however this year Scott Bradley was at the helm. Bradley in is second season of Star Mazda racing, passed two cars on the final lap for his maiden victory in the series.
“It’s an amazing feeling right now,” an excited Bradley said after the race. “We’ve been working since last year developing the entire package to get us here and it’s great to see all the work pay off. It was especially nice because my primary sponsor Polycom had a group of guests out here from their Austin office.”
Bradley, who takes over the #14 Polycom/Shames Construction/Peak Travel machine from World Speed Toyota Atlantic driver Grant Ryley, used a strong start from his fifth place position on the grid and quick decisions down the homestretch to draft past second place finisher Matt Beardsley at the end.
“I was running strong in second place as the laps counted down and was moving closer to Scott Jenkins when the caution came out. I knew the restart would be critical as the yellow allowed the other cars to close up on us, so I focused on putting pressure on Scott and protecting my position,” Bradley said describing his race strategy. “When we went green again on the last lap it looked like Jenkins missed his braking point and opened the door for me in the chicane, I jumped into the gap and we went three wide with Beardsley actually taking the lead, I was able to get by Jenkins in the first hairpin and close in on Beardsley under braking and draft by at the start finish.”
Fellow World Speed competitor and Masters Division contender Rick Waddell suffered a star-crossed race when oil from another competitors’ car sent him into the wall coming off of the oval late in the race. “I was coming up to the braking zone when Grant came on the radio to warn me about oil on the track, unfortunately I hit the patch just as he was coming through my earphones,” Waddell said. “The car took a big hit in the wall but I’m doing alright.”
The Star Mazda Series North American Championship resumes for Round Two on March 14-17 at Sebring International Raceway.