This past weekend the Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires returned to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for the first time since 2006. The event featured a doubleheader round in support of the IZOD IndyCar Series with the full Mazda Road to Indy represented on the schedule.
World Speed driver Kyle Kaiser arrived with the intention to increase his points margin, and by weekend’s end was just a handful of points outside of the top five. WSM driver Bobby Eberle was making his pro racing debut during the weekend. For the first race of the weekend Kaiser qualified in 6th overall, and Eberle qualified 13th overall and 1st in the Expert Class.
Saturday’s race had a couple of yellow flags which ate up all of the lead Bobby had pulled of second place on Expert Class, but he held on to get on the podium. The yellows didn’t affect Kyle’s race too much he was running in the lead pack of six right on the tail of Juan Piedrahita. At the checkered flag Kaiser finished in sixth less than one second behind Piedrahita. Eberle won in the Expert Class in his very first race in the series.
Eberle had this to say, “What a tremendous weekend. In making my first pro start, there was so much running through my head, and all the guys at World Speed Motorsports made sure I was ready to go. The #13 GOPUSA.com/MSR Houston Pro Mazda car was awesome, and by the time Race one came around, we were ready. The entire weekend’s focus was to gain experience, so the fact that I came away with an expert class win and very nearly a top 10 in my first pro start is more than I could have hoped for.” Based on their successful visit to Mid-Ohio, Eberle and the team decided he should continue his progress at the next round in Canada next weekend.
Sunday’s race ended early under yellow when the track got oiled down. The oil caught a number of drivers out, including the leader and Eberle. Bobby spun and had a hard time restarting the car which cost him another class win. Kaiser had some very minor contact breaking his front wing which hurt the car’s handling, but still completed the race with a solid eighth place finish. Next up on the schedule is Round 13 and Round 14 this weekend at the Grand Prix of Trois-Rivires.