Bradley retains Star Mazda Series points lead after Sebring.

Powering through to his second consecutive podium finish, Scott Bradley has retained his position at the top of the Star Mazda Series North American Championship in front of the largest crowd ever for a Professional Sportscar Race at Sebring International Raceway, and Bradley thinks it will only get better. 

In front of an estimated 150,000 spectators, Bradley maneuvered his #14 Polycom/Shames Construction Star Mazda into the lead on the opening laps of the nationally televised event before finishing second in the World Speed Motorsports prepared machine.  “Sebring is a great facility and it was exciting to race here for the first time,” Bradley said afterwards.  “It really is a drivers track and it was great to see all the fans out here for the races this weekend.”

Bradley’s weekend was not without it’s struggles however.  During practice sessions for the event he was hindered by a balky gearbox as he worked to pick up speed at the 3.7 mile road course in central Florida.  “The car has usually shifted so well for me but as the practice sessions progressed it became progressively stiffer each time out until it got stuck in two gears early in one session,” Bradley explained. “Still the team was able to make a temporary repair on pit lane and get me back out for the end of the session and then they rebuilt the entire transaxle overnight.”

Once back on track Bradley was right on the pace, qualifying only a few hundredths of a second behind the polesitter David Sterenberg.  “I was putting a great lap together and slipped a little in the last corner and lost a bit of time but it was still good enough to get us on the front row for the start.”

When the green flag came out to start the race, Bradley was able to take full advantage of his front row position to move into the lead on lap one.  “On the start it seemed like Sterenberg missed a gear or just got a late jump on the green, but Chad Block and I got good starts and fought it out at the first corner while Sterenberg spun behind us,” Bradley explained.  “I was able to move in front but Chad was right there attacking and his car was bit sharper in the opening laps.”

After leading the first two laps, Bradley dropped back to second place as Bock was able to draft past down the long backstraight, and for the next few laps Bradley faced pressure from third place competitor Guy Cosmo as he waited for his tires to come to the proper pressures.  “The tires weren’t cooperating for the first few laps and Chad was able to build a bit of a lead, once things got settled down I was able to gain back a little time on him, and drive away from Cosmo, but there just wasn’t enough time to reel him in,” Bradley said in the post race interview.

The Star Mazda Series now has a four month break before their next round at Bradley’s home track of Sears Point Raceway, and in that time Bradley feels there are improvements to be found in the car.  “The weather didn’t cooperate with our winter testing program before the start of the season so we’ve been sorting out the car and some of the new items introduced by the series on the race weekends, so it’ll be nice with this time to log some time in the car developing the pieces in a proper test situation.  I think we’ll be even stronger after the break.”

Bradley, with 83 points, now holds a narrow three point lead in the championship over Chad Block.  The Round Two of the Star Mazda Series North American Championship from Sebring International Raceway can be seen on May 7^th at 5:30 PM and 9:30 PM Pacific Time on Speedvision.

Round Three of the Star Mazda Series North American Championship will be held at Sears Point Raceway in Sonoma, CA, on July 19-21.  For more information on Scott Bradley and the Star Mazda Series please visit www.speedrcr.com and www.starmazda.com.