After the season opening double-header for the 2016 Pirelli World Challenge at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, Mazda showed three class wins, eight podium finishes, and three pole positions.
The Top Mazda Circuit of the Americas Finishes
Touring Car A (TCA)
• Elivan Goulart from Shelton, Conn, drove his S.A.C. Racing SCDA1.com Mazda MX-5 to the win in the first race and backed it up with a second place in the second race.
• Eric Powell from Orlando, Fla, drove his Tech Sport Racing Mazda MX-5 to a third place in the first race and set the fastest race lap to earn the pole position for race number two.
• Joey Bickers from Moorpark, Calif, drove his Atlanta Motorsports Group Mazda MX-5 to third place in the second race.
Touring Car B (TCB)
• Ted Hough from Farmington, Minn, scored the first race win in his Breathless Racing Mazda2.
• Will Rodgers from Murrieta, Calif, drove his Hale Motorsports Solvang Brewing Co. / Kelly Benefit Strategies / Family 1 Mazda2 to the win in the second race. Will actually crossed the line first in the first race, but was disqualified for a minor technical infraction.
• Henry Morse from Redondo Beach, Calif, scored a pair of third-place finishes in his Hale Motorsports MorseGPS powered by CalAmp / Rolling Hills Prep School Mazda2.
This was the first ever professional race weekend for both Rodgers and Morse. Rodgers graduated from the Spec Miata Teen Mazda Challenge, while 15-year-old Morse is coming directly from karting.
About Ken Zino
Ken Zino, editor and publisher of AutoInformed, is a versatile auto industry participant with global experience spanning decades in print and broadcast journalism, as well as social media. He has automobile testing, marketing, public relations and communications experience. He is past president of The International Motor Press Assn, the Detroit Press Club, founding member and first President of the Automotive Press Assn. He is a member of APA, IMPA and the Midwest Automotive Press Assn.
He also brings an historical perspective while citing their contemporary relevance of the work of legendary auto writers such as Ken Purdy, Jim Dunne or Jerry Flint, or writers such as Red Smith, Mark Twain, Thomas Jefferson – all to bring perspective to a chaotic automotive universe.
Above all, decades after he first drove a car, Zino still revels in the sound of the exhaust as the throttle is blipped during a downshift and the driver’s rush that occurs when the entry, apex and exit points of a turn are smoothly and swiftly crossed. It’s the beginning of a perfect lap.
AutoInformed has an editorial philosophy that loves transportation machines of all kinds while promoting critical thinking about the future use of cars and trucks.
Zino builds AutoInformed from his background in automotive journalism starting at Hearst Publishing in New York City on Motor and MotorTech Magazines and car testing where he reviewed hundreds of vehicles in his decade-long stint as the Detroit Bureau Chief of Road & Track magazine. Zino has also worked in Europe, and Asia – now the largest automotive market in the world with China at its center.
