Battling one hundred degree temperatures, high winds, and a field of twenty three other competitors, Scott Bradley managed to extend World Speed Motorsports’ Formula Mazda podium streak to eight consecutive race meetings, as he brought the #19 Polycom, Radvision machine home in third place Sunday at Willow Springs International Raceway in Round Six of the Star Mazda West Coast Championship.
“It feels great to be here, ” Bradley said of his second podium finish of the season, “I want to thank my sponsors Polycom and Radvision for their support and the entire World Speed crew for putting in the hours this weekend to keep the streak alive. They worked overtime last night and it paid off.”
Bradley, from Mountain View, California, started the race on the outside of row two and a strong start moved him up to third place on the first lap around the 2.5 mile circuit. He surrendered the position two laps later when Scott Jenkins was able to draft past on the front straight but moved back into third after Mike Pothekin spun out of second place while chasing eventual race winner Bryan Selby. He was mounting an attack on second position in the closing laps of the 26 lap event but got caught up in lapped traffic on the final lap.
“I was getting into position to draft past Scott (Jenkins) on the last lap but I caught the lapped car as we entered the balcony section and he was able to get enough space to hold me from making the pass,” Bradley lamented. With his third place finish Bradley now moves up to third in the series points.
Fellow World Speed and Star Mazda rookie Rick Waddell qualified 24th overall but moved up the field to bring his #17 M-Box Design Formula Mazda home in the 19th position as he continues to move up the points charts in the Star Mazda Series Masters Championship, while series veterans Alex Figge and Grant Ryley qualified 7th and 10th but finished 21st and 24th respectively after separate racing incidents.
The Star Mazda Series will continue on the high-banked, half mile oval of Mesa Marin Raceway in Bakersfield, California, for round 7 of the West Coast Championship and the final round of the Red Line Oil Oval Championship on July 7-8.