After more than a year of preparation, the inaugural weekend of the Bondurant Championship Race Series flew by in a blur of RPMs, exhaust, and tire smoke. On Sunday, September 27th the drivers returned to their rotary-powered Formula Mazdas for the second race of the weekend, and immediately displayed confidence gained as a result of the previous two days of practice and racing. With temperatures in the high 80s during the morning practice session, the FM cars ran strong and gripped the track well; by the estimates of Bondurant instructors drivers completed laps under the one-minute mark.

The early afternoon qualifying session saw drivers pushing their cars deeper into the corners and taking advantage of the prodigious amount of grip afforded their vehicles by the Goodyear slicks. The tight, technical West course at Firebird International Raceway encouraged persistent trail-braking to help the Mazdas rotate, and in turn provided ample opportunity to stab the throttle once the cars were pointed. Jamie Slone and his number 9 car briefly vacated the asphalt during the session, but he was able to secure pole position, followed by Phil De La O and Matt Maddox.

Although the afternoon's race was moved forward by twenty minutes, based on the looks on the competitor's faces it couldn't have started soon enough. They seemed a little anxious during the obligatory pre-race photographs, and eagerly jumped in to their cars when it came time to head to the track's staging area.

The cars charged hard at the wave of the green flag and negotiated the first turn well, setting the stage for a smooth, deliberate race for all involved. The cars mixed it up for the first few laps of the race, with Slone and De La O leading the pack. The abnormally hot ambient temperature, well over 100 degrees, proved for a slippery track, but despite a couple of dropped wheels the race was incident-free. Jamie Slone and Phil De La O's best lap times were within fifteen hundredths of each other, a testament to the well-tuned nature of the Bondurant Formula Mazdas,. The pair took first and second place in the race, respectively, and Matt Maddox secured third.

"After all of our preparation, it's exciting to see our baby take its first steps," said Alan Rudolph, Series Director. "Our entire crew is looking forward to an excellent season for the first year of the Bondurant Championship Race Series."

Larry Pond, Race Director for the ASA Racing-sanctioned event, echoed Rudolph's comments and said that he was "proud to be associated with the Bondurant School of High Performance Driving and its efforts to cultivate and develop enthusiastic racers."

Be sure to keep an eye on www.bondurant.com for more photos, videos, and news updates from the Bondurant Championship Race series.

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