Mazda Sweeps Podium in Continental Tire Series at Lime Rock Park - Speedway Digest

Mazda MX-5s finished 1-2-3 in a dominating performance at the Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge series race today at Lime Rock Park. Chad McCumbee and Stevan McAleer teamed to drive the Freedom Autosport No. 25 ModSpace MX-5 to a convincing win in the two-hour, 30-minute race. The duo crossed the line with a 10.66-second margin of victory. Finishing second was the Alara Racing No. 34 Mazda with drivers Terry Borcheller and Christian Szymczak, who led the race in the opening segment. Andrew Carbonell and Liam Dwyer teamed to finish third after starting ninth in the Freedom Autosport No. 26 Mazda MX-5.

Mazdas started in the top-three positions, and led every lap of the race. This is the second win of the season for McAleer and McCumbee, who also triumphed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in April for Freedom Autosport. This was also their first pole position of the year. The defending series champions, McCumbee and McAleer are now unofficially seven points out of the points lead with four races remaining this season. It is the best finish of the year for Alara Racing, and the second-best finish for Dwyer and Carbonell, as they finished second at Mazda Raceway.

“Mazda gives us such a great platform to run with the MX-5,” said McCumbee, who won the pole position and then led the race in his opening stint. “The Freedom Autosport guys had our ModSpace Mazda on a rail today. The car is great on long runs, and the caution-free race enabled us to get a huge lead and take advantage of all the car can do.”

The third Freedom Autosport entry, the No. 27 Trumpf Mazda MX-5 with drivers Danny Bender and Britt Casey Jr. finished 12th after recovering from an unscheduled pit stop mid-race for a flat tire. The No. 66 Riley Racing Mazda with drivers Jameson and AJ Riley dropped from the race early after qualifying third.

Mazda is now second in the manufacturers standings in the ST class of the Continental Tire series.

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Adam Sinclair

NHRA, IHRA, Motocross and other forms of motorsports Staff writer
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.