{"id":5300,"date":"2022-11-29T16:36:59","date_gmt":"2022-11-29T21:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/?p=5300"},"modified":"2022-11-29T16:36:59","modified_gmt":"2022-11-29T21:36:59","slug":"nate-cicero-wins-2022-mazda-mx-5-cup-shootout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/2022\/11\/29\/nate-cicero-wins-2022-mazda-mx-5-cup-shootout\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Cicero Wins 2022 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout"},"content":{"rendered":"

Thomas Annunziata and Heather Hadley earn additional Mazda scholarships;\u00a0\u00a0Reid Sweeney and Chase Jones named to Mazda Spec MX-5 team<\/em><\/p>\n

KERSHAW, S.C. (Nov. 29, 2022)<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 After two days of driving, several meetings and multiple sessions spent reviewing data at Carolina Motorsports Park in Kershaw, South Carolina, three drivers earned scholarships in the 15th edition of the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout. Additionally, two karting stars were selected to be Mazda club racing factory drivers.<\/p>\n

Nate Cicero of Pound Ridge, New York came away from the 2022 Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout with the big prize; a scholarship valued at $110,000 to compete in next year\u2019s Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich\u00ae Tires.<\/p>\n

Two $75,000-value scholarships were awarded to runner-up Thomas Annunziata of Colts Neck, New Jersey, as well as a second to Heather Hadley of Mooresville, North Carolina.\u00a0\u00a0From the group of karters, Reid Sweeney and Chase Jones have been named as official Mazda drivers in the Spec MX-5 series for 2023.<\/p>\n

Operating three identical cars, Flis Performance prepped and maintained the MX-5 Cup vehicles, while Advanced Auto Sports tended to the Spec MX-5 cars. Every driver received their own set of BFGoodrich Tires for the duration of the event.<\/p>\n

The Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout judging panel consisted of professional racers Tom Long, Jonathan Bomarito and Andrew Carbonell.<\/p>\n

The Spec MX-5 judging panel was composed of professional race car drivers Max Papis and Stevan McAleer, former MX-5 Cup scholarship winners Chris Nunes and Connor Zilisch, and Pagid Motorsports Director \u2013 Americas Jim Emerson.<\/p>\n

Following an extensive evaluation from the MX-5 Cup judges, Cicero was determined to be the racer that best embodied Mazda\u2019s ideals and speed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty insane, I\u2019ve been working for this the entire year,\u201d said Cicero, who participated in the Spec MX-5 Shootout last year. \u201cI am kind of speechless, but so happy that I\u2019m going to be racing in MX-5 Cup next year. I am going to just keep working from here. I felt pretty good about how I did off track, and felt decent about how I was in the car, but I wasn\u2019t sure how it was going to play out. When they called (Thomas as runner up), I was thinking that it was either first, or nothing for me but I was really hopeful. I\u2019m just super happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cicero follows in the steps of current champion Jared Thomas who won the Shootout in 2019, followed it up with Rookie of the Year honors in 2020 and finally the series title this October.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am very proud of all these drivers and the way they\u2019ve risen to the challenge presented to them,\u201d said Mazda Motorsports Program Manager Jonathan Applegate. \u201cIt never gets easier to choose a winner, but Nate (Cicero) was poised and professional, and, naturally, very fast. We think he has a great head on his shoulders and is well positioned for a long career in motorsports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas Annunziata was deemed to be a close second in the competition and received a $75,000 scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t believe it, it is a dream come true to be holding this $75,000 check\u201d said Annunziata. \u201cI can\u2019t thank everyone at Mazda Motorsports enough. The coaches were so talented and helpful, and the judges were great. I had so much fun, and I\u2019m so excited to be living my dream next year and racing at this level.\u201d<\/p>\n

As part of Mazda Motorsports\u2019 commitment to create opportunities for female racers, Heather Hadley was declared the winner of the $75,000 Women\u2019s Initiative Scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shaking up there,\u201d admitted Hadley of her nerves ahead of the winner announcement. \u201cThis is the best day of my life. This is life-changing, just amazing. I was really unsure the whole time of how I was stacking up. Sydney (McKee) and Laurin (Brallier) were so amazing the whole time, really competitive and super consistent both days. We were all right there and I am sure it was a tough call for the judges because they were so amazing. It was a blast to get more comfortable in the car, listening to the coaches advice, and applying that to what I was doing in the car and keep pushing myself and my own limits. This was such a great experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mazda is committed to helping young drivers realize their dreams of racing professionally. That starts by bridging the gap between karting and cars. From a field of nine karters, Reid Sweeney and Chase Jones were chosen to become Mazda club racing factory drivers. They will receive financial support, testing opportunities, a driver coach and motorsports mentor to guide them through the motorsports industry and so much more.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe level of talent I witnessed at this competition assures me that Spec MX-5 will continue to showcase some of the most talented drivers in the country,\u201d said Josh Smith,\u00a0Head of Technical Development for Mazda Motorsports. \u201cIt\u2019s an honor to provide aspiring racers a path to break into racing. I look forward to watching Reid and Chases\u2019 motorsports careers progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2023 Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup season begins January 25 \u2013 27 at Daytona International Raceway.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Thomas Annunziata and Heather Hadley earn additional Mazda scholarships;\u00a0\u00a0Reid Sweeney and Chase Jones named to Mazda Spec MX-5 team KERSHAW, S.C. (Nov. 29, 2022)\u00a0\u2013 After two [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,9,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-feature","category-mazda-mx-5-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5302,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5300\/revisions\/5302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sundaymanagement.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}