Nikko Reger column: End of an era

For me, this year has been an amazing experience! To be part of the history of the MX-5 Cup and Skip Barber Racing School's 40th Anniversary ... it was a year of growing pains and learning. I was fortunate enough to be part of a huge step in Mazda's history while learning from the best with Skip Barber Racing School. I had not only participated in the last weekend of the Mazda MX-5 Cup with the NC Chassis, I swept the weekend in the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge.

My week started off with a flight to Atlanta for the final round of the Skip Barber MAZDASPEED Pro Challenge. I was fourth in points, and needed a pole and two wins to win the championship. It was a long shot considering the rough season we had pushed through. With the weather looking cold and wet entering the weekend, we were hopeful that with the right circumstances, we could pull off the impossible.

Going into qualifying, I had captured the fastest time by more than a second until the last five minutes. Sam Adams was able to pull a time that was three-tenths faster than I. With the pole taken out of our hands, my chances to win the championship was a slim one. The top three would have to have crashed or fallen out of the race for me to win. Things were looking bleak for me and my team, but I still needed to focus. After we had gone through several hours of data and video, and I put a few hours in the hotel gym, I was ready for the impossible.

Optimistic and prepared, it was time to race. Entering race day, I qualified in second for both days and I knew what I had to do and I was ready to do it. Scattered showers were forecast for the race, so my team and I agreed to get the car set up for an intermediate wet race. With rain tires but a relatively stiff chassis setup, we were ready to catch a race win.

As the green flag dropped, I took the lead on the inside, because Sam preferred the outside rain line. Out the gate I was quick, but Ben Albano was also quick and I knew I had a difficult race ahead of me. Luckily I was able to get the pass for first when Ben was held up by lapped traffic. After a long caution period, I had a bad restart and was passed by Robby Foley. Luckily the track had started to dry up and my car began to come on, I passed easily for first and held it, spending only one lap behind Adams. I was able to control the car better on turn exits and held Sam off until the checkered. It was amazing standing on the podium knowing I had done it once; I just had to pull it off one more time.

With the way the points worked out, I could have won if Sam and Robby had finished lower than fourth. Once again, I had to put all the pressure behind me and drove my heart out. With conditions nearly the same as the previous race, we barely changed the setup of the car. At the green, I lost two positions and got stuck in fourth place. I lost all the speed in Turn 1 when I had to back off due to a car losing control in front of me. This allowed Ben and Foley to run right by me. Knowing how my car was set up, I stayed patient and drove conservatively until the track began to dry.

A short caution period worked in my favor. As the green flag dropped, I was able to catch Sam in Turn 1 and passed Ben on the exit of Turn 7. With the help of a draft from Foley in the back straight, I was able to pass him under braking and came out with sweep of victories at Road Atlanta. I couldn't be happier!

I was ecstatic to share my weekend success with some of my family. My youngest sister (ABOVE), aged four, joined in the excitement and told me when she gets bigger, she is going to beat me in her pink racecar.

In short, we had accomplished a monumental task. Considering the two DNFs and my first year in the Cup, finishing third in the standings less that 10 points behind first place ... I was astonished.

Not only was it the best weekend of my 2015 season, it was one of the greatest weekends of my life. On top of all on the on track shenanigans, I forged some real friendships from my racing peers to the extraordinary mechanics and driver coaches from Skip Barber. Though we missed out on the pole which set me in third position, we had proven who has the speed and the talent to run with the pros. 

In a season full of ups and downs, I learned how to overcome adversity and how to run with the professionals in the racing world. As I buckle down for the amount of make-up work I have from missing a week of high school, and all of the college applications I have to complete in the next few weeks, I couldn't look at my future with more optimism. Though I will spend the next five days in bleak classrooms listening to lectures of the Bill of Rights, and Beowulf, I can only wish to go back to the high-octane, adrenaline-filled races of the Skip Barber Pro MX-5 Cup. This is probably the hardest part of being a 17-year-old racecar driver: when you sit back in a classroom full of students, all you long for is another lap at the racetrack.

Well there it is, my small step in a massive leap of Mazda's history. I have to take a second and thank all of the remarkable people that made this year possible for me. At 17 it is hard for a lot of people to imagine that I am racing cars as a sport. It's the greatest privilege I have the honor of participating in. Even though I am only a tiny part of a larger operation, I feel the effects of what is about to be something amazing.