Celebrating Independence Day with fast times

The Bristol Championship Tour featured a host of Mazda winners in the first weekend of July

Competitors converged on Bristol, Tenn., for four days of Tire Rack SCCA National Solo Competition over Independence Day weekend. Situated between Bristol Motor Speedway and Bristol Dragway, 265 drivers took to the Tire Rack Championship Tour courses designed by Chris Harp. Though forecasts predicted intermittent rain for the duration of the event, only one heat was impacted by precipitation. Heat 2 on Saturday started as rain fell but finished in drying conditions, which favored second drivers. Otherwise, daytime precipitation was limited to scattered sprinkles with little impact to the competition.

As the rain poured down, C Street took to the course. First runs were nearly irrelevant as the rain subsided during second runs and the course became all but dry. On his third run, Andrew Pallotta in a 2016 MX-5 set the fastest time of any first driver at 44.478, but that wasn't enough as later drivers saw better conditions. Mark Shrivastava knocked Pallotta down to second with a 44.437 run. On Sunday morning, dry conditions leveled the field and allowed Pallotta to regain the top spot with a commanding 43.624-second run. Shrivastava finished second. Ryan Kowalewski was third for a Mazda sweep of the top three.

Read the full story at MazdaMotorsports.com