Team USA Scholarship candidates showcase abilities at Auto Club Speedway - MotorSportsTalk

A wide variety of accomplished insiders from the world of motorsports have a tough task ahead of them as they work toward naming two winners from a group of six candidates who auditioned at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., on Monday for the opportunity to represent the Team USA Scholarship in England later this year.

This year’s finalists were drawn from a broad spectrum of series in North America. Ben Auriemma, 16, from Manhasset. N.Y., and Michai Stephens, 22, from Evanston, Ill., have been racing together as rookies in the Skip Barber Racing Summer Series. Tristan DeGrand, 18, from St. Louis, Mo., and Garth Rickards, 21, from Mechanicsburg, Pa., have competed successfully in F1600 competition. Aaron Telitz, 22, from Birchwood, Wis., won Rookie of the Year honors in the Cooper Tires USF000 Championship Powered by Mazda, while Kenton Koch, 20, from Glendora, Calif., holds a commanding lead in the SCCA Mazda MX-5 Cup Series with just two races remaining.

The extended drought in Southern California was temporarily eased when heavy rain interrupted on-track proceedings aboard the Allen Berg Racing Schools FR1600 cars on Monday morning, but thankfully the weather cleared in the afternoon so that all six competitors, running in two groups of three, were able to complete three sessions each. They were judged not only on their speed but on their feedback, their willingness to learn and their personal interaction with the judging panel. The assessments also included an interview session and a rigorous morning workout with renowned fitness expert Jim Leo of Indianapolis-based Pitfit Training. In addition, the group was invited to complete a pair of essays, providing insights into the Road Racing Drivers Club’s ground-breaking SAFEisFAST.com initiative and the legacy of legendary American driver/engineer/team owner Dan Gurney.

The judging panel included former Team USA Scholarship winners Neil Alberico and Brett Smrz; two-time Rolex Sports Car Series champion Alex Gurney; David Cook, Business Development Manager, Mazda North American Operations; veteran IndyCar/Indy Lights team owner Jack McCormack; RACER Magazine founder Paul Pfanner; race engineer Geoff Fickling, who guided Colombian-American Gabby Chaves to this year’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship with Belardi Auto Racing; World Speed Motorsports team owner Telo Stewart; and Team USA Scholarship founder Jeremy Shaw.

“I had a great time as one of the judges for the Team USA Scholarship,” said Gurney. “This is such a special and rare opportunity for young road racers these days and I think Jeremy Shaw deserves a lot of credit for his work behind the scenes to promote American drivers. This year’s crop was a great bunch. They were not only very talented on track but good people off the track as well. We had a very fun and productive day despite the rain shower in the morning. There will certainly be two very quick and promising young drivers heading to England to represent the USA!”

“We have a wealth of information to sift through and analyze,” added Shaw. “I want to thank all of the judges who gave up their time to participate and pass along some of their knowledge to the next generation, plus Allen Berg, everyone at Auto Club Speedway, Chris Pantani of Cooper Tires, and Jim Leo for making such a memorable day possible.”

Past Team USA Scholarship have included Jimmy Vasser (1990), Bryan Herta (1991), Buddy Rice (1997), Andy Lally (1999), A.J. Allmendinger (2001), Charlie Kimball (2003), J.R. Hildebrand (2005), Dane Cameron (2006), Josef Newgarden and Conor Daly (2008), Spencer Pigot (2010/2011) and Tristan Nunez and Matthew Brabham (2012).

Two winners will ultimately be selected to represent the Team USA Scholarship in the traditional Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch and the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone, England, in October and November. Both winners will drive Ray F1600 cars prepared by Cliff Dempsey Racing, which guided Newgarden to victory in the 2008 Formula Ford Festival and enabled both Daly and current Porsche Junior driver Connor De Phillippi to win the Walter Hayes Trophy in 2008 and 2009, respectively. The announcement will be made later this month.

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Jett Lawrence remains perfect in the Pro Motocross series after recording another perfect round at Hangtown in Rancho Cordova, California. In his second start on a 450, Lawrence won his second National with his fourth consecutive moto win. It is getting increasingly difficult to find the right superlatives to describe the exploits on the reigning 250 West Supercross champion.

“The track was so brutal out there,” Lawrence told NBC Sports Jason Thomas. “The bike handles amazing even when it’s not too friendly. You had to be really patient; you couldn’t take too much. I didn’t eat enough before that second moto. I kind of lost energy halfway through, but luckily I could use technique and balance and just keep that flow going.”

Lawrence leaves Hangtown with an 18-point advantage over Ferrandis in the 450 Motocross standings, but perhaps more importantly, he climbed to 19th in the SuperMotocross standings and should he stay there, he has an automatic invitation to the Main events in the SMX Championship.

“On this track, you just have to manage,” Lawrence continued. “If you try to take too much and not respect the track, it will bite you very quickly. It was humbling on the first few laps. I got kicked on the cutout at the start of the third section, the tabletop going to the left. I had to get my focus because the boys were coming.”

Still in his first few races since returning from a concussion suffered at Houston in the Supercross series, Dylan Ferrandis finished second with results of third in Moto 1 and second in Moto 2. While Ferrandis was happy with the result, he remains hopeful that he will contend for victory shortly.

“The first moto was very hard for my physically, Ferrandis said. “I got arm pump and when you get arm pump your body gets tired. But I’m very happy because we made a big change for the second moto. We tried stuff every session today and in the last moto the bike was much better, but unfortunately I wasn’t sure what I could do with this bike because the track was very hard and difficult to pass.”

RESULTS: How they finished in the 450 Overall at Hangtown

With the rash of injuries at the end of the Supercross season, the podium was filled with heartwarming stories. Cooper Webb returned to action last week in Pala and failed to make the podium. He is steadily improving with a third-place finish in Hangtown. after finishing with a 4-2.

“It’s incredible what seven days can do,” Webb said. “Last week I felt like I was going to get lapped in the second moto. This week, I could see the leader. It was nice. I fought hard, learned how to suffer again there and that felt nice.

Moto 2 wasn’t pretty for Lawrence. On several occasions in the opening laps, he nearly high sided as he rode the front wheel through the ruts. The reward was worth the risk. By the halfway point, Lawrence had 4.5-second lead over Webb, who was embroiled in a tight three-rider battle for second with his teammate Aaron Plessinger pressuring him and Ferrandis ready to take advantage if those made contact.

It took 20 minutes for Plessinger to get around Webb and once he did, he trailed Lawrence by four seconds. But then, with three minutes remaining, Plessinger crashed and had difficulty restarting the bike, handing second back to Webb who has seven seconds behind Lawrence. Plessinger fell to fourth with results of third and sixth.

Adam Cianciarulo rounded out the top five with a 5-4.

Heartbreak for Aaron Plessinger as he was charging forward 💔#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/vQtKIsuhVg

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 4, 2023

Last week Hunter Lawrence won the overall with a 3-1. He repeated that feat in Hangtown in an exact replica of his Fox Raceway results last week. In Moto 1, Lawrence got off to a slow start and lost 10 seconds in the opening laps. Forced to overcome a sixth-place position in the race at the end of Lap 1, he once again caught the riders ahead of him when the field hit heavy traffic. For the second week, scored another 3-1 for the Hangtown National win.

“The start was crucial’ I knew I had to go,” Lawrence told NBC Sports’ Jason Thomas. “They laid a lot of water down, so I didn’t want to be behind any longer than [I was]. First hot one of the year, was a bit of a wakeup call, so I’m happy to get out of here safe and healthy.”

Lawrence’s third-place finish in Moto 1 featured a fierce battle for final spot on the podium when he caught Spain’s Guillem Farres and France’s Tom Vialle. With Lawrence hailing from Australia, the international nature of the sport was highlighted.

Lawrence left Hangtown with a 10-point advantage over Haiden Deegan in the Pro Motocross championship battle.

Click here for 250 overall results

Justin Cooper finished second in both motos to finish second overall. Hangtown represented a huge improvement from Fox Raceway where he finished fifth overall with a 5-4 finish in the two motos. Cooper pressured Haiden Deegan in the second half of Moto 1 and he earned the holeshot in the second moto and stayed within three seconds of Lawrence in that race.

“He was following me a little bit, checking out my lines, seeing where he was better,” Cooper said. “It’s disappointing to give up the lead like that but it was way better than last weekend. I will definitely take two seconds. I want to be on the top of the step. I feel like I get close to the top step but I never get it done. That’s building up the frustration – the fire. I really want to get one of these wins, so it’s time to start digging.”

Haiden Deegan earned the first holeshot of his career in Moto 1 and rode away from the field, building a four-second lead in the opening laps. Cooper trimmed the lead at the halfway point and for a while it leveled off at two seconds. Then Cooper made another charge with three to go and closed to within a second. Deegan was biding his time, however.

“I was saving a little. I knew at the end Justin was going to try and put a charge on. I let him get up close and then sent it super hard at the end to break him a little at the end.”

Deegan’s first moto win comes in only his fourth National and he remains perfect in regard to podiums this year.

“This was a dream since I was a little kid, to win,” Deegan said. “And in my fourth race, it’s gnarly. I was just sending it. I was getting a little tired at the end becasue I left my mouth open the whole time. It’s unreal; I’m so hyped. I wanted to win bad and I proved it to you guys.”

Chaos erupted in turn 1 in Moto 2 Jeremy Martin went and another rider ran over his arm. Michael Mosiman crashed further down the track on that same lap. Both riders were helped off course by the Alpinestars Medical team.

Deegan grabs his first 250 Mx moto win!1️⃣#ProMotocross #SuperMotocross #HangtownMX pic.twitter.com/1FH5s1ZHfn

— Pro Motocross (@ProMotocross) June 3, 2023