Team USA Scholarship interview process begins at Mid-Ohio - MotorSportsTalk

The candidates for the 2016 Team USA Scholarship, often a springboard for young American drivers in their open-wheel careers, have been identified and begun the interview process this weekend at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Jeremy Shaw’s Team USA Scholarship program has produced a wealth of talent in its 25-plus year history. Last year’s two recipients, Dakota Dickerson and Michai Stephens, are both embarking on their first full season in the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda series.

Dickerson, who’s also the Mazda scholarship driver this year, has gone on something of a roll the last few races with six straight top-10 finishes from fourth to 10th for Afterburner Autosport, after scoring only two top-10s in the last eight. Stephens is with a first-year team, RJB Motorsports, and has learned with the team throughout the year – but has made steady progress.

This year’s batch of candidates were at Mid-Ohio to meet a number of key people in their pursuit of the scholarship. The release on that process is below:

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The selection process for this year’s Team USA Scholarship is under way. A total of 11 candidates, representing a variety of junior racing categories, has been identified and invited to attend this week’s Honda Indy 200 Verizon IndyCar Series/Mazda Road to Indy Presented by Cooper Tires /Pirelli World Challenge road racing extravaganza at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

The initial challenge for this year’s candidates will comprise interviews to be conducted during the weekend in front of a panel of judges who will include current IndyCar team co-owners Jimmy Vasser and Bryan Herta, winners of the first two Team USA Scholarships in 1991 and 1992, respectively. More recent scholarship winners Joel Miller (2007), now a factory driver for Mazda in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Spencer Pigot (2010/2011), who will be competing in this weekend’s feature event alongside 2008 alum Josef Newgarden for Ed Carpenter Racing, will join several other luminaries from the world of racing on the panel, including factory Porsche driver Patrick Long, Chip Ganassi Racing Managing Director Mike Hull, Mazda Motorsports’ Kyle Kimball, Mazda Road to Indy promoter Dan Andersen, Pirelli World Challenge President and CEO Greg Gill and Carlin Indy Lights race engineer Geoff Fickling.

The following drivers will be making the trip to Mid-Ohio:
•    Oliver Askew, 19, Jupiter, Fla., Skip Barber Racing Series
•    Andre Castro, 17, New York, N.Y., Skip Barber Racing Series
•    Konrad Czaczyk, 19, Jupiter, Fla., F4 U.S. Championship powered by Honda
•    Tim de Silva, 20, Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., Pacific F2000
•    Phillippe Denes, 17, Carmel, Calif., F1600 Championship Series
•    Kyle Kirkwood, 17, Jupiter, Fla., F4 U.S. Championship powered by Honda
•    Kyle Masson, 18, Windermere, Fla., IMSA Mazda Prototype Lites presented by Cooper Tires/Skip Barber
•    Robert Megennis, 16, New York, N.Y., Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship Powered by Mazda
•    Peter Portante, 20, Plainville, Conn., F1600 Championship Series
•    Timo Reger, 19, Houston, Texas, Skip Barber Racing Series
•    Neil Verhagen, 15, Mooresville, N.C., F1600 Championship Series

Two winners ultimately will be chosen to represent their country at the prestigious Formula Ford Festival at Brands Hatch on October 21-23 and the Walter Hayes Trophy at Silverstone on November 4-6. As has become the norm, they will drive Ray Formula Ford cars prepared by Cliff Dempsey Racing. Team USA Scholarship drivers have enjoyed success at both events in the past, with Newgarden becoming the only American driver to win the Festival in 2008 and fellow IndyCar rising star Conor Daly (also in 2008), Connor De Phillippi (2009), who currently races for Audi in European sports car competition, and factory Mazda Prototype driver Tristan Nunez (2012) claiming victory at the Walter Hayes Trophy.

“I am truly excited about the quality of this year’s candidates,” says Team USA Scholarship founder and longtime motorsports writer/broadcaster Jeremy Shaw. “All of them are proven winners. Some difficult decisions lie ahead.”

For the fifth time in 10 rounds of the 2023 Monster Energy Supercross season, the three riders at the top of the championship standings shared a podium and while those points tell one story, the NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit tell a slightly different tale.

SuperMotocross Power Rankings Detroit — *Cooper Webb is peaking at the right time. – Feld Motor Sports*

Chase Sexton has been all but perfect during the past 45 days with podium finishes in each of his heats and Triple Crown features. His only stumble during this period was a 10th-place finish in the Indianapolis Main. Last week, Sexton was perfect with wins in both his heat and the feature, although he needed a little help from an Aaron Plessinger mistake to take the top spot on the podium at the end of the night.

Cooper Webb finished fifth at Houston and was beginning to worry ever so slightly about his position in the points. Prior to the race in Tampa, he told NBC Sports that it was time to win and like Babe Ruth pointing to the outfield fence, Webb went out and captured it. Following that race, Webb has swept the podium and earned the red plate two weeks ago in Indianapolis. At Detroit, he added two more points on Eli Tomac as the season begins to wind down.

Tomac struggled with a stiff neck at Indianapolis and after a modest third-place showing in Detroit, he revealed he was still suffering a little. Webb and Sexton have been able to close the gap on Tomac in the past 45 days, but one of the main reasons he is so close in the points was a pair of wins that started the year. Seattle is going to be important for the defending champion because Tomac cannot afford to lose any more momentum with seven rounds remaining.

MORE: Chase Sexton inherits the win in Detroit

It appeared Jason Anderson was turning things around. He earned his fifth heat win at Detroit, which was also his sixth consecutive race (including features) in which he scored a top-five. A fall in the Detroit Main dropped him a lap off the pace and sent him home with a season-worst finish of ninth, causing a ripple effect in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings.

Justin Barcia was a huge part of the show last week in Detroit. He swapped positions with both Webb and Tomac in the middle stage of the race, which allowed Sexton to close the gap. Barcia finished fourth in that race to earn his third consecutive top-five. He’s been outside the top 10 only once in the first 10 rounds.

Adam Cianciarulo had a great start to the Main. He led a couple of laps before losing a lap and slipping back to eighth in the final rundown. That run was strong enough to elevate him three positions in the SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit.

450 Rankings

This Week	Driver	Percentage Points	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Chase Sexton [2 Main, 6 Heat wins]	87.00	1	0
2.	Cooper Webb [2 Main, 1 Heat win]	86.71	2	0
3.	Eli Tomac [5 Main, 6 Heat wins]	84.57	3	0
4.	Jason Anderson [5 Heat wins]	80.71	4	0
5.	Ken Roczen [1 Main, 1 Heat win]	80.50	5	0
6.	Justin Barcia [1 Heat win]	79.07	7	1
7.	Aaron Plessinger	77.14	6	-1
8.	Adam Cianciarulo	69.75	11	3
9.	Christian Craig	68.86	10	1
10.	Justin Cooper	63.90	9	-1
11.	Justin Hill	58.57	15	4
12.	Dean Wilson	51.50	12	0
13.	Colt Nichols	51.25	13	0
14.	Shane McElrath	46.86	17	3
15.	Josh Hill	46.79	16	1
16.	Benny Bloss	45.31	18	2
17.	Jared Lesher	39.00		NA
18.	Joey Savatgy	38.63	14	-4
19.	Cade Clason	37.50	21	2
20.	Grant Harlan	35.54	23	3

Supercross 450 Points

The NBC SuperMotocross Power Rankings look at the past 90 days in the 250 class in order to have a balanced comparison between the East and West divisions and Hunter Lawrence has been all but perfect this year. At Detroit, he earned his fifth win of the season and kept alive a streak of podium finishes in six rounds. He tied his brother Jett Lawrence with 10 250 wins one week before the West riders take to the track for back-to-back races at Seattle, Washington and Glendale, Arizona.

The Lawrence brothers are dominating the points in each of their respective divisions, which means the remainder of the field is battling to be best in class.

In the East, that rider is Nate Thrasher, who beat Hunter in a head-to-head matchup in their heat only to finish second in the main when the majority of points were awarded. Thrasher seems to have accepted his position in the championship standings, but that doesn’t mean he won’t keep trying for wins.

Haiden Deegan showed a lot of aggression in his heat last week. He threw a couple of block passes at his teammate Jordon Smith and set up a series of events that kept Smith from making the big show while Deegan settled into second in the preliminary. Deegan was unconcerned about how he raced his teammate and would not let a little controversy keep him from celebrating his second career podium in Detroit.

Supercross 250 Points

Jeremy Martin just keeps clicking off solid results. He won his heat last week by making a pass on Deegan and Smith while they were in the heat of their battle. Martin finished fourth in the Main, which means he continues to have only one finish worse than sixth in any of the features or mains.

Smith fell one position in the points standings, but the damage was even worse in SuperMotocross Power Rankings after Detroit. Crash damage in his heat contributed to a last-place finish in that race, for which he earned minimal points. He was not able to advance from the Last Chance Qualifier after stalling his bike in heavy traffic.

250 Rankings

This Week	Rider	Power Avg.	Last Week	Diff.
1.	Hunter Lawrence – E [5 Main, 5 Heat wins]	90.43	1	0
2.	Jett Lawrence – W [3 Main, 3 Heat wins]	90.30	2	0
3.	Nate Thrasher – E [1 Main, 3 Heat wins]	84.00	5	2
4.	Cameron McAdoo – W [1 Heat win]	79.80	9	5
5.	Haiden Deegan – E [1 Heat win]	78.21	7	2
6.	Jeremy Martin – E [2 Heat wins]	78.00	8	2
7.	Jordon Smith – E [3 Heat Wins]	76.77	4	-3
8.	Levi Kitchen – W [1 Main]	75.30	3	-5
9.	Mitchell Oldenburg – W	75.20	11	2
10.	RJ Hampshire – W [4 Heat wins]	74.50	17	7
11.	Max Anstie – E	74.43	6	-5
12.	Tom Vialle – E	72.07	12	0
13.	Max Vohland – W	71.56	10	-3
14.	Stilez Robertson – W [1 Heat win]	69.22	14	0
15.	Chris Blose – E	67.43	18	3
16.	Chance Hymas – E	67.10	15	-1
17.	Enzo Lopes – W	66.00	20	3
18.	Michael Mosiman – E	65.80	16	-2
19.	Pierce Brown – W	65.78	13	-6
20.	Phil Nicoletti – W	59.25	21	1

* The NBC Power Rankings assign 100 points to a Main event winner and 90 points for each Heat and Triple Crown win, (Triple Crown wins are included with heat wins below the rider’s name). The points decrement by a percentage equal to the number of riders in the field until the last place rider in each event receives five points. The Power Ranking is the average of these percentage points over the past 45 days for the 450 class and last 90 days for 250s (because of the split nature of their season).

POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 8 AT DAYTONA: Chase Sexton unseats Eli Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 7 AT ARLINGTON: Jason Anderson narrowly trails Tomac
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 6 AT OAKLAND: Perfect night keeps Tomac first
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 5 AT TAMPA: Sexton, Cooper Webb close in
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 4 AT HOUSTON: Tomac rebounds from A2 crash, retakes lead
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 3 AT ANAHEIM 2: Consistency makes Ken Roczen king
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 2 AT SAN DIEGO: Roczen moves up, Sexton falls
POWER RANKINGS AFTER WEEK 1 AT ANAHEIM 1: Tomac, Jett Lawrence gain an early advantage

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