DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Since 2021, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin has started its season at Daytona Intl Speedway and has produced some of the best racing of the year.

Thursday was no different, as Tyler Gonzalez (No. 57 BSI Racing) went from 14th on the grid to the top step of the podium in mixed conditions and under the speedway lights.

With unseasonably cold temperatures and steady winds, the weather in Daytona has been frigid since Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup teams arrived, and this trend continued into Thursdays race.

It wasnt just cold, however, as it also began to rain ever so slightly as the 36 cars made their way to the grid. Race officials expected the rain to intensify during the 45-minute race and therefore declared it a wet race, forcing all cars to switch to rain tires.

For the opening laps of the race, the track seemed too dry for rain tires, and polesitter Nate Cicero (No. 19 Saito Motorsports Group) gambled by pitting and losing a massive amount of time to put on slick tires.

This handed the lead to defending champion Gresham Wagner (No. 5 McCumbee McAleer Racing) followed by Gonzalez, who had an incredible start, advancing to third on the first lap.

Only a handful of laps later, Wagner too pulled into pitlane, but not for tires; he retired with a mechanical problem.

Gonzalez was now the leader, and the rain was beginning to intensify.

It was dry, then it wasnt dry, and then it went dry again for a little bit, and then it went really wet, Gonzalez explained. At the beginning of the race, we were contemplating whether or not we were going to come in and put dries on. Im glad we didnt. Im glad we stuck it out.

Without a drafting partner, it didnt take long for Bryce Cornet (No. 65 Spark Performance) to catch and pass Gonzalez.

We were all kind of questioning what rain tires would actually do on a dry track, Cornet said. But it was slick the whole way through, and then obviously it started to rain a little bit, and that exacerbated the situation, because our rain tires were warm.

Cornet and Gonzalez swapped the lead a few more times, but once they were joined by rookie Ethan Goulart (No. 29 Saito Motorsports Group) the trio began to pull away a bit from the rest of the field.

As the rain came down even harder, the trio of cars grew to six with Helio Meza (No. 27 BSI Racing), Parker Delong (No. 42 Parker Delong Racing) and Ethan Tyler (No. 80 BSI Racing) joining the group. Each driver keenly aware that time was running out.

Any forward planning they did for where they wanted to be on the white flag lap went out the window with six minutes left to go. Christian Hodneland (No. 32 BSI Racing) experienced an engine failure resulting in a fire. He pulled his car to a safe location but the fire forced race control to bring out a full-course yellow so safety crews could get to the car.

At the time the yellow came out, Gonzalez was the leader with two laps to go, effectively making him the race winner. It is his third MX-5 Cup win at Daytona.
Goulart and Cornet completed the podium.
The yellow threw a wrench in my plans, Gonzalez said. I did not want to lead, but I was also in a weird spot. We were in a three-car pack, but there was a big pack behind us too, so I didnt want to play too many games and risk it being a 14-car race instead of a three-car race. They went full-course yellow, and its sad to see the race end that way, but glad I was leading!

It may seem surprising for a rookie to finish his first MX-5 Cup race in second, especially at Daytona, but Goulart is a Miata specialist. He won last years Spec Miata SCCA National Championship and was a finalist for the Mazda MX-5 Cup Shootout.

That was probably one of the wildest races Ive ever been in, Goulart said. We had a setback in practice with a mechanical failure and only had a couple laps in the practice sessions before we went into qualifying. I qualified P4 but unfortunately, I had a lap time infringement. Thats all on me. Im sorry to the team. I told the team Id bring it back for them, and we went 19th to second! I mean, on my rookie debut, I think thats pretty amazing. We almost got the win. Congrats to Tyler Gonzalez, that was an awesome race. And thank you to the whole Saito Motorsports team.

Cornet picked up his first podium in his fourth season of MX-5 Cup.

I cant thank my family enough, a grateful Cornet said. I have great sponsors this weekend with the Braxton Byrd Foundation, and Spark Performance is an amazing team to work with. This is a huge monkey off my back to get third and I feel really good going into the season. Whats crazy for me is, I dont know if Ill make the full season, but thats part of the story. But well keep the momentum going, and hope this helps.

Meza, a MX-5 Cup Shootout scholarship winner, finished his first-ever MX-5 Cup race in fourth. His teammate, Tyler, followed in fifth, a career best finish for him.

The Penske Shocking Performance of the Race Award went to Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) who started dead last on the grid but fought his way up to eighth at the finish.

After qualifying I was pretty down on myself, Fletcher said. You know, it was pretty much 99 percent on me, and I apologized to the team too, but the backup car never disappoints. We did it at Canada last year and drove through the field. We drove through the field at VIR, so its not really a worry to me. Unfortunately, I think that caution kind of cost us a couple more spots. Daytona last lap, every year, theres a couple cars that dont end up coming back to the finish line and I was kind of banking on that, but a top 10 after starting 36th was pretty incredible.

CASA GRANDE, Ariz. Central Arizona Raceway is presenting the Ernie Mincy Early Thaw Memorial with three nights of action this week and next. Six divisions are in competition featuring WISSOTA late models.

Modifieds, sport mods, and stock cars are IMCA divisions, super stocks is an WISSOTA division, and limited mods combine cars from different sanctions.

The format uses passing/finishing points from heat races and main event lineups are straight up by points.

A 115-car field opened the six-race series, which is in action Thursday through Saturday this week and next. All the events are broadcast by IMCA.tv.

Northern sport mods ran a non-stop main with Ryan Perry leading the 20 laps for the win.  Mark Martini was second and Kaden Woodie finished third.

The late models raced 25 laps non-stop and Dylan Thornton led the entire distance for a dominant win. Thornton hit traffic on lap eight but seemed to use traffic to lengthen his lead.

Ricky Weiss moved into second with eight laps remaining but was far back enough and the lack of any yellow made pressure on Thornton not possible.  Josh Leonard finished third.

Super stocks had a lead trading battle between Max Nelson and Jordan Henkemeyer. Nelson used the bottom of turn one a couple times to take the lead but Henkemeyer came back each time.

Ninth-starting Henkemeyer got the win over Nelson and Doug Bolt was third.

Chaz Baca raced from eighth starting to second in a heat race to earn a front row starting spot and used that to win the modified main. Troy Morris III was second and Tom Berry Jr. was third.

The stock car main was claimed by Shelby Williams and Jake Smith was the limited modified winner.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. Charlie Peter, winner of both the 2024 Touring 2 and GT-2 SCCA National Championships, was named the recipient of the Road Racing Drivers Clubs Mark Donohue Award.

Peter was honored at the annual RRDC members dinner on January 22, prior to the running of the Rolex 24 At Daytona, the season-opening round of the 2025 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Selected by members of the RRDC each year since 1971, the award recognizes the driver exhibiting the most outstanding performance at the annual Sports Car Club of America National Championship Runoffs in terms of personal spirit and skill behind the wheel. Originally called the Outstanding Performance Award, the honor was later named after Mark Donohue, a former SCCA Champion, an inductee in the SCCA Hall of Fame and past president of the RRDC, following his death in 1975.

Having finished runner-up in Touring 2 (T2) in his first three Runoffs appearances from 2020-2022, Peter entered two classesT2 and GT-2for the 60th Anniversary event October 4-6, 2024. He earned his first-career Tire Rack Pole award, turning a GT-2 class record 2:11.860 (110.490 mph) in his Phenix Label/Yokohama Porsche 991.2 GT3 Cup, and narrowly missed out on a second pole in T2, qualifying second.

The T2 race was up first, with Peter getting the jump in his Phenix Label/Hoosier Tire BMW M2CS Cup on three-time defending class champion Kurt Rezzetano to take the early lead. The two would trade the top spot multiple times, running side-by-side through the middle section of the historic four-mile circuit until the driver from Olathe, Kansas, put his BMW up front for good, taking a 10.504-second win.

It was an incredible battle, Peter said. Learning from previous Runoffs starts with Kurt, I knew I had to stay on his bumper or get by him by Turn One. Luckily for me, Kurt had a slow gear shift after the green, which gave me the edge I needed into the first turn. I knew hed get me back eventually, since he had the straightaway speed, but I figured Id have a chance if I could keep pressure on him without wearing my tires.

Peters pair of wins achieved the rare Runoffs double, something his father Hans Peter accomplished in 2007, winning C Sports Racing and Formula Atlantic. Charlie credits his father for his development as a driver.

I did a little karting when I was younger, but I really started racing in the WRL when I was 20, the 28-year-old said. Being that we were co-drivers, he taught me everything and I really owe all of my successes to him.

The unique award has a glass top and sits on a race wheel with a historic provenance. RRDC member David Donohue, son of Mark Donohue, presented Peter with the award, which included a wheel donated by Meyer Shank Racing that was used on its No. 60 Acura GTP car in victories at the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and the Mobil 1 Petit Le Mans with drivers Tom Blomqvist and Colin Braun.

Peter found out that he had been selected for the Mark Donohue Award after a phone call from RRDC President Bobby Rahal.

I was at work when I saw an incoming call from an unrecognized Ohio phone number. I figured if it was important, they could leave a message. he said. Thankfully, he left a message because after listening to the voicemail, I realized I had ignored a phone call from Bobby Rahal! Before calling him back, I prepared my Indy car driver contract acceptance speech.

This is a considerable honor, an award I never through that I would achieve. Mark has been an idol of mine since I was young, and because of him, I take pride in working on the car that I race.

CONCORD, N.C. Alex Karpowicz is stepping into the national midget ranks in 2025 with ambitions to win the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Series championship in his first year.

To do so, the 21-year-old from Spring Branch, Texas, native has switched from micro sprints to the No. 97 Lynk Chassis midget for Keith Kunz/Curb Agajanian Motorsports.

Ive been running micros the last few years and we really felt like we did everything we could, Karpowicz said. We felt like I mastered a lot of micro-practices and figured it was time to move up. (Im) getting a little up there in age, and thought I was ready. So, well run at the best team and give it our best shot.

Karpowicz found his success piloting micro sprints around Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana, picking up two NOW600 Stock Non-Wing Division championships in 2022 and 2023.

He got his first laps in a KKM midget during his NOS Energy Drink Chili Bowl Nationals debut in January. While it was a new experience for him, Karpowicz said hes already confident hell find comfort with the team and car.

Their cars are definitely different from what Im used to, Karpowicz said. We came (to Tulsa) to try and shorten that learning curve as quickly as we could. The teams great, and I got to adjust my driving style to fit their setups and we all know that theyre capable of winning, so I gotta do my part now.

Looking at the 2025 slate of races that the series tackles, Karpowicz expressed excitement to compete on larger-scale racetracks like Missouris Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, which gives him memories of racing similar tracks around his home.

Down home in Texas, we run a lot of quarter miles, Karpowicz said. I mean, true quarter miles, bigger tracks. So, Im pretty stoked for a lot of the bigger tracks at the beginning of the season, and I think I-55 is gonna be pretty fun too, high-banked and fast.

Entering the season, Karpowicz has two goals with KKM: win the 2025 rookie-of-the-year title and the series championship.

Im big into championships, Karpowicz said. So, were gonna give our best run in a championship. Hopefully, Rookie of the Year if we can pull that off too. If were really lucky, well get both.