A fuel pump failure robbed Vancouver's Taylor Hacquard of a fourth consecutive top-ten finish as Round 12 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear, the season finale, played out at the Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Saturday, 18th October.

Hacquard's retirement, just two laps shy of the checkered flag, marred what had otherwise been a stellar weekend for the 18-year-old rookie, capped by his second straight top-ten qualifying performance and second highest of the year. Despite this, and after dropped scores were taken into consideration, Taylor's maiden open-wheel racing season exceeded expectations as the Canadian standout finished tenth overall in the Driver Standings from a field of 34 point scoring racers.

Taylor arrived at the 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca for Thursday's promoter test sessions buoyed by his eighth top-ten finish two weeks earlier at Road Atlanta. His pace was gain evident throughout both Thursday and Friday's track time as Hacquard remained a fixture at the sharp end of the timesheets heading into Saturday morning's final qualifying session.

Piloting the #15 Wolfe Auto Group/World Speed Motorsports entry for the last time this season, Taylor maintained his momentum to secure his second consecutive top-ten grid slot, claiming eighth overall with a lap time of 1m21.594s while the pole went to England's Richard Kent.

A fuel pick-up problem presented itself early in Round 12 on Saturday afternoon. Taylor held his own when the 26-lap race started, quickly gaining a spot and looking good to close in on the top-six when events beyond his control started to hinder his progress at the undulating track. Forced to retire for just the second time this season, Hacquard's race ended prematurely with the fuel pump failure but his solid form throughout the year guaranteed he'd finish in the top-ten in the points – a significant accomplishment for the rookie who graduated to the Star Mazda Championship directly from karting.

The race was won by Richard Kent, the English rookie followed home at the flag by America's John Edwards and Ireland's Peter Dempsey. Edwards' second place was enough to secure the former Atlantic Championship racer the 2008 Star Mazda Championship.

"I'd have liked to have finished the season deeper in the top-ten but it's been a great rookie year for me," stated Hacquard post-race. "I have to be happy with my performance at Mazda Raceway as I proved to be consistent throughout practice and qualifying. I was running well in the race but it wasn't to be. That's the way racing goes sometimes!

"I've had some ups and downs this year but I've learned so much and both met and exceeded some of the goals I had at the start of the season so overall it's been a pretty successful campaign. I have to thank the whole World Speed team for their efforts and everyone else who's helped me along the way this year. I'm already looking ahead to the 2009 season and building on all I've learned."

The Season Finale of the Masters of the Mountain road racing championship saw dismal conditions on Saturday practice and an unpredictable tire choice for Sundays race. Practice was completely washed out but some riders braved the conditions to get their feet wet and gain valuable wet weather riding experience. Tyler Cenarrusa was one of the riders who had never previously ridden in wet conditions. Anticipating similar conditions on Sunday Tyler had no choice but to risk crashing in the horrendous conditions. If it was wet for Sunday Tyler wanted to make sure he knew how to deal with racing in the rain. To add even more to the chaos hurricane Ike had destroyed the tire supplier's warehouse and as a result no full rain tires were available to any of the riders at the track. Instead Tyler took a tire cutter and added as many groves to his normal dry weather racing tires, this wasn't the best but it was the only option he had to get the sidewall of the tire to dissipate the water in the turns. In the morning sessions he went out on uncut tires and found it to be quite difficult. In the afternoon the rain was at its worst and the track was as wet as it could get with standing water everywhere. The cut tires helped but it was still extremely difficult to ride in hydroplaning conditions.

Sunday morning saw more rain but was expected to stop raining in the morning and clear up by midday. The NGTU race was to be the first of the day at 10:15 and the track was still wet. By the start of the race the sun had come out and the track started to dry. The track was damp during the race but was a lot better than the day before. Tyler elected to stay on his cut dry weather tires, which proved to be the best tire choice for the damp conditions. Tyler got an ok start from the front row but Mark Atkinson got the whole shot from the last row. After Mark took the lead he never looked back and simply smoked everybody for the first few laps. Cenarrusa knew all he had to do to get third in the championship was to finish ahead of Brian Childree. But a racer of any kind doesn't settle for the bare minimum, Tyler fought his way thru the traffic and assumed second place on the third lap of four. He put his head down and was reeling in the leader but didn't have enough laps left to close the gap. Mark took the win by seven seconds over Tyler who had another nine seconds gap back to third.

"I was feeling confident on the start line because I knew my tires were going to be good for the conditions. Off the line I had a pretty good start but like a few times this season when I went to shift to second gear the bike went into neutral and a lot of people got by me. I was able to run into turn one deeper than a lot of guys and was up at the front right away. I took second place and started running some good laps. I noticed on the last lap that I was catching the leader, which surprised me because at the start he simply ran away from everybody. I tried to catch him but there wasn't enough time and ended up a solid 2nd. The race was a two-wave race with the twin's class starting ahead of us. I was stoked when I looked at the results and saw I had the fastest race lap out of both classes. With my 2nd place I moved up to 3rd in the championship, which was my goal from the beginning of the year. I had a fantastic season, learned a lot of things, got faster, and didn't get injured! Next year is going to be a lot of fun but very challenging at the same time because I will be moving to the expert classes with the fast guys. But a racer always wants to beat the best people and it is going to be a long winter waiting to grid up again."

Star Mazda driver Taylor Hacquard will be wearing this new paint job for Road Atlanta. His first helmet was done in chrome and this one was done with a rainbow flake base to compliment the bright colors found in the design. you can watch Taylor in the remaining few rounds on Speed.

Censport Graphics founder and owner captured his first win in his first full season of motorcycle road racing. If you read the last race report you might remember Tyler predicting a win at the next race. Well something special must have been in the air on Sunday because Tyler was able to back up his comments as he crossed the finish line ahead of the competition in his first race of the day. Tyler missed the previous race due to a schedule conflict and as a result slipped from 2nd in points all the way down to 6th. This forced him to start the race from the second row. Ty got a great start off the line with good reaction time to the green flag, however points leader Mac Milner had a terrible start from the front row and almost collided with Cenarrusa. After the near miss Tyler went to shift into 2nd gear and the bike went into neutral. The pack instantly overtook him as he tried to find a gear, In a 7 lap sprint race this is exactly what you don't want. Tyler was in 5th place at the end of the first lap and was hanging on to the back of Milner. On the third lap Mac and Tyler had worked their way up to the front three and then Tyler made his move on Mac, next up was Brian Childree. After he gained the top spot he never looked back and was able to cross the finish line a scant .3 seconds in front of 2nd place Brian Childree. The points leader Mac Milner faded all the way back to 4th. Even with his win and his immediate competition for the championship finishing further down the order Tyler was only able to climb back up to 4th with one more round to go. If Tyler has any hope of getting into the top 3 overall for the championship he will have to repeat his performance and win the finale round in October.

"I was extremely nervous before the race because my family and girlfriends family were all there and they had never been to a race before. So naturally I wanted to win for them and put on a good show. It didn't matter to me that I got a bad start because Mac also had a bad start. We both recovered from the near impact and he was directly in front of me with the pack ahead of us. All I wanted to make sure was that Mac didn't get a gap on me, if he passed someone I wanted to make sure I did as well in the same or next corner because I didn't want anyone in between us. I remember going down the back straight at about 150 and I was on Macs tail, I mean a foot behind him. He looked back at me to see if I was there. I made sure that I didn't get on the brakes for the hair pin until he started braking, actually I went into the hairpin deeper than he did and I also took the inside line. I kind of made a block pass, but once I was past him I only had one more guy to pass. I rode extremely aggressive but everything felt right so I kept going. I took the lead on the fifth lap and had a perfect race accept one small thing. I was braking and shifting going into the last turn on what was coming up to be the last lap and I shifted into 4th instead of 2nd. I had to bang down a couple gears before I could get on the gas and I thought Brian was going to get by me down the straight. Well he didn't and I just made sure I didn't make any mistakes or leave any doors open for them to block pass me. The only time I looked over to my family was as I was about to cross the finish line. The cool down lap was pretty emotional because I was able to do this in front of my family. And also knew someone else was watching, my dad who passed away 11 years ago to the day of the race."

In Tyler's other races of the day he finished 3rd in the NGTO race. He was the first 600, 3 of the top 4 were liter bikes. In his last race he finished 4th in a class mixed with experts and novices.

For the season finale the Masters of the Mountain will be racing on the full 4.5-mile track which uses the longest straight away in North America at just over ¾ of a mile. The 600cc bikes will reach speeds of 165-170. Tyler will try to finish out the season on a high note with a win. Stay tuned for a report from the finale.

For over forty years the streets of Trois-Rivières have been transformed into a premier racing event. The Trois-Rivières Grand Prix is the place for a driver to get recognized, as did Gilles Villeneuve and Paul Gentilozzi. Standing alone as the only street circuit in the Star Mazda Championship, it gathers the largest crowds, prestige, and media attention. Last season in his rookie year of Star Mazda, Alex Ardoin got the attention of the racing community by qualifying on pole at Trois-Rivières. A crash in the race put Ardoin three laps down, to finish in eighteenth place. Looking for resolve Ardoin came into Round Seven with drive, and conviction, and in Friday's practice he demonstrated just that. Ardoin's Mundill team mate Dave Mundy found himself without breaks, and only was able to complete one lap in second practice session. Caio Lara arrived in Trois-Rivières new to street course racing. Lara felt that racing on a street course was, "more exciting, more dangerous and, [pushed] your limits." He became easily acquainted with the track, and wrapped up the second practice session sixth quick. Scott Rettich was also able to navigate his way around, into ninth by the end of the day. Saturday's qualifying went smoothly for Mundill, finding again that three of their drivers were back in the top ten. Ardoin's time of 1:01.962 was quick enough for third place on the starting grid, while Lara qualified sixth with his best time of the weekend, a 1:02:817. Rettich found himself in tenth with a 1:03.091 with Mundy coming in 20th with a 1:07:163. Prior to the start of the race Mundy expressed his high spirit's about the race, saying that "it is a really cool event. The city does a great job putting on this event." Lara and Ardoin, kept their positions off of the start of Sunday's Trois-Rivières Grand Prix; however Rettich found himself being boxed in with "no where to go." Through out the race Ardoin, and rival #7 John Edwards duelled for second place. On the second restart of the race, on lap five, Ardoin overtook Edwards; though on the same lap was passed back by Edwards. Clearly happy about a strong third place finish, Ardoin felt that he had "pushed the car" to the limits. Lara gained a position to finish in seventh spot. At the end of the day Lara spoke about his passion and commitment to making his dream as a professional racer come alive. "I've chosen to race here, in North America. I want to work my way all the way to the top," Lara said. Rettich pushed his car all the way to the end of the Grand Prix to finish ninth. His fastest of the race surprisingly was his last lap, 1:03.415. Mundy found himself in 18th with a improved best time of the weekend a 1:05.409. After this weekends results, Ardoin still stands second in points in Star Mazda . Having a favourable chance at winning the Championship Ardoin could potentially win sponsorship for the 2009 Champ Car Atlantic Series, a cash award of $100 000, and a brand new Mazda RX-8 sports car. - Jennifer Carlson

I have finally been able to paint my Arai GP-5K, used for a show piece and track days. I did the design a while ago and was just able to get it into paint and make it a reality. The design has a lot of different elements that are special to me and connect the theme together. I wanted a 3 in there because it is my favorite number, the wings represent my family's history in aviation, and the curving crosses are called Laburu's. They are a symbol of my Basque heritage. The scrolls and font choice was done so everything ties together with an organic feel juxtaposed against the straight lines of the overall design. The color scheme was done for two reasons. The gold candy and the dark blue were done to represent the Blue Angels (again tying in with aviation). The neon orange and neon red with the dark blue was done to represent the Repsol Honda team, my favorite team in Moto GP. I wanted a chrome helmet because it is so fun to look at. So there you go, this is a perfect example of things that you should think about when trying to come up with a design that states who you are. You can see more of this helmet in the gallery section of the website.

The new helmet must have been a good omen for Censport Graphics rider Tyler Cenarrusa at the latest round of the Plaza Cycle Masters of the Mountain series at Miller Motosports Park. Great starts all day, great battles with the opposition, and great results. It was another hot one toping out around 100 degrees but the real heat was on the track. Round 4 was a Suzuki and Yamaha payout weekend so all the fast guys from the west showed up to collect some factory money on their way to Mid-Ohio next week.

In the NTGO class (open class with 600cc and 1000cc motorcycles) Cenarrusa got great start from the 2nd row and was in 3rd place on the opening lap. Mac and Tyler were being held up by a GSXR 1000. Mac managed to make a pass right before a section that you can't pass on and Cenarrusa got stuck behind for the rest of the lap. As a result Mac was able to check out. Tyler then blew turn 9 and allowed John Burr on a Triumph 675 to get by. Tyler and John managed to have an exciting battle all the way to the last lap. Tyler passed on the inside going into turn one and took the line away for John to get a good launch out of the corner. All the while a guy on a Kawasaki ZX10R was lurking behind as Cenarrusa and Burr were fighting. The Kawasaki got a good drive off of the last corner and passed Tyler at the line by 1/100th of a second.

"This race was possibly my favorite so far even though I lost out on the podium by such a close margin. I didn't even know that guy was there the whole time, I was so focused on John in front of me. I had a great time battling with Burr, at one point we were leaning on each other. As I made my pass up the inside of turn one I could see smoke pouring off of his knee puck on the ground, that was pretty cool in itself. I am just happy to have close clean racing with these guys and gals."

In Tyler's first race they had to run two classes at the same time due to a tight schedule with the extra races for the USGPRU 125 and 250 catagories. In NGTU, which Cenarrusa competes in they had to grid behind the open twins class. Both fields went on the green flag. Tyler was on the first row in his category but actually started tenth because of the other class in front of them. Tyler got a solid start and was instantly on the back and dicing with the twins that had a 20 yard head start. He then put in some solid laps and tried to hang with the leading two twins riders. Mac Milner, a rival of Cenarrusa was his only competition of the race.

"I had that great start and even passed 4 or 5 twins guys exiting turn 1. I think I was in 3rd overall and just was clicking off laps. Then I could hear a 600 in the distance behind me. I knew it was Mac. He passed me going into turn 1 on I think the 4th lap. I thought he would check out because he had managed to catch and pass me. But never giving up I tried to stay with him. To my surprise I was able to hang on to him. I was just following him and planning my pass for the last lap. Some guys crashed and the yellow flags came out. I guess they waved the white flag and the yellow at the same time because I didn't even know it was the last lap, all I saw in the flag man's hand was a yellow flag. If I would have known it was the last lap I would have tried to make a pass for the win. When we came down the front straight for the last time I saw the checkered flag and the yellow. I finished 2nd only .4 of a second behind. I was kinda mad because I was so close to my first win. I was able to drop 1.6 seconds off of my lap time from last time I was on the east coarse so I was really happy about that. I will defiantly bring it to Mac at round 6 in September. Hopefully I am going to walk away with a win that weekend."

Tyler will miss round 5 due to a schedule conflict but will be back at Miller on the west course for round 6 on September 5th and 6th. Stay tuned for a race report and see if Tyler can make good on his worlds.