Shift Up Now Athletes Heather Hadley, Sally Mott and Ashlyn Speed competed in rounds seven and eight of the 2025 Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on June 6-8, 2025.
Hadley piloted the No. 54 entry for Hendricks Motorsports. Mott, competing with JTR Motorsports Engineering and supported by Collision Careers, drove the No. 15 car featuring the “Iron Dames” livery. Speed, the 2025 Mazda Women’s Initiative Scholarship winner, was behind the wheel of the No. 31 entry, driving for Hendricks Motorsports and sporting Whelen livery.
The weekend began on Friday with two practice sessions on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road course. Mott led the trio of Shift Up Now Athletes on the timesheets, running 16th with a time just 0.6 seconds off the session leader.
On Saturday morning during qualifying, Mott set her best time of the weekend, once again running just 0.6 seconds off the leader’s pace. This time however, it put her 20th on the starting grid for race one, among a very competitive 32-car field where the top 24 cars were within eight-tenths of a second.
Hadley was just a couple of tenths off of Mott’s pace, putting her on the outside of row 12 for the first race of the double-header weekend. Speed used the session to continue her learning curve during her rookie season in the MX-5 Cup series.
Later that day, the first 45-minute sprint race took place under clear blue skies at 3:05pm EST. The field lined up side-by-side for the unique green flag start on the back straight. After a clean start, more than half of the field formed the lead pack and ran under green-flag conditions for the first 30 minutes. Hadley, Mott and Speed were all focused on working their forward, one car at a time.
With approximately 15 minutes remaining in the race, a full-course yellow flew for a car in the barriers. The caution period was quick, and the field lined up on the front straight for the restart less than five minutes later.
Mott lost a little ground on the restart but then advanced to 19th, while Hadley moved up to 21st. When the 20-car pack in the front finally began breaking into smaller groups, Mott took over the 17th-place spot, and Hadley the 19th.
When just five minutes remained, Mott gained one additional spot and then another, putting her in the top 15. However, in a drag race to the finish line, she was just 0.01 of a second behind the 15th-place spot. Her 16th-place finish made her the top-finishing female racer.
Hadley crossed the finish line in 18th, and Speed in 26th.
Sunday morning brought the second of the two 45-minute sprint races, beginning at 10:05am EST, this time in treacherously-rainy conditions. Mott was lined up on row 10, with Hadley in the row behind and Speed on row 16.
After an additional pace lap was added due to the wet track, the field took the green flag and immediately began running two- and three-wide through turns four, five and six, and into Thunder Valley.
Coming down the short front straight for the first time under green, Mott moved to the inside to make a pass through turn one but spun at the exit. Luckily, she missed getting collected by passing cars, so she was able to get her pink car restarted. When a full-course yellow flew to clear up debris from other incidents on track, Mott cycled around and caught the back of the pack before the restart.
Hadley moved into the top 20 after a solid restart and took her place along the “snake” of cars in the lead pack.
With 30 minutes to go, another yellow emerged when Speed went into the gravel trap. Prior to the incident, she had advanced nine positions and was having one of her best runs of her rookie season.
Cleanup ate up five minutes of the clock before the green flag flew again. Hadley, still in the lead pack, had her sights set on the top 15. Meanwhile, Mott steadily began picking off her competitors from the back, one car at a time.
A third full-course yellow flew for a stranded car with 20 minutes remaining in the race. Cleanup took just three minutes before Hadley had another strong restart, now running in 13th. Mott continued her impressive comeback, already up into the top 20.
The yellow trend continued when a fourth full-course caution emerged with 10 minutes to go. The field closed up for the finale shootout, with only four minutes remaining at the green flag.
When the white flag flew, Hadley was running in 13th. Mott had gained three spots in the closing minutes to put herself in 15th. As the two approached the final corner, Mott set up a pass around the outside of Hadley through the long penultimate carousel corner, which placed her on the inside as they came to the line. Both drivers earned a top-15 finish, with Mott in 14th and Hadley just behind in 15th.
“Even though I was frustrated with the spin, it lit a fire under me,” said Mott. “I knew I had something to prove, especially at my favorite track on the MX-5 Cup calendar. I just had to stay focused, and as the car came to me throughout the remainder of the race, I found my rhythm and clawed my way back. I’m grateful that I could salvage something from it.”
Next up, the Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup Series heads to Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada for rounds nine and ten of the championship, at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park on July 11-13, 2025.
