A Yamazaki Mazak engineer has made waves at Northampton’s prestigious Santa Pod Racers Club (SPRC) drag bike racing circuit, taking home the coveted first-place title in her fourth race of the season.
Jas Cordelle, a Technical Support Engineer at the company’s Spindle Service Centre (SSC) within its European Manufacturing Plant in Worcester, is an accomplished drag bike racer, having taken up the sport as a child.
She has since progressed through the junior leagues, moving up to the ET bike class in 2018 and 850 class in 2022. Now in her third season at this level, Jas and her engineering team have made further modifications to the bike in order to give her the power needed to compete at the top of the table. With a personal best of 7.26 seconds over a quarter of a mile, reaching a top speed of 178mph, these changes are already starting to pay dividends.
Finishing as a strong runner up in the previous race, Jas went on to achieve her maiden win in the fourth race of the season at the Summer National on 30 June. These back-to-back results have lifted Jas to second place in the overall standings with just two more races to go.
Jas first joined Mazak nearly 10 years ago as an apprentice, completing a Level 3 Foundation Diploma in Mechanical Engineering and Level 4 HNC in Manufacturing Engineering, before choosing to spend her final year honing her skills at Mazak’s SSC. Now, Jas supports customers throughout Europe with any spindle-related challenges while studying for her Level 5 HND in Mechanical Engineering. Her role ranges from building spindles through to remote maintenance and, where necessary, travelling to customer facilities for on-site repairs.
Commenting on her first victory, Jas said: “I’m so excited to have achieved my first win in this competition class and to have moved myself into a strong position with two races to go. I’ve been drag bike racing since the age of 10, and while I’m confident for my final races, it’s unbelievable to see how far I’ve come.
“I’ve worked hard to expand my own mechanical knowledge of the bike in recent years, which has helped me to identify and solve problems faster and work much more effectively with my engineering crew. I feel my work as a hands-on, highly skilled spindle builder has given me the confidence to be more involved on the track.”
She continues: “Mazak has always been a very supportive employer throughout my career. It is understandably quite an expensive sport, however the help I have received from the company, along with the sponsorship opportunities, has meant a great deal to me. I’m living out my dreams and I’m very happy to have been able to share in this journey with Mazak.”
With two races to go this season, Jas has also set her sights on returning to the USA in the Autumn, where she has previously competed in 2021 and 2023.
“The USA is the endgame for any British drag racer,” Jas concludes. “My ultimate goal is to compete there regularly and really fly the flag for the UK!”
Richard Smith, European Group Managing Director at Yamazaki Mazak, adds: “It has been incredible to follow Jas’ drag biking achievements over the last few years and I am proud to see she is succeeding in such a competitive sport. Mazak is committed to fostering a supportive environment for all our employees and on behalf of everyone at the company I’d like to wish Jas the very best of luck over the next two races.”
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