Adrian Carrio victorious at Miller Motorsports Park

July 15, 2006. Tooele, Utah. Adrian Carrio, of Monument, Colorado, survived a first lap scare and then pulled away to victory today in Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at the brand-new Miller Motorsports Park circuit. Driving the #14 World Speed Motorsports Rockford Fosgate Mazda, Carrio mastered the 4.468-mile circuit to take the checkered flag 4.153 seconds ahead of second place finisher Ron White, in his #69 Ron White Racing Fulton Valley Farms Mazda. Kevin Lacroix, of St. Eustache, Quebec, completed the podium, finishing third this afternoon in his #74 John Walko Racing Uni-Select Auto Parts Mazda.

After an aborted first start due to the stricken car of Steve Hickham Jr, Carrio, who had qualified on pole position brought the field around for a single-file restart, as the field took the green flag and raced towards the first corner Carrio and fellow front row starter Michael Potekhen touched, knocking the wing off Potekhen's car and ending his day early. Carrio was able to recover from the contact and would lead every lap to score his second consecutive victory.

"It was really unfortunate what happened there on the start between Michael and myself," Carrio said afterwards. "The first start was pretty hectic and as we came down the front straight on the restart I felt a thud and in my mirror I saw his wing under my rear tire. After something like that happens you wonder if anything on the car is broken but when you get to the corner you either make the turn and go racing or your day is done, and fortunately we were able to continue. Once the race settled down the car was working well, even though the track was a little slippery, and I was able to open up a gap after each restart and take another victory."

On the heels of his best qualifying session of the season, White backed up that performance with his first podium finish of the year, finishing second after battling with Lacroix and trying to chase down Carrio. "We made a little change from our qualifying session and we probably should've made a bigger change to try to chase down Adrian but we were right there this weekend," the Santa Clara, California based driver explained. "I had to dodge Michael's wing on the start and Kevin was able to get around me at one point but I was able to get back around him in the first corner on a restart and hold the position to the finish."

Wrapping up the podium with his third third-place finish of the season, Lacroix navigated his way through the opening lap trouble to second place before coming under attack from White and Logan Gomez. "The start was tough for some drivers but it worked out well for me, allowing me to move up to second place," he said. "The track was slippery today though and White and Gomez were able to get around me. I didn't get a lot of laps this weekend before the race so to finish third I am pretty happy."

While Lacroix, White and Carrio will leave the track happy some of their fellow competitors will not share their view, as several championship contenders made early exits from the race. In addition to Potekhen, who came into the weekend in second place, Ryan Justice had his race cut short when he and Matt Varsha tangled at the exit of the Clubhouse Corner on the first restart. Entering the weekend in fourth and fifth place respectively, Justice and Varsha would both lose ground in the points battle.

The conclusion of Round SIx marks the halfway point for the season and Carrio becomes the first repeat winner as he stretches his lead over the field with 234 points towards the championship. Daniel Herrington, who led the championship prior to the scary opening lap incident at Montreal climbs back up to second place in the championship with 196 points. Potekhen falls from second to third now with 190 points. Kevin Lacroix leaps past Ryan Justice and Matt Varsha to claim fourth place for himself.

In the Expert Championship, for drivers aged 30-44, Gerardo Bonilla, of Orlando Florida, drove to the class victory in his #9 Andersen Racing Team NVG Residential Mazda, finishing 7th overall in the 33-car field and expands his championship points lead with 102 points. Dan Tomlin III would finish second in class today in his # 56 Team Tomlin Mazda and move into a tie for second place in the championship with Brian Thienes, who finished third in class this afternoon in the #77 JDC Motorsports Thienes Engineering Mazda. Both Thienes and Tomlin have 82 points.

In the Masters Championship, for drivers aged 45 and older, Doug Peterson, driving the #87 American Speed Factory 3-Dimensional Services Mazda was the class winner finishing 10th overall. Peterson, who pulled double-duty, racing to 12th place earlier in the day in the SCCA Speed World Challenge GT Championship, climbs to second in the championship with 82 points. John Pew recovered from his wild ride at Montreal two weeks earlier in Round Five to finish second in class in his #15 Velocity Motorsports NVG Residential Mazda and move into the championship lead with 84 points. John Faulkner, pilot of the #93 Phenom Racing Group Molecule Mazda moves to third in the championship with 80 points.

In the Team Championship World Speed Motorsports holds onto to first with 124 points while John Walko Racing and AIM Autosport climb to second and third place overall with 103 and 100 points respectively.

With half of the 2006 championship complete, the series now travels west with the American Le Mans Series to Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon, for the American Le Mans Series Portland Grand Prix and Round Seven of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear on July 20-22.

 

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Carrio captures pole position in closing seconds of qualifying at Miller Motorsports Park

July 14, 2006. Tooele, Utah. Adrian Carrio, of Monument, Colorado, stunned the Star Mazda field with a last second dash to capture the pole position for Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Driving the #14 Worldspeed Motorsports Rockford Fosgate Mazda, Carrio lapped the 4.486-mile Miller Motorsports Park circuit in a time of 2:36.171 (103.732 MPH) to earn his second pole of the season. Michael Potekhen, who topped the time sheets in the three practice sessions, will line up second on the grid after setting a fast time of 2:36.286 (103.656 MPH).

"The last four minutes of the session I was able to get a pretty decent gap in the traffic and knew I just had to go for it and it came to me. I can't fully explain what happened as I was just driving the car and not really trying to go fast so I was surprised when they told me it was as fast as it was," the seventeen-year old Carrio explained. "I have to thank the team as they did a fantastic job and now hopefully we can go out and put on a good race tomorrow."

After leading the field through the first three practice session, Potekhen, driving the #53 Apex Racing Avenue Communities Mazda, was shuffled down to second place by Carrio's last second heroics. "I'll have to admit I'm a little disappointed to be second after qualifying but we know we have a great car and we should be right there for the race," the Tempe, Arizona, resident commented. "Adrian dropped that lap on everyone at just the right moment and if there had been more time we probably could've gone out and tried to reclaim the position. It has been a fun time battling back and forth with Adrian this weekend and I think we'll be able to put on a good show."

Lining up third on the grid this weekend, his best starting position this season, will be series rookie Ron White in the #69 Ron White Racing Fulton Valley Farms Mazda, who clocked a time of 2:36.620 (103.435 MPH) and was seconds away from a front row starting position himself. "I'm pretty stoked with how we did this afternoon and we'll try to make up a little bit more in the race tomorrow," White, who missed the final practice session this morning, exclaimed. "The car had a lot of grip this session and we were just a touch off on the balance but we're right there."

Thirty-three drivers set times in this afternoon's forty-five minute session, held under clear skies and hundred degree temperatures at the new state of the art Miller Motorsports Park in Tooele, Utah, as part of the American Le Mans Series inaugural Larry H Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix weekend festivities. Round Six is scheduled to get underway on Saturday, July 15, at 2:45 PM Mountain Daylight Time.

 

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Michael Potekhen leads final practice at Miller Motorsports Park

July 14, 2006. Tooele, Utah. Michael Potekhen, of Tempe, Arizona, topped the time sheets this morning in the final practice session for Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, completing the sweep of every timed practice session this weekend. Driving the #53 Avenue Communities Apex Racing Mazda, Potekhen lapped the 4.486-mile circuit in 2:36.447 (103.549 MPH). Championship points leader Adrian Carrio, driving the #14 Rockford Fosgate World Speed Motorsports Mazda, clocked the second fastest time of the session at 2:36.465 (103.538 MPH), setting up a showdown for this afternoon's qualifying session.

"The Apex Racing team has given me an excellent car once again," Potekhen, who currently sits second in the championship explained. "We're only now coming up to the halfway point of the championship and this brand new team has really hit its stride. We were solid in testing here last week and the car keeps getting better."

With the series taking part in the inaugural Larry H Miller Dealerships Utah Grand Prix weekend at the brand new 90-million dollar Miller Motorsports Park complex in Tooele, Utah, Potekhen also credits another racetrack, Buttonwillow Raceway Park near Bakersfield, California, with helping him get up to speed on this 23 turn circuit. "Having raced with the series in years past at Buttonwillow, which shares some common features with Miller Motorsports Park, I feel like I had a bit of an edge in learning this track," Potekhen said. "With the lack of elevation changes, the wide open space around the track, and the long laps, where a single mistake will cost you dearly, it has taken some drivers longer to get up to speed as they find reference points around the track, with my experience at Buttonwillow I was able to learn the track quickly and focus on getting faster."

While Potekhen has led every official practice session, Carrio, from Monument, Colorado, has been hot on his heels, finishing second on the time sheets in each of the three sessions and closing to within eighteen-thousandths of a second in the final practice session. "Michael looks strong this weekend but my crew at Worldspeed Motorsports have been working hard all weekend to find those extra hundredths we need to get out front," Carrio said. "I'm looking forward to qualifying this afternoon and the race for the pole position."

Thirty-three drivers are expected to participate in this afternoon's forty-five minute qualifying session, scheduled to begin at 5:15 PM Mountain Daylight Time.