August 19, 2006. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Driving the #69 Ross Smith Racing Maxwell Paper Products Mazda, Ron White, of Santa Clara, California, survived a spin early in the event to roll to his maiden victory today in Round Nine of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Road America. Adrian Carrio, of Monument, Colorado, finished second in the #14 World Speed Motorsports Mazda, 0.471 seconds behind, while Pablo Donoso, of Santiago, Chile, completed the podium as he returned to the series in the #2 Andersen Racing Team Mazda in a race filled with fireworks.

"Adrian was beating me getting onto the front straight so I made some adjustment to my sway bars and threw the car into the corner a little to and it just came around on me, luckily we didn't get hit and was able to get back without losing too many spots," White, who was making his debut weekend with Ross Smith Racing, explained. "This is a pretty sweet way to start it off for myself and everybody at Ross Smith Racing and I have to thank my engineer Kent Stacy who told Ross that I needed to be a part of his team as I'd give them a chance to win so it has definitely worked well for all of us this weekend."

Carrio, who saw his lead dwindle twice due to caution flags, was disappointed to lose the lead on the final lap but philosophical about the championship implications on a weekend that saw his closest championship competitor, Michael Potekhen, involved in a shunt in the final corner of the circuit. "I have to give kudos to Ron there on the closing lap, I gave him a little bit of room and he managed to get through at the end, still we've pulled out a lot of room in the championship," the seventeen-year old Carrio said. "Those cautions killed our chances today as the car was working really well and I had broken the draft of the cars behind me, so to lose that was tough. I was able to hold everyone off on the first restart and was hoping that Ron and Logan would slow each other down racing for second but Ron was able to pull into the draft and get through. Still it was a great weekend for World Speed and I'm looking forward to Mosport."

Filling in for Brad Jaeger this weekend, Donoso was quickly up to speed as he worked his way to a podium finish. "I'm pretty happy with the race and to be back in the series. I made a couple of mistakes in the race but I think I have the best team and was able to come back," Donoso, who has been racing in the Silver Crown Championship, explained. "It isn't that big of and adjustment going from one to the other. As a driver you have to do the same things no matter what you drive, you push the throttle and try to pass the other drivers, last year I was penalized here and didn't like the track but after this weekend I like the track a lot more."

While White was able to survive and thrive after a spin in turn fourteen, the corner was not so forgiving for other drivers as several incidents would occur there, one with major championship implications as Potekhen, who entered the weekend thirteen points behind Carrio, made contact with Micky Gilbert in the corner as he checked up to avoid a spinning Ramiro Scuncio. All three drivers had their day end in the gravel trap as a result. As a result with three-quarters of the 2006 championship complete Carrio holds a commanding lead in the championship lead with 330 points while Potekhen sits in second place with 287 points and Kevin Lacroix lurks in third place with 286 points.

Adrian Carrio shatters track record in qualifying

August 19, 2006. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. After several drivers lapped under the existing track record in Friday practice, championship points leader Adrian Carrio shattered the record in qualifying this morning to capture the pole position for Round Nine of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Road America. Driving the #14 World Speed Motorsports Rockford Fosgate Mazda, the seventeen-year old Carrio clocked a time of 2:03.849 (117.666 MPH) as the checkered flag fell to officially break the previous record of 2:04.621 set in 2004 by Daniel DiLeo.

"My crew stayed here until midnight last night working on the car and my engineer Mike Doyle made a couple of adjustments, and all those minor changes that fine tune the car make a huge difference at a track like this, finding just a little bit of time in each corner adds up, " Carrio explained. "The lap came late in the session because the pressure was on and I was able to get good track position for that last lap where I had a nice gap. This is the second time I've pulled out a pole on the final lap of qualifying and it's kind of fun to shock everyone at the end of a session."

Pablo Donoso, from Santiago, Chile, making his return to the series this weekend as a substitute for injured driver Brad Jaeger, topped the charts for most of the session before falling to second as he lapped the 4.048-mile circuit in a time of 2:04.127 (117.402 MPH) in the #2 Andersen Racing Team Mazda. "Dan Andersen called me if I would want to fill in for Brad this weekend and I said yes for sure," Donoso, who is currently competing in the USAC Silver Crown Series, commented. "I'm pretty happy here because the car is really consistent and I've been fast right from the start. It hasn't been difficult to adjust to this car, if you drive stock car or formula car it's the same, you have to go flat out so I just pushed the throttle and it was okay."

After setting an unofficial track record in practice yesterday Ron White came back this morning to improve on his time, lapping the track in 2:04.322 (117.218 MPH) in the #69 Ross Smith Racing Maxwell Paper Products Mazda, good for third on the grid as he makes his race debut for newly formed Ross Smith Racing. "We went out there early and did some testing and then put on some new tires for the end of the session but Adrian and Pablo put in some good laps," the Santa Clara, California resident said. "We'll be good for the race because the car is really fast and consistent. It's a forty-five minute race, everyone at Ross Smith Racing is working hard and I really want to win. I'm still getting used to having other people work on the car and run the team but I've been running faster than I have been all year and I'm really looking forward to the race."

All told, the top five drivers lapped under DiLeo's track record with Crown Point, Indiana native Logan Gomez, pilot of the #23 Velocity Motorsports The INDYana Kid Mazda, setting the fourth fastest time at 2:04.522 (117.030 MPH), and Ryan Justice, clocking the fifth fastest time at 2:04.595 (116.961 MPH) in the #38 Northwest Autosport J&M Body Shops Mazda during this morning's forty minute session.

Thirty-seven drivers posted times in the session, with Phil Saville and Gerry Kraut both failing to register times during qualifying, which was run under partly cloudy skies and moderate temperatures.

Round Nine of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is scheduled to get underway at 1:05 PM Central Daylight Time.

Michael Potekhen paces opening practice at Road America

August 17, 2006. Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  Michael Potekhen set the fastest time of the day at Road America in Thursday's unofficial practices sessions for Round Nine of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. Driving the #53 Apex Racing Avenue Communities Mazda, Potekhen lapped the 4.048-mile circuit in a time of 2:05.544 (116.077 MPH) in the morning session, the only session that was run under completely dry conditions. Second fastest on the day was Ryan Justice who posted a time of 2:05.892 (115.756 MPH) in the #38 Northwest Autosport J&M Body Shops Mazda while Matt Varsha, who posted his first Star Mazda victory two weeks ago at Trois-Rivieres, was third fastest with a time of 2:06.239 (115.438 MPH) in the #45 Racers Edge Motorsports Red Line Oil Mazda.

The weather was overcast, yet dry, in the morning but gave way to damp conditions as the day progressed with the final two sessions run in light rain. Thirty-nine drivers participated in today's practice sessions, with official practice scheduled to get underway at 8:00 AM on Friday, August 18.