2007 Star Mazda Championship Presented by Goodyear- Cleveland

June 24, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio – Round Six of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, held Sunday afternoon at the Burke Lakefront Airport circuit in Cleveland, Ohio, was won by Jonathan Goring of Norfolk, CT, driver of the #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing Mazda. Goring, the 2006 Skip Barber National Series champion, came into the race 5th in the points, qualified on the outside of the front row and battled for most of the 45-minute race with pole-sitter leader Dane Cameron of Sonoma, California.

Cameron led the first half of the race until deteriorating tires slowed his pace and Goring slipped by him on the second of two yellow-flag re-starts. Cameron finished 2nd in his #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Mazda, and retains his lead in the championship. Finishing 3rd in the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda is the series’ lone female driver, Natacha Gachnang of St. Gingolph, Switzerland, who also scored a podium finish at Round Five in Portland.

“It was an exciting race for me because I knew from the start that I had a car capable of winning the race,” said Goring, who won four races on his way to the 2006 Skip Barber championship. “I was careful in the first turn and got through with no problems, after which Dane was leading until the half-way point when I was able to close on him a bit. Then came the first of two full-course yellows and I couldn’t get past him on the first one, but got by on the second. This is my first win in the Star Mazda championship and I’d really like to thank my team, sponsors and Skip Barber for all their support.”

This weekend marked the Star Mazda series’ first visit to the 2.106-mile Burke Lake Airport circuit. For championship points leader Dane Cameron, however, it was a return to the track where he won from the pole last year in the Formula Ford 2000 series on his way to second place in the championship and ‘Rookie of the Year.’ His Star Mazda record so far in 2007 includes three poles, two wins, one 2nd-place finish and two 4th-place finishes. He came into the weekend leading the championship battle by 12 points and extended that lead with his 2nd-place finish today.

The new points totals reflecting the results of the Cleveland race will be published after the completion of post-race technical inspection.

“It all came down to tires for me; I tried to save them as much as possible in qualifying so they would last the race, but we came up just a bit short on rubber,” said Cameron, who also set the fastest lap of the race. “There was a bit of confusion with second of the two full-course yellows and I wasn’t able to get my tires scrubbed properly for the re-start so I had no grip going into the first turn. That’s where Jonathan got me and it took so long for the tires to come back in that I just couldn’t catch him. Still, we pretty much dominated the weekend with fastest in every session, the pole and extending our points lead, so I’m reasonably happy.”

In Round Five at Portland, Gachnang became the first female driver to finish on the podium (a 2nd-place finish) in the modern history of the Star Mazda championship. Only one other female driver, Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske, ever scored a podium finish -- ten years ago on the short oval at Irwindale, CA in the previous-generation, tube-frame Mazda race car. Gachnang’s 3rd-place finish this afternoon secures her place in the history books as the only female driver to score back-to-back podium finishes in the Star Mazda championship.

“Qualifying was hard because I had to serve a 10-minute penalty for something that happened yesterday and as soon as I went out on course there was a red flag, so I only had about four laps to try and set a time,” said Gachnang. “I got an OK start in the race from 10th on the grid and was able to pass a few people, but it was the re-start that really helped me. I scrubbed my tires really well and went to the inside when the green came out, which was the right decision because I moved immediately up to third place and held it until the end. This is very tight, competitive racing, and I’m happy to be with such a good team.”

Rounding out the top-5 were Tyson Sy of Manila, Philippines, in the #68 Team G.FRO/Popsy Mazda and Ron White of Santa Clara, CA in the #69 Team G.Fro/Wunder-Bar Mazda.

Cleveland was the sixth round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule and will be broadcast on the SPEED Channel Monday, July 9 at 3:00 pm (ET), with a re-broadcast on Thursday, July 12 at 4:00 am (ET). The next event on the schedule, also with Champ Car, is at the Steelback Grand Prix of Toronto, July 6 – 8.

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June 23, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio -- Dane Cameron, a series rookie from Sonoma, California, has won the pole for the start of tomorrow’s Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank. He drove his #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda to a lap of 1:09.195 around the 2.106-mile airport circuit.

Cameron, who won from the pole here last year in the Formula Ford 2000 support race during the Champ Car weekend, has now captured the pole in three of the six Star Mazda races held so far this season and currently leads the championship battle with 177 points and a record of two wins and two 4th-place finishes.

“We were quick early and set the pole time on the third lap of qualifying, which was a good thing because there was a big accident and the session was red-flagged for ten minutes right after that,” said Cameron. “The track is going to be quite a bit different tomorrow since we’re racing after the Champ Cars; there’ll be lots of rubber down, lots of marbles, probably fairly slippery, so tire management, consistency and precision will be what wins the race. I’m aiming for the kind of weekend we had in Houston where we were fastest in every session, started from the pole and won the race.”

Starting alongside Cameron on the front row tomorrow will be Jonathan Goring of Norfolk, CT who turned a lap of 1:09.381 in his #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing Mazda. Goring, the 2006 Skip Barber National Series champion, is currently 5th in championship battle with 148 points. Starting third will be Australian racer James Davison, who turned a lap of 1:09.520 in his #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda.

Rounding out the top-5 are Alex Ardoin of Lafayette, Louisiana with a 1:09.529 in his #51 Mundill Racing/Oral & Facial Surgery Center Mazda and and Eric Frieberg of Homer Glen, IL in his #3 Northwest Autosport/CDE Collision Damage Experts Mazda with a 1:09.849.

All of the cars starting in the top-10 qualified within one second of each other. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:15 pm Sunday, June 24, after the Champ Car race.

Cleveland is the sixth round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule. The race will be broadcast on the SPEED Channel Monday, July 9 at 3:00 pm (ET), with a re-broadcast on Thursday, July 12 at 4:00 am (ET).

June 23, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio -- Dane Cameron of Sonoma, California, the current Star Mazda Championship series points leader, set the fastest time in the first practice session for Round Six at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport and followed it up with another fast lap in the second session on Saturday afternoon. He drove his #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda to a lap of 1:09.666 around the 2.106-mile airport circuit. Cameron won from the pole here last year in the FF2000 series, but this is the first time the Star Mazda cars have raced at Cleveland.

“The track seems to be getting better, and if it gets cooler later in the afternoon when we qualify, times might drop into the 1.08’s. We put on new tires just before two consecutive red flags toward the end of the session and only had about five minutes to make adjustments to the car, so I think there’s still quite a bit of time left in it and we’ve got a good shot at the pole.”

Turning the second-fastest time in the session was Alex Ardoin of Lafayette, Louisiana with a 1:09.984 in his #51 Mundill Racing/Oral & Facial Surgery Center Mazda. Ardoin is currently 9th in the championship with 129 points. Turning the third-fastest lap was Tyson Sy, of Manila, Philippines, who posted at 1:09.988 in his #68 Team G.FRO/Popsy Mazda.

Only the top-3 driver broke into the nines during the session. Nick Haye of Huntington Beach, California drove his #37 JDC Motorsports/NHR Racing Mazda to a lap of 1:10.018… a feat matched by Australian racer James Davison, who turned an identical lap of 1:10.018 in his #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda. Davison is second in the championship with 165 points, while Haye is 7th with 138.

With Haye and Davison tied for fourth in the session, it fell to Jonathan Goring of Norfolk, CT to round out the top-5 with a lap of 1:10.382 in his #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing Mazda. Goring, the 2006 Skip Barber National Series champion, is currently 5th in championship with 148 points.

A 45-minute qualifying to set the starting grid for Sunday’s race will start in just two hours, at 6:20 in the evening. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:15 pm Sunday, June 24, after the Champ Car event.

June 22, 2007, Cleveland, Ohio -- Dane Cameron of Sonoma, California, the current Star Mazda Championship series points leader, set the fastest time in the first practice session for Round Six at Cleveland's Burke Lakefront Airport. He drove his #19 Lynx Racing Ocean Tomo 300 mockett.com JDC Motorsports Pro Formula Mazda to a lap of 1:10.282 around the 2.106-mile airport circuit.

"The track was a little slippery throughout the session, so nobody quite achieved the times that we all thought, in the 1:09s, but that will probably come tomorrow," says the 18 year-old Star Mazda rookie who won from the pole on this circuit last year in the FF2000 series. "My knowledge of the track was useful in getting up to speed right away, but there are several drivers who are going quickly, so it’s going to be a battle for the pole tomorrow."

Cameron, with two wins, two poles and two 4th-place finishes, currently leads the Star Mazda championship battle with 177 points. He retained his lead despite being knocked out of the previous race in Portland during a multi-car melee in the first turn of the first lap.

Second in the session was Eric Frieberg of Homer Glen, IL, turning a lap of 1:10.694 in his #3 Northwest Autosport/CDE Collision Damage Experts Mazda. Frieberg finished 23rd at Round 5 in Portland and is currently 12th in the championship with 116 points.

Third in the session was Australian racer James Davison, who has also started from the pole twice this season. He turned a lap of 1:10.899 in his #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda. Davison is second in the championship with 165 points after finishing 22nd in Portland.

Rounding out the top-5 in the first practice session were Tyson Sy, of Manila, Philippines turning a 1:10.914 in his #68 Team G.Fro/Popsy Mazda, and Jonathan Goring, of Norfolk, CT with a lap of 1:11.137 in his #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing. Goring finished 10th in Portland and is 5th in championship with 148 points.

Racers will also have a 45-minute practice session on Saturday afternoon, with the 45-minute qualifying session starting at 6:20 in the evening. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:15 pm Sunday, June 24, after the Champ Car event.

Cleveland is the sixth round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule.

YOUNG LIONS BY THE LAKE

FAST FACTS – The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear race at this weekend’s Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank

Competition in the Star Mazda Championship is so close and fierce that seven drivers are just one victory away from taking the lead.
The current championship leader, with two poles and two wins, is 18 year-old rookie Dane Cameron of Sonoma, California. Devin Cunningham, also a series rookie and the surprise winner in Portland two weeks ago, is currently in 8th place. The second-place finisher in Portland was Swiss racer Natacha Gachnang, the lone female driver in the series.
Mazda is celebrating the 40th anniversary of its legendary rotary engine, the powerplant used in the Star Mazda race cars and the company’s RX-8 sports car. The first rotary-powered road car, the Mazda Cosmo Sport, was introduced on May 31, 1967. Mazda has produced nearly 2 million rotary-powered vehicles since.
Mazda, alone among major automakers, has so thoroughly embraced racing as a core corporate value, that they have created a company-sponsored ‘motorsports scholarship ladder’ reaching all the way from karting to Champ Car.
The Star Mazda Championship is now in its 17th year as one of the most competitive and successful open-wheel driver development series. Star Mazda graduates include F1 driver Scott Speed, Champ Car rookie standout Graham Rahal and rising IRL star Marco Andretti.

After a rainy, caution-filled race two weeks ago in Portland that produced some surprising results -- including a rookie win and the first female racer to score a podium finish in ten years -- the young lions of the Star Mazda Championship will continue clawing their way toward motorsports stardom on the runways of Burke Lakefront Airport at this weekend’s Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by LaSalle Bank. This marks the series’ first visit to the famed airport circuit.

The young lions under discussion are the drivers in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, one of the most competitive and successful driver development series in Motorsports history. Since it was created 17 years ago, the Star Mazda series has graduated such luminaries as the only American F1 driver, Scott Speed, Champ Car standout Graham Rahal and rising IRL star Marco Andretti.

Among the current crop of Star Mazda standouts are championship points leader Dane Cameron, an 18 year-old rising star from Sonoma, California who is in his first year of Star Mazda racing. His record so far includes two poles, two wins and two 4th-place finishes. And Cameron comes to Cleveland with the advantage of having won from the pole here last year driving for Cape Motorsports in the Formula Ford 2000 series on his way to a record of four poles, 2 wins, six 2nd-place finishes and one 3rd. He finished the 14-race season as Rookie of the Year and second in the championship.

“Cleveland was my first win last year, so it’s a special place to me,” he says. “The track is bumpy, fast and wide with not many visual reference points to help a driver find his way around. And since it’s a temporary circuit, and this is the first time Star Mazda has raced here, none of the other drivers have any experience at all with the track. That’s a big advantage for me… if I can make it through the first turn.”

Cameron started on the front row in the previous event at Portland, only to be hit from behind in a first-lap, first-turn multi-car melee that knocked him out of the race, scrambled the running order and set the stage for another rookie to win his first race.

That rookie was Devin Cunningham, from St. Bruno, Quebec, who raced his #33 Discovery Channel/AIM Autosport Mazda from 10th on the grid to victory at Portland and currently sits 8th in the championship points battle.

Cunningham won the 2006 Discovery Channel competition, called ‘Star Racer,’ designed to find the next great Canadian racing driver. The 8-part docu-reality series aired last fall and Cunningham is now making the most of his prize, a full-season sponsorship in the 2007 Star Mazda Championship.

“This time last year I was struggling to pay for my go-kart racing and to find myself standing on the victory podium in a series as competitive as Star Mazda is something that took a while to sink in,” says Cunningham. “The AIM Autosport team gives me great cars at every race, and we’ll try and keep this momentum going at Cleveland.”

Finishing second in Portland, after qualifying 15th, was Cunningham’s AIM Autosport teammate, Natacha Gachnang of St-Gingolph, Switzerland, driving the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda. Gachnang is the first female Star Mazda racer to score a podium finish since Lynx Racing driver Sara Senske finished 2nd on the oval in Irwindale, California ten years ago.

“Portland was a great sensation for me, because I did not expect anything like a podium finish because it was only my second race in the series,” says Gachnang. “But my practice times were in the top-10 and my teammate and the AIM Autosport team are both very supportive. Racing on an airport circuit for the first time will be very challenging, so I’m hoping for a dry weekend.”

With 177 points, Dane Cameron – despite his DNF at Portland – holds a slim, 12-point lead over Australian driver James Davison (also with two poles) with 165. Davison also had a tough weekend in Portland, qualifying 8th and finishing 22nd. Third in the points battle is Canadian Marco Di Leo – who won the season-opener at Sebring – with 161. Di Leo started on the pole in Portland but finished 7th.

With 44 points awarded for a win, any of the top eight drivers could upset the apple cart with a surprise victory on the challenging 2.106-mile runway circuit at Burke Lakefront Airport this weekend.

An interesting side note is that the Star Mazda Championship is something of a ‘United Nations of Racing’ with drivers not only from around the U.S. and Canada, but also, Venezuela, Switzerland, Pakistan, England and the Philippines.

And the series demonstrates another aspect of democracy with special categories for drivers who don’t fit the ‘young lion’ category. The Expert Series is for drivers in the 30 to 44 age range, and the current points leader is Tony Rivera with 92. In the Masters Series category for racers 45 and older, Steve Hickham leads with 76 points.

Here’s the story on what they’re all fighting for; forty years ago, on May 31, 1967, Mazda introduced the first street car with a rotary engine, the Cosmo Sport. Since then, they’ve built two million rotary-engined vehicles and the company has built its very identity on the idea of Zoom-Zoom and every vehicle they produce having the soul of a sports car.

In pursuit of that ideal, Mazda has created a unique, company-sponsored ‘motorsports ladder’ that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. This year’s Star Mazda series champion will receive a Mazda-sponsored full-season drive for 2008 in the next series up the ladder, the Cooper Tires Presents The Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda. And the 2008 winner of the Atlantic Championship gets a $2 million sponsorship to help them move up to Champ Car.

So… they’re racing for their dream, and for the opportunity of a lifetime. And it all begins on Friday, June 22 with a 45-minute practice session starting at 6:40 pm. Racers will also have a 45-minute practice session on Saturday afternoon, with the 45-minute qualifying session starting at 6:20 in the evening. The 45-minute Star Mazda Championship race is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:15 pm Sunday, June 24, after the Champ Car event.

Cleveland is the sixth round of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship schedule. Star Mazda races are broadcast tape-delayed on SPEED TV. Date and time (all times stated are Eastern) for the one-hour broadcast is available at www.speedtv.com/programs. The Cleveland race is scheduled to air on Monday, July 9 at 3:00 pm (ET), with a re-broadcast on Thursday, July 12 at 4:00 am (ET).