2007 Star Mazda Championship

AMAZING RACE, UNSURPRISING WINNER, DESERVING CHAMPION – MANDARINO WINS AND CAMERON TAKES THE TITLE

Road Atlanta, GA / Oct. 5, 2007 – After a heated battle in the second half of the race that saw the front-running drivers swapping places several times per lap, it was ultimately Vancouver’s Lorenzo Mandarino who scored his second win of the season in Round Eleven of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship driving the #15 Team G.FRO/Newway Forming Mazda. And it was Californian Dane Cameron, struggling all weekend with a car that was a rocket in the turns but slow down the straights – who did what he had to do, finishing 8th in the #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports Mazda and clinching the championship… the first rookie to do so in the 17-year history of the Star Mazda Championship.

“Boy, I really needed this one,” said Mandarino, who has had an up-and-down season of wins and podiums mixed with 18th and 19th- place finishes. “We qualified second, but the weather made the race a gamble for us. It rained in the morning, and it was mostly dry by race time though there were some clouds around, so choosing to go with the dry setup and dry tires was a calculated risk. The G.FRO team gave me a great car for the race and gave me some really good coaching over the radio and helped me make correct decisions about how to run the race. This is their win as much as mine and is a big step forward toward my plans for 2008, which I hope to finalize soon.”

The 45-minute race began with a bang, literally. A four-car melee on the first lap brought out a full-course yellow for several laps, but when racing resumed, it was Australian driver James Davison, the pole-sitter and winner of Round Ten at Mosport, who motored away to a 1.5 second lead in his #7 Velocity Motorsports / Easternats Mazda. He dominated the first half of the race, but began losing ground to the hungry duo battling behind him in 2nd and 3rd-place. Eventual race winner Lorenzo Mandarino was keeping one on the road and one eye on his mirrors as Alex Ardoin of Lafayette, Louisiana in the #51 Mundill Racing / Oral and Facial Surgery Center Mazda was flinging his car into the turns, using every inch of the track – and then some – trying to get past.

On lap 14, Saint-Bruno, Quebec Racer Devin Cunningham inserted himself into the battle, moving the #33 AIM Autosport/Discovery Channel Mazda into third… then back into fourth… then back into third again. The battle between Cunningham and Ardoin was easily the competitive highlight of the race. And all the while, points leader Dane Cameron was soldiering around in 8th, getting the job done, but with frustration radiating from the cockpit like a beacon.

Everything changed, for the front-runners anyway, on lap 20 when Mark Olson, trying to be gentlemanly about getting out of the way while being passed by the front-runners, slid off the track and put his #53 Mundill Racing / Vectren Source Mazda hard into the tire wall. This brought out yet another full-course yellow and bunched up the field.

During the mad scramble of the resulting re-start two laps later that had veteran race observers biting their nails, Mandarino moved into the lead with a daring side-by-side pass through the first turn, and by the time the field came back around to the start/finish line, Davison found himself shuffled back to 5th. The final bit of drama in the race came courtesy of Dallas, Texas driver Russell Walker who tangled wheels in the middle of a group of cars and flipped his #28 JWR Racing/Pavecon Mazda hard into the red Georgia clay. He was lucky to walk away unscathed, though a TV close-up of him standing behind the barrier at the side of the track required minimal lip-reading skills to discern his feelings about the situation.

With just a few minutes left in the race and a serious mess to clean up, officials brought out the checkered flag. Ultimately, the finishing order was Mandarino, Cunningham and Ardoin on the podium, with Jonathan Goring in the #14 Andersen Racing / Skip Barber Racing Mazda and pole-sitter/early race leader Davison rounding out the top-5.

Finishing first in the Master Class for Star Mazda Championship drivers aged between 30 and 44 was Richard Zober of Newtown, PA in the Comprent Motorsports / Zober Industries Mazda, his fourth class win of the year. In the Expert Class for drivers over 45, the winner was Gerry Kraut, driver of the #55 JDC Motorsports/Dougherty & Co. Mazda. Karut has won his class four times in 2007.

For Dane Cameron, all thoughts of how he might have wished the race had gone differently were swept away in the realization that he had indeed won the 2007 Star Mazda Championship, and the Mazda-sponsored full-season drive in the 2008 Cooper Tires Champ Car Atlantic Series Powered by Mazda that comes with it. Not to mention the $100,000 in cash, $10,000 for being the top Rookie… and a brand-new Mazda RX-8 sports car.

“When we came into this series at the start of the year, we knew that the biggest thing would be consistency,” said the jubilant 18 year-old native of Somona, California. “So that’s what we focused on. The JDC team is so good that along the way we managed to win three races, start from the pole five times and finish on the podium four times, so however I might wish this race had gone better for us, it was a great season and we accomplished the mission of winning the championship. I’m grateful to the team, my father, who is also the engineer on my car, and my sponsors, especially Rob Finlay who made me part of the Finlay Motorsports driver development program. And to Lynx Racing and the others who have made this possible. And of course to Mazda and their ‘motorsports ladder’ program that is making it possible for me to live out my life-long dream of a career in racing. The ladder system is critical for the health and development of open-wheel racing in this country, and Mazda deserves a lot of credit for being the first automaker to put together a program that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car.”

The season finale of the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship takes place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California October 19 – 20. Star Mazda races are broadcast on the SPEED Channel, with the Road Atlanta event scheduled to air on Saturday, October 13 at 12 noon ET. To confirm this air time and find out when future Star Mazda races will air, log on to www.speedtv.com/programs.

For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.

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On any given weekend, there are more Mazdas on the road-race tracks of America than any other brand of vehicle. At the track, you’ll see MX-5 Miata, RX-8, MAZDA3, MAZDA6, RX-7 and other vintage Mazda models competing, because every Mazda has the Soul of a Sports Car.

For more information on the various Mazda spec series, visit:

www.champcaratlantic.com www.starmazda.com

www.skipbarber.com www.mx-5cup.com

Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports

Office - (310) 755-7403 / Cell - (310) 318-4582 / E-mail: dean@RWB-LLC.com

FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH – AUSSIE RACER DAVISON
ON THE STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP POLE AT ROAD ATLANTA

Road Atlanta, GA / Oct. 4, 2007 – During a hot and humid qualifying session with air temperatures reaching into the 90s, Australian racer James Davison took the pole for tomorrow’s Round Eleven of the Star Mazda Championship at Road Atlanta with a lap of 1:18.956 (115.811 mph) in his his #7 Velocity Motorsports / Easternats Mazda.

Davison is moving from strength to strength in the latter part of the 2007 season; he won Round Ten at Mosport and has been fast in every session of the last several races. He is currently 2nd in the championship battle with 319 points.

“We learned a useful lesson about setting our car up for hot and humid conditions at Mosport and we applied those lessons,” says Davison. “My engineer, Pete Mercier, has had the lap record at this track every year and he really put the pressure on me to keep his streak going. Thanks to the efforts of the Velocity team, I was able to oblige him with the only lap in the 1:18s. This is a daunting and risky track and you have to attack it with a great deal of commitment in the high-speed turns. I drove the wheels off on every lap, and it paid off. We’ll keep the setup the same for tomorrow, but I’ll drive with more of an eye toward managing the race and my tires… no point it vanishing off into the distance if you run out of tires before the race is over.”

Starting next to Davison on the front row of the grid is another driver whose season has had its ups and downs but also did well at Mosport. Burnaby, BC native Lorenzo Mandarino finished second at Mosport, and will start second at Road Atlanta with a lap of 1:19.240 (115.369 mph) in his #15 Team G.FRO / Newway Forming Mazda.

In third on the grid for tomorrow’s race is Hollywood, California resident Nick Haye, who finished 9th at Mosport, but preceded that with a pair of podium finishes at Trois Rivieres and Road America. He turned a lap of 1:19.296 (115.315 mph) in his #37 JDC Motorsports / Quantum Sphere Mazda.

The JDC team will be burning the midnight oil tonight, however, trying to find some speed for Haye’s teammate and championship points leader Dane Cameron. The rookie phenom from Sonoma, California has had a difficult weekend, turning only a few laps in practice on Tuesday and never really showing the season-long speed that has won three races and scored five poles and put him in a position to clinch the championship tomorrow with a finish of 8th or better. Cameron turned a lap of 1:19.992 (114.311 mph) in his #19 JDC Motorsports / Finlay Motorsports Mazda to qualify 9th on the grid.

The car is handling great, but down the straights it feels like I’m pulling a parachute,” says Cameron. “We’re more than four miles an hour down on top speed from Nick and the other front runners and haven’t figured out yet what the problem is. The team will be going over the car with a fine-toothed comb tonight and I’m sure we’ll be in good shape for the race tomorrow. I’m in the fortunate position of only needing to finish 8th or better to win the championship, but I’d prefer to do it with standing on the podium.”

The 45-minute Round Eleven of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will take the green flag at 1:50 pm Friday, October 5. The season finale takes place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California October 19 – 20.

Star Mazda races are broadcast on the SPEED Channel, with the Road Atlanta event scheduled to air on Saturday, October 13 at 12 noon ET. To confirm this air time and find out when future Star Mazda races will air, log on to www.speedtv.com/programs.

For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.

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For more information on the various Mazda spec series, visit:

www.champcaratlantic.com www.starmazda.com

www.skipbarber.com www.mx-5cup.com

Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports

Office - (310) 755-7403 / Cell - (310) 318-4582 / E-mail: dean@RWB-LLC.com

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE

Round Eleven of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by
Goodyear at the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta / October 2 – 5

> This is Round Eleven of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear. The 45 minute race begins at 1:50 pm, Friday. The SPEED Channel will air the race in a 1-hour broadcast at 12 Noon ET Saturday, October 13.

> With two races remaining in the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, three drivers are battling for the top spot; Dane Cameron (#19), James Davison (#7) and Ron White (#69).

> Cameron, who has won three races, started from the pole five times and finished on the podium four times, needs to finish only 8th or better at Road Atlanta to clinch the title. If he does, he will be the first driver in the Star Mazda series’ 17-year history to win the championship in his rookie year.

> All the drivers in the Star Mazda Championship have waged a season-long battle for the most coveted prize on the Mazda Motorsports Ladder that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car; a sponsored season racing in the 2008 Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

> The Star Mazda Championship is one of the richest, most successful and prolific driver development series in all of auto racing. The combined value of various prizes approaches $1.5 million in value; graduates of the series have gone on to Formula One, Champ Car, the Indy Racing League and the Grand-Am Rolex Series.

The rising open-wheel racing stars of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will take their fast and furious battle for a shot at racing’s Big Time to one of America’s premier sports car racing events – the Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta, October 2-6.

While any of a dozen Star Mazda drivers are potential winners this weekend’s Round Eleven, only three – two Californians and an Australian -- remain in contention for the championship, and the major prize they’ve all been battling for -- a full-season sponsored drive in the 2008 Cooper Tires Presents the Champ Car Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda.

The dominant driver all season long has been Dane Cameron, an 18 year-old series rookie from Sonoma, California, driving the #19 JDC Motorsports/Finlay Motorsports/Lynx Racing Mazda. Mixing victory and consistency, Cameron has compiled a 2007 record of three wins, five poles, four podium finishes and two top-5 finishes.

He comes to Road Atlanta with 381 points and needs to finish only 8th or better to clinch the championship, the first rookie to do so in the series’ 17-year history. And his success in Star Mazda is already getting him noticed in other areas of racing; he co-drove the Chip Ganassi w/Felix Sabates #19 Z-Line Designs/ Mission Residential Riley Daytona Prototype in the Grand-Am Rolex Series season finale Sunchaser 1000 at Miller Motorsports Park on September 15.

In with an outside chance after winning Round Nine of the Star Mazda Championship at Mosport on August 25 is Australian racer James Davison, driver of the #7 Velocity Motorsports/Easternats Mazda. Davison, second in the championship with 319 points, has had a somewhat controversial season, crossing the finish line first in two additional races (the season-opener at Sebring and again at Road America), but being denied the victories by penalties due to violations of on-track racing rules.

The final championship contender is Ron White, of Santa Clara, California. He changed teams at the halfway point of the season and responded by scoring two victories in a row, at Road America and Trois Rivières, in the #69 Maxwell Racing/Maxwell Paper Mazda… but his momentum evaporated with a practice crash at Mosport and a 17th-place finish. In yet another dramatic twist, his relationship with the Maxwell team has ended and he will be running the final two races on his own. This is his second season in the Star Mazda Championship (he won three races in a row in 2006) and he stands third in the points with 313.

Three other drivers who have won a Star Mazda Championship race this season are all Canadians. Quebec racer Devin Cunningham won the Discovery Channel’s ‘Star Racer’ competition in 2006, and is racing his prize in 2007 – the #33 Discovery Channel/SH Karting Mazda fielded by AIM Autosport. He won Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship at Portland and finished 2nd in Toronto, but difficulties at Mosport relegated him to a 12th-place finish. He is 6th in the championship with 277 points.

Toronto’s Marco Di Leo won the season-opener at Sebring in the #21 Maxwell Paper/Nugget Mazda, and has qualified on the front row of most of the races but suffered from a combination of bad luck and running afoul of series rules – such as his disqualification at Mosport for mechanical violations by his team in preparing his race car. Di Leo is tied for 8th in the championship with 264 points.

Lorenzo Mandarino of Vancouver, driver of the #23 Newway Forming/Team G.Fro Mazda, won Round Four at Salt Lake City and was leading at Trois Rivières when he crashed into the tire wall. He rebounded to finish 2nd at Mosport and is currently 7th in the championship with 267 points.

Other drivers to keep an eye on at Road Atlanta include Jonathan Goring, winner of Round Six at Cleveland in the #14 Andersen Racing/Skip Barber Racing Mazda and newly-emerging talents Nick Haye (#37 JDC Motorsports/ Quantum Sphere) and Alex Ardoin (#51 Mundill/Oral and Facial Surgery Center). The Star Mazda Championship’s lone female driver, an extremely fast young lady from Switzerland named Natacha Gachnang made series history with a pair of podium finishes at Portland and Cleveland in the #35 AIM Autosport Mazda.

The Star Mazda Championship also has categories for more experienced racers in whom the competitive fire still burns brightly. Top competitors in the Expert class (drivers 30 to 44 years old) include Tony Rivera (#52 Mundill Racing), who leads the points battle with four class wins, as well as Phil Fogg, Jr.(#29 Northwest Autosport/Consus Health Services) and Dan Tomlin III (#56 Team Tomlin), who’s father Dan Tomlin Jr. (#58 Team Tomlin) races in the Master class.

The Expert/Master classes have resulted in some interesting father/son racing, including Master’s leader, Steve Hickham (#17 HB Turbo/Hickham Motorsports) with five class wins; his young son, Steve Hickham Jr. races the #71 Hickham Motorsports/ Maxwell Racing Mazda in the regular Star Mazda Championship. Dan Tomlin Jr. is currently second in the Master class, followed by Gerry Kraut (#55 JDC Motorsports/Dougherty & Co.), who won the class at Mosport.

While the Expert and Master drivers run for love of the speed and competition, for the younger drivers the Star Mazda Championship is the college football of open-wheel racing, an exciting, competitive and well-established training ground for future stars of the sport. Alumni of the Star Mazda Championship include such top open-wheel racers as Champ Car star Graham Rahal, IRL standout Marco Andretti and former F1 racer Scott Speed.

Also on the list is Michael McDowell, the 2004 Star Mazda champion who has raced Champ Cars, Daytona Prototypes and is now battling to become the ARCA stock car champion in his rookie year. And the 2005 Star Mazda Champion, Raphael Matos, graduated via the Mazda motorsports ladder to the Champ Car Atlantic series, won the championship this year and will move up to Champ Car in 2008.

And here’s the story on what the latest pride of young lions are 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, the company has created the unique Mazda Motorsports Ladder that reaches all the way from karting to Champ Car. The winner of a shootout among 2007 karting champions will get a scholarship in the 2008 Skip Barber series, while the Skip Barber champion moves up to Star Mazda, the Star Mazda champion moves up to the Champ Car Atlantic Series Powered by Mazda and the Atlantic champion gets $2 million, provided by Champ Car, toward a Champ Car drive.

So they’re all racing for a dream, and the opportunity of a lifetime. The series champion not only gets the full-season Atlantic sponsorship, he also receives $100,000 for winning the championship. The series’ ‘Rookie of the Year’ award is worth $10,000 and prize money is paid down through the field to 15th place, a total -- with contingency awards from participating suppliers such as Goodyear, BBS Wheels, Quartermaster Clutches, VP Fuels, Performance Friction Brakes and Staubli Dry Break Systems – approaching $1.5 million.

All the drivers in the 12-race 2007 Star Mazda Championship are racing identical high-tech open-wheel cars that feature a carbon fiber chassis, fully-adjustable suspension and a sequential 6-speed gearbox. Powering all of the Star Mazda race cars is Mazda’s legendary ‘Renesis’ rotary engine that produces 240 horsepower, top speeds of over 150 mph and 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 2.4 seconds. This engine is so reliable that it can last an entire racing season without a re-build, helping to keep the cost of racing in Star Mazda down to a fraction of the budget required to compete in any comparable open wheel series in the U.S. or Europe.

On-track action at Road Atlanta begins with testing sessions on Tuesday, October 2 and a pair of timed practice sessions on Wednesday, October 3. Qualifying to set the starting grid for the race will take place from 4:05 pm to 4:50 pm Thursday, October 4. The 45-minute Round Eleven of the 2007 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will take the green flag at 1:50 pm Friday, October 5. The season finale takes place at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Northern California October 19 – 20.

For more information on the Star Mazda Championship and its drivers, as well as the Mazda Motorsports ladder system, please visit www.starmazda.com and www.mazdausa.com.

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For more information on the various Mazda spec series, visit:

www.champcaratlantic.com www.starmazda.com

www.skipbarber.com www.mx-5cup.com

Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports

Office - (310) 755-7403 / Cell - (310) 318-4582 / E-mail: dean@RWB-LLC.com