Karam Tops USF2000 Practice Friday at NJMP

MILLVILLE, N.J. - Point leader Sage Karam of Nazareth, Pa. set the fastest lap of the day and topped both 30-minute practice sessions for the "Cooper Tires Presents the USF2000 National Championship Powered by Mazda" Friday at Thunderbolt Raceway at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

US F2000 National Championship Credit: US F2000 National Championship

The Andretti Autosport driver and his fellow competitors will compete in two 30-minute races here Saturday and Sunday. Both are scheduled to start at 2:05 p.m.

The doubleheader will be shown during HDNet's live coverage of the event, the Mazda Motorsports Festival presented by VisitFlorida.com. The broadcast runs from 12:30 p.m. to 4 p.m. Eastern time both days. _Please consult local cable TV_listings to find the appropriate channel, or consult hd.net and click on the "watch" tab for more information.

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, Cooper Tires Prototype Lites, the Patron GT3 Challenge by Yokohama and the Mazda MX-5 Cup series share the action-packed card with USF2000.

Live timing and scoring of the USF2000 action is also planned for the series' Web site at usf2000.com.

After events on a temporary street course and two oval tracks, the remainder of the USF2000 series' 2010 schedule is being contested on road courses. In addition to this weekend's doubleheader in the Garden State, HDNet is also booked to provide live coverage of the next doubleheader, which is slated for July 31-Aug. 1 at the Autobahn Country Club in Joliet, Ill.

Karam's fastest lap of the day on Friday came in the morning session when he took just 1:17.288 to travel over the 2.17-mile, 14-turn road course at an average speed of 101.076 miles per hour in the red No. 8, which is sponsored by the Michael Fux Foundation, Comfort Revolution, Bell Helmets, Alpine Stars, Walters Web and Artrotundo.com.

Karam, 15, won both halves of the season-opening doubleheader at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix and last weekend's race at Iowa Speedway.

Patrick McKenna of Dublin, Ireland, who drives for Cape Motorsports with Wayne Taylor Racing, won the oval-track race at O'Reilly_Raceway Park May 29. He had the second-fastest lap of the day with a 1:17.432 (100.889 mph), which also occurred in the morning.

Andretti Autosport's Zach Veach of Stockdale, Ohio was third-fastest for the day with a 1:17.786 clocked in the morning.

The times were significantly slower in the heat of the afternoon, when Karam's fastest lap was a 1:18.637 for an average speed of 99.343 mph. JDC_MotorSports had the second- and third-fastest times in that session. Raphael Abbate of Sao Paulo, Brazil_was second with a 1:19.078 (98.789 mph) and Mikhail Goikhberg of St. Petersburg, Russia_was third with a 1:19.184 (98.656 mph). The three fastest drivers in that session were also the top-three finishers in last Saturday's race at Iowa Speedway.

Qualifying for tomorrow's race will be held at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning. "The fastest qualifier will receive the "Cooper Tires, Don't Give Up a Thing Award" and will also be a new track record holder, since this is the series' first event at this track.

The starting line-up for Sunday's race will be determined by each driver's fastest race lap Saturday.

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