Under Threatening Skies, New Names Emerge At The Top Of The Star Mazda Championship Practice Time Sheets At The Milwaukee Mile

Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, WI - After an overnight downpourr left the track soaked and the infield tunnel flooded to the rafters, crews at the Milwaukee Mile performed heroically to get things dried out in time for both the NASCAR Camping World Trucks and Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear cars to get in their allotted practice sessions.

#33 Richard Kent Credit: Star Mazda

During the first one-hour session for the Star Mazda Championship cars, it was second-year driver Rusty Mitchell who turned the fastest time in his #66 Mitchell Motorsports / Motorola Mazda; a 28.055 sec. (128.319 mph).

"I thought the track came around there a whole lot toward the last part of the session, so we just kind of waited, bided our time and made all our adjustments during the last part of the session," said Mitchell. "We were fast in New Jersey, but had some back luck in the races and when you're P1 in a session it always helps boost the team morale. We're not flat around here yet, though I think we'll need to get to that by tomorrow; but I'm not using brakes either, just rolling the throttle in and out."

He was followed in the order by Scandanavian racer Anders Krohn ? in a performance nothing short of a miracle; his team arrived at the track in the morning to find the deluge and rain had destroyed their tent and the carbon fiber 'tub' of his Star Mazda race car lived up to its name by being half-full of water. The Mundill team got things sorted out in time for him to turn the second-fastest time of the session, a 28.094 sec. (128.141 mph) in the #27 Mundill / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda.

Rounding out the top-5 were David Ostella with a 28.129 sec. (127.982 mph) in his #71 AIM Autosport/Global Precast Mazda, Jorge Goncalvez with a 28.272 sec. (127.334 mph) in the #72 AIM Autosport / Mazda and Brazilian Caio Lara with a 28.279 sec. (127.303n mph) in his #19 JDC Motorsports / MLD / ATW/ Molecule Mazda.

The top 19 cars in the 22-car field were covered by less than one second around the legendary 1-mile Milwaukee Motorsports oval. The same held true for the second session, in which the top 20 cars were all within one second of each other; Englishman Richard Kent led the second session with a 27.971 sec. (128.705 mph) in his (#33 Andersen Racing / Traka / Lafarge / Allied Interior Products Mazda. This may prove to be critical; while single-car qualifying is scheduled for early afternoon, if the weather does not cooperate on Saturday, qualifying will be cancelled and the cars will start the race based on a merge of the times in the two practice sessions?. putting Kent on the pole. And he carries with him the momentum of a win in the second of two Star Mazda Championship races held last weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

"The car's been good, but you have to be careful; you make the smallest little changes on a course like this... and they make a BIG difference, it's unbelievable," says Kent. "But we keep edging away at it, like everyone else, and put on some new tires right at the end and got them scrubbed in so we're ready to go for tomorrow. The car seems good over longer runs, but it's going to be interesting to see what the drop-off in tire performance is like. This is a new experience for everyone, and we're all running quite close together, but we'll all be running the same pace at the start of the race and as long as everyone keeps in their comfort zone, it should be good."

Second-fast in the second session was Jorge Goncalvez with a 27.972 sec (128.700 mph), followed by Rusty Mitchell with a 27.988 sec. (128.627 mph) and a new name on the list ? Conor Daly, who won the Saturday racee at last weekend's Star Mazda Championship double-header at New Jersey Motorsports Park. His lap of 27.993 sec. (128.604 mph) was good for fourth on the afternoon time sheet. Rounding out the top-5 was David Ostella with a 28.010 sec. (128.526 mph) lap.

Qualifying is scheduled to take place from Noon to 1:00 pm Saturday, June 20th, with the race getting the green flag at 2:30 pm?. weather permitting. The event will be 100 laps of flat-out, side-by-side racing with no pit stops. The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is now in its 19th year as one of the most successful open-wheel driver development series in North America; the Milwaukee Mile race is Round 6 of the 11-weekend, 13-race (two double-headers) 2009 Star Mazda Championship race schedule that includes road courses, oval tracks and street circuits in both the U.S. and Canada.

Milwaukee Mile - Friday 1st Practice
                                                    In
Pos  #  Name                Best Tm Diff   Best Spd Lap  Team 

1   66  Rusty Mitchell      28.055         128.319   88  Mitchell Motorsports   
2   27  Anders Krohn        28.094  0.039  128.141   18  Team Mundill           
3   71  David Ostella       28.129  0.074  127.982   68  Aim Autosport GP       
4   72  Jorge Goncalvez     28.272  0.217  127.334   16  Aim Autosport          
5   19  Caio Lara           28.279  0.224  127.303   44  JDC Motorsports        
6   22  Conor Daly          28.292  0.237  127.244   47  Andersen Racing        
7   51  Alex Ardoin         28.313  0.258  127.150   58  JDC Motorsports        
8   33  Richard Kent        28.343  0.288  127.015   71  Andersen Racing        
9   82  Billy Goshen        28.400  0.345  126.761   59  Goshen Motorsports     
10  77  Kevin Toledo        28.494  0.439  126.342   55  Eliseo THL Motorsports 
11  48  Kristy Kester       28.569  0.514  126.011   70  Kester Racing Team 3G  
12   2  Joel Miller         28.593  0.538  125.905   47  JDC Motorsports        
13  17  Mikael Grenier      28.684  0.629  125.506   26  Andersen Racing        
14  24  J.C. Kester         28.711  0.656  125.387   75  Kester Racing Team 3G  
15  13  Michael Furfari     28.719  0.664  125.353   12  Juncos Racing          
16   3  Peter Dempsey       28.780  0.725  125.087   53  Juncos Racing  
17  11  Adam Christodoulou  28.842  0.787  124.818   53  JDC Motorsports        
18  15  Taylor Hacquard     28.861  0.806  124.736   38  Kester Racing Team 3G  
19  21  Denis Navarro       28.950  0.895  124.352    8  Andersen Racing        
20  16  Chris Cumming       29.499  1.444  122.038  101  Kester Racing Team 3G  
21  20  Gustavo Linares     29.505  1.450  122.013   51    
22  80  Toshihiro Deki      31.451  3.396  114.464   53  Goshen Motorsports  



Milwaukee Mile - Friday 2nd Practice
                                                    In                                  
Pos  #  Name                Best Tm Diff   Best Spd Lap Team

1   33  Richard Kent        27.971         128.705  39  Andersen Racing        
2   72  Jorge Goncalvez     27.972  0.001  128.700  51  Aim Autosport  
3   66  Rusty Mitchell      27.988  0.017  128.627  21  Mitchell Motorsports   
4   22  Conor Daly          27.993  0.022  128.604  22  Andersen Racing        
5   71  David Ostella       28.010  0.039  128.526  29  Aim Autosport          
6   19  Caio Lara           28.079  0.108  128.210  45  JDC Motorsports        
7   15  Taylor Hacquard     28.146  0.175  127.904  36  Kester Racing Team 3G  
8    3  Peter Dempsey       28.273  0.302  127.330  41  Juncos Racing  
9   51  Alex Ardoin         28.275  0.304  127.321  32  JDC Motorsports        
10   2  Joel Miller         28.277  0.306  127.312  31  JDC Motorsports        
11  11  Adam Christodoulou  28.327  0.356  127.087  30  JDC Motorsports        
12  21  Denis Navarro       28.329  0.358  127.078  36  Andersen Racing        
13  82  Billy Goshen        28.335  0.364  127.051  40  Goshen Motorsports     
14  77  Kevin Toledo        28.471  0.500  126.444  28  Eliseo THL Motorsports 
15  17  Mikael Grenier      28.481  0.510  126.400  20  Andersen Racing NAPA   
16  27  Anders Krohn        28.493  0.522  126.347  17  Team Mundill           
17  24  J.C. Kester         28.530  0.559  126.183   9  Kester Racing Team 3G  
18  20  Gustavo Linares     28.657  0.686  125.624  21    
19  13  Michael Furfari     28.665  0.694  125.589  44  Juncos Racing          
20  48  Kristy Kester       28.812  0.841  124.948  32  Kester Racing Team 3G  
21  16  Chris Cumming       29.047  1.076  123.937  53  Kester Racing Team 3G  
22  80  Toshihiro Deki      30.533  2.562  117.905  39  Goshen Motorsports  

Print This Page	Go back to the previous page