2008 Star Mazda...

[gomick]

Revised Schedule since take over of Champcar by IRL

March 14 Sebring
May 17 Salt Lake City
June 7 Watkins Glen
July 26 Portland (*)
August 9 Road America
August 17 Trois Rivier
August 23 Mosport
Sept. 12 New Jersey (*)
October 3 Road Atlanta
October 18 Laguna Seca

(*) Indicates events with two Star Mazda Championship races on the same weekend...

Sebring Qualifying (27 drivers)...

1. 20 Joel Miller 2:00.451
2. 77 Charles Hall 2:01.542
3. 18 Ernesto Otero 2:01.790
4. 4 Nick Haye 2:01.921
5. 14 Eric Freiberg 2:01.975
6. 21 Peter Dempsey 2:02.003
7. 51 Alex Ardoin 2:02.043
8. 43 John Zartarian 2:02.289
9. 5 Tom Gladdis 2:02.333
10. 00 Yannick Hofman 2:02.461
11. 48 Kristy Kester 2:02.489
12. 15 Taylor Hacquard 2:02.667
13. 17 Scott Rettich 2:02.940
14. 19 Dave Mundy 2:03.045
15. 82 Billy Goshen 2:03.161

[Hubble]

Congratulations to Charles Hall and Peter Dempsey - both on the podium in the first race of the season.....

1 20 Joel Miller
2 77 Charles Hall
3 21 Peter Dempsey
4 51 Alex Ardoin
5 5 Tom Gladdis
6 4 Nick Haye
7 43 John Zartarian
8 48 Kristy Kester
9 15 Taylor Hacquard
10 82 Billy Goshen
11 14 Eric Freiberg
12 19 Ciao Lara
13 53 Mike Hill
14 17 Scott Rettich
15 11 Juliana Gonzalez
16 24 Jeffery Kester
17 16 Chris Cumming
18 12 Chuck Hulse
19 55 Gerry Kraut
20 52 Rick Rosin*
21 65 JW Roberts
22 41 Keith Young
23 56 Dan Tomlin III
24 58 Dan Tomlin, Jr.
25 00 Yannick Hofman
26 18 Ernesto Otero
27 33 Michele Bumgarner

[kerrmanningjarv]

Tom Gladdis did well too

[El_Gibleto]

Congratulations to Joel Miller, who was on pole, from his first lap in qualifying, finishing over 1" ahead of the next car and led the race throughout, winning with a comfortable 7" margin.

Miller was also quickest in 2 of the 4 test sessions over the Sebring meeting.

[gomick]

Grid Positions for Round 2 - Miller Motorsports Park...

1 John Edwards 1:43.650
2 Joel Miller 1:44.341
3 Ernesto Otero 1:44.799
4 Tom Gladdis 1:44.887
5 Charles Hall 1:44.996
6 Peter Dempsey 1:45.020
7 Taylor Hacquard 1:45.431
8 Eric Freiberg 1:45.483
9 Patrick O'Neil 1:45.576
10 Jonny Baker 1:45.700
11 Billy Goshen 1:45.805
12 Rick Rosin 1:45.965
13 Mike Hill 1:46.047
14 Ciao Lara 1:46.066
15 Chuck Hulse 1:46.068

29 Qualifiers...

[gomick]

John Edwards won at Miller Park by 14 seconds from Charles Hall

Points after 2 rounds...

1. Joel Miller 82
2. Charles Hall 80
3. Peter Dempsey 71
4. Tom Gladdis 64
5. Alex Ardoin 60

11. John Edwards 45

[Last2LiftOff]

John Edwards & AIM Autosports, well done John. A neat little onboard with John at starmazda's site, and Joel Miller leading the series...USA, USA, USA!

Thanks for starting a thread Gomick.

[Alex K]

Polish driver Natalia Kowalska starts her campaign at Watkins Glen with John Walko Racing.

[evirdorp]

Is John edwards no longer wit Red bull?
thought he was the original golden boy!!

[gomick]

thats right, he was a red bull boy - think he got dropped maybe 2 years ago...

[kerrmanningjarv]

He was a Red Bull driver last year in Atlantics I believe... think he only got dropped this year.

[ems]

Dropped end of last season after teammate Wickens finished 3rd in Atlantics Championship and Edwards finished 9th. (Edwards out qualified Wickens 4 of 5 last races and had provisional pole in last race but Wickens had better race craft throughout year, except in Toronto in the rain)

[JOWT Blog]

Originally Posted by ems

Dropped end of last season after teammate Wickens finished 3rd in Atlantics Championship and Edwards finished 9th. (Edwards out qualified Wickens 4 of 5 last races and had provisional pole in last race but Wickens had better race craft throughout year, except in Toronto in the rain)

And now Wickens has a World Series by Renault and a F3 Euro Series ride. I guess Red Bull made their choice. They are really putting a lot of money towards him. ....he is going to be one busy driver this season.

Staying on topic...Edwards was very impressive at Miller Motorsports Park.

[JOWT Blog]

Edwards confirmed today that he will run the remainder of the 2008 Star Mazda season with Aim Autosport. It's a bit of a step backwards for the young pilot, but I think it will be a wise decision in the long run.

Congrats to both on their dominant run at MMP.

[JOWT Blog]

A few drivers will miss this weekend's event at Watkins Glen due to the tracks insurance rule stating ....drivers must be 18 years of age to race. Star Mazda has since modified their rulebook stating that drivers will be allowed to drop one event at the end of the season.

[JOWT Blog]

Congratulations to British pilot Charles Hall. It's great to see him back in the car.... let alone winning races! Hall never fell out of the top two spots in all the on track sessions this week. His fastest lap was set in the Wednesday morning practice session. He had never been to Watkins Glen so he researched the layout via YouTube prior to his appearance.

[kerrmanningjarv]

Well done Charles - I hadn't heard of him before this year but he's obviously a talented driver.

[gomick]

and he now leads the championship too

Points after 3 rounds...

1 Charles Hall - 124
2 Joel Miller - 122
3 Peter Dempsey - 105
4 Alex Ardoin - 98
5 Bill Goshen - 86
6 Mike Hill - 79
7 Taylor Hacquard - 77
8 John Edwards - 75
9 Kristy Kester - 73
10 Eric Freiberg - 72

[gomick]

Rounds 4 & 5 are being held at Portland this weekend - Star Mazda is the headlining act after the merger of the Champcar's & Indy Car's...

Round 4 Qualifying...

1. Tom Gladdis 1:08.936
2. John Edwards 1:09.304
3. Peter Dempsey 1:09.361
4. Billy Goshen 1:09.669
5. Alex Ardoin 1:09.714
6. Charles Hall 1:09.877
7. Joel Miller 1:09.895
8. Chris Cumming 1:10.009
9. Kristy Kester 1:10.103
10. Ernesto Otero 1:10.147

Round 5 Qualifying is on Sunday...

[gomick]

Tom Gladdis & John Edwards shared the race wins at the Portland "double header"

Race 1 (Round 4)...

1. Tom Gladdis
2. Alex Ardoin +1.648
3. Billy Goshen +12.507
4. Kristy Kester +40.513
5. Taylor Hacquard +41.076

Race 2 (Round 5)...

1. John Edwards
2. Tom Gladdis +0.979
3. Joel Miller +13.331
4. Charles Hall +15.153
5. Billy Goshen +17.980

[Triple J Motorsport]

What happened to Peter Dempsey??

[gomick]

Had a bad weekend finished 24th & 27th in the 2 races...

Points after 5 rounds...

1. Joel Miller - 179
2. Charles Hall - 174
3. Alex Ardoin - 168
4. Bill Goshen - 155
5. Tom Gladdis - 150
6. Peter Dempsey - 140
7. John Edwards - 136
8. Taylor Hacquard - 135
9. Kristy Kester - 131
10. Chris Cumming - 125

[Triple J Motorsport]

Must have had problems as qualified 3rd.

Originally Posted by gomick

Had a bad weekend finished 24th & 27th in the 2 races...

Points after 5 rounds...

1. Joel Miller - 179
2. Charles Hall - 174
3. Alex Ardoin - 168
4. Bill Goshen - 155
5. Tom Gladdis - 150
6. Peter Dempsey - 140
7. John Edwards - 136
8. Taylor Hacquard - 135
9. Kristy Kester - 131
10. Chris Cumming - 125

[JOWT Blog]

Originally Posted by Triple J Motorsport

What happened to Peter Dempsey??

It was a weekend Dempsey would like to forget. He was incredibly fast all weekend but had more than his share of bad luck....

He led 21 laps on Saturday only to have a fuel pick-up problem end his day.

On Sunday, his bad luck continued... he set the third quickest lap of the race until he and Alex Ardoin made contact damaging his car. Alex was able to continue, but Peter was forced to pit and ended up finishing the race 3 laps down in 27th.

[JohnMiller]

Gladdis is impressive.