Conor Daly has been showing his racing pedigree lately winning four in a row! Will the reign of power continue this weekend at NJMP on the Thunderbolt course? Daly has been riding a string of tremendous efforts as of late, even being so dominate to lead from the drop of the green to the checkers.
It is not because the other teams are laying down and not trying, Daly’s team just seems to be finding the right little niche, at just the right time, formulating one awesome run at a championship. The action should be as hot as the weather at NJMP this weekend for all those trying to unseat Daly’s run at the Grand prize. The following is a press release from the series, please enjoy.
CONOR DALY DOMINANT WITH FLAG-TO-FLAG WIN FROM THE POLE IN
SECOND ANNUAL STAR MAZDA PIZZA RANCH 100 AT IOWA SPEEDWAY
Iowa Speedway / Newton, Iowa (June 19, 1010) – Before a large and enthusiastic crowd of fans, Indianapolis native Conor Daly, riding the momentum of three straight wins joined an elite group of drivers with his fourth win in a row, leading flag-to-flag from the pole to dominate the second annual Star Mazda Pizza Ranch 100 at the 7/8ths-mile Iowa Speedway. He extends his lead in the championship battle to 216 points.
The one yellow flag during the 100-lap race had no measurable effect on the race as competitors – even those a lap down — raced three-wide in an oval track battle royal that had IRL officials on their feet and, up in Race Control, 4-time Indy 500 winner Rick Mears smiling like a proud parent. The only other drivers to win four Star Mazda Championship races in a row all won the championship and went on to stellar motorsports careers, including Joey Hand (1999), Michael McDowell (2004) and Raphael Matos (2005).
Also smiling, and justifiably so, was James Exline, owner of Team Apex, an experienced team in their first season of Star Mazda competition and showing some serious strength as their drivers finished 2nd and 3rd. Venezuelan driver Jorge Goncalvez, who qualified 5th in the #9 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda brought it home in second place, just a bit over a second behind Daly. He is now 7th in the championship with 150 points. Brazilian Joao Victor Horto, who started next to Conor Daly on the front row in his #18 Team Apex / Wabash Capital Investments Mazda, scored a 3rd-place finish. He moves up from 4th in the chmapionship to third with 165 points. The sole Expert Series (drivers 30 to 44 years old) competitor in the field, Texan J.W. Roberts, scored a top-10 finish in his #65 Team GDT / General Data Tech Mazda.
“It may have looked easy on TV to win that race, but I have to say that it was a struggle,” said Daly. “The track changed a lot between qualifying and the race, and the car behaved completely differently in turns one and two than it did in three and four. There were a couple of times there where the car nearly backed out from under me, so it was a battle of concentration and focus to keep the same level of performance for 100 laps. We had a full-course yellow about mid-way through the race and I saw lots of cars diving for the pits for adjustments and new tires, so it was like an IndyCar race in that respect. The Juncos Racing team and I worked hard this weekend and we plan to just keep executing like we’re doing now and hope to go into the next race at New Jersey with the same strength we showed here.”
Rounding out the top-5 was Connor De Phillippi, who qualified 7th and drove his #11 JDC Motorsports / MAZDASPEED Motorsports / Skip Barber Mazda to his third top-5 finish of the season. De Phillippi, the 2009 Skip Barber Pro Series champion, is the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development ladder scholarship winner for 2010 and is racing in the Star Mazda Championship with backing from Mazda and the MAZDASPEED Ladder program. De Phillippi, 6th in the points going into this race, moves up to 5th with 158 points. Norwegian racer Anders ‘The Viking’ Krohn, qualified 4th and finished 5th in the #47 Andersen Racing / Norse Cutting & Abandonment / Trallfa / Colosseum Mazda. Krohn, who was third in the championship before the race, moves up to second with 171 points. Possibly the most disappointing outcome of the evening was Quebec racer Mikael Grenier, who started from the pole and finished 2nd on Memorial Weekend in the Night Before the 500 at O’Reilly Raceway Park. He came into the event second in the championship but finished last, 52 laps down, due to contact with the wall. Grenier was 2nd in the championship before the green flag, but drops to 4th with 163 points.
| Pos |
No. |
Name |
Laps |
Diff |
Avg. Speed |
Sponsor |
| 1 |
22 |
Conor Daly |
100 |
|
122.383 |
INDECK, The College Network, Merchant Services Ltd., Tom Lang Co. |
| 2 |
9 |
Jorge Goncalvez |
100 |
1.003 |
122.335 |
Wabash Capital Investments |
| 3 |
18 |
Joao Horto |
100 |
4.786 |
122.156 |
Wabash Capital Investments |
| 4 |
11 |
Connor De Phillippi |
100 |
10.171 |
121.901 |
Mazdaspeed Motorsports, Skip Barber |
| 5 |
47 |
Anders Krohn |
100 |
15.165 |
121.666 |
Norse Cutting and Abandonment, Trallfa Industries, Colosseum |
| 6 |
81 |
Nick Andries |
100 |
16.237 |
121.615 |
Indy 500/ American Icon Team Pelfrey |
| 7 |
19 |
Caio Lara |
99 |
1 Lap |
120.572 |
MLD/ATW/Molecule |
| 8 |
38 |
Tristan Vautier |
97 |
3 Laps |
117.697 |
Moulin TP, Cecibon, Circuit du Laquais, Fontanel |
| 9 |
65 |
J.W. Roberts |
94 |
6 Laps |
114.718 |
|
| 10 |
66 |
Rusty Mitchell |
93 |
7 Laps |
113.682 |
Motorola, Petro Comm. |
| 11 |
20 |
Carlos Linares |
93 |
7 Laps |
113.328 |
IND |
| 12 |
25 |
Tatiana Calderon |
91 |
9 Laps |
110.904 |
Kia Motors |
| 13 |
85 |
Chris Miller |
76 |
24 Laps |
92.909 |
Miller Milling, Red Line Oil |
| 14 |
16 |
David Ostella |
64 |
36 Laps |
106.656 |
GP Global Precast |
| 15 |
17 |
Mikael Grenier |
48 |
52 Laps |
132.023 |
Slow Cow, April Super Flow, NAPA Auto Parts, HS Telecom, Desharnais |
The 2010 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear continues with Rounds 6 & 7 in a double-header next weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Race 1 is scheduled to take the green flag at 3:00 pm, Saturday, June 26 (Conor Daly won Race 1 at NJMP in 2009). Race 2 will start at 3:05 pm Sunday, June 27. All times are Eastern. One of the events will be shown live on HDnet; please visit www.StarMazda.com for further details.
About Pizza Ranch
Pizza Ranch has 148 franchisees in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan and Illinois. The chain was founded in 1981 in Hull, Iowa and since has grown to its current size while still focusing its brand around “providing a business ministry opportunity where our guests receive a legendary experience through quality food and service.” More information about Pizza Ranch can be found at www.pizzaranch.com.
About Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear
For 2010, the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear will feature an 11-weekend, 13-race schedule, most on major race weekends with American Le Mans and the Indy Racing League. Rising stars from around the world will compete for prizes valued at $1.5 million and benefit from two driver development programs, including the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Ladder and the Indy Racing League’s ‘Road to Indy’ program. Series alumni include Indy Car stars Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos, rising NASCAR drivers Michael McDowell, Scott Speed and Colin Braun and prototype racers Dane Cameron and Guy Cosmo. Drivers 16 and older are welcome to compete and the Star Mazda Championship also features Expert (30 to 44) and Master (45 and older) classes for more mature racers. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheel-to-wheel racing at 150 mph and budgets a fraction of other top open-wheel ladder series. For more information on the Star Mazda Championship please visit www.starmazda.com. Selected Star Mazda Championship races are broadcast on HDnet and syndicated through a variety of international, national and regional networks. Information on the TV schedule can be found at www.MazdaRacing.tv. Additional information, including search links and affiliates, can be found at the ‘TV Information’ link on the Series web site.
________________________________
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. For information, interviews and photos, contact Star Mazda Communications Director Peter Frey at (818) 398-5733 or StarMazdaPR@aol.com.
________________________________
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.usf2000.com www.skipbarber.com www.mx-5cup.com
Dean Case / Communications Officer / MAZDASPEED Motorsports
(310) 318-4582 / E-mail: MAZDASPEED@MazdaUSA.com
