Adrian Carrio drives to first Star Mazda victory at Montreal

June 24, 2006. Montreal Quebec, Canada. Driving the #14 Rockford Fosgate World Speed Motorsports Mazda, Adrian Carrio, from Monument, Colorado, earned his first career Star Mazda victory today on the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, being held in conjunction with the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada. Carrio would lead every lap to take the checkered flag ahead of Matt Varsha by 1.482 seconds in a race marred by an opening lap incident towards the front of the field that knocked 15 of the 42 competitors out of the event and shortened the race, originally scheduled for 26 laps down to eleven laps.

The opening lap trouble came as the cars entered the high-speed right-hand kink on the backstraight when Herrington and Michael Potekhen touched wheels, sending Herrington into the tire barrier and back onto the circuit. Chaos followed as the cars behind all tried to avoid Herrington and each other. "I came up on the blind corner flat out and all I could see was smoke and waving yellow flags," John Faulker described. "I hit my brakes as hard as I could and flat spotted my right front tire but was able to find a way through the accident."

"Coming down to the green flag for the start of the race Daniel and I were wheel to wheel and I was able to hold on on the outside of turn one and then move into first place in the right-hander so I was ahead of the incident and really didn't know what happened until we came around and stopped for the red flag," Carrio explained. "Once the race resumed it came down to managing my tire temperatures and running consistent laps. I have to thank World Speed team owner Telo Stewart, my engineer Mike Doyle and everyone else at World Speed for all their hard work this weekend and hope that all the other drivers are okay."

Varsha, who earned his first podium finish of the season with the second place finish in the #45 Racers Edge Motorsports Mazda, was also ahead of the incident but disappointed to lose the chance to put on a show for the fans. "As I came into the hairpin on that first lap I could see the screen showing the crash and at first I thought it was a replay of something else," the Atlanta, Georgia native explained. "If we had made it through that first lap I think we could've put on a great show for all the Formula One fans and it was sad to see so many good drivers knocked out of the race. When the race resumed I was able to get around Ryan Justice, who had to stop on pit lane for a penalty, and then jump past Potekhen and Kevin Lacroix as they fought each other in the hairpin. Despite everything that happened it is still nice to get a podium finish as we continue to look for sponsorship to keep the season going."

Potekhen, driving the #53 Avenue Communities Apex Racing Mazda, emerged from the opening lap contact with Herrington with relatively minor damage and was able to battle his way to the final podium spot of the weekend. "Daniel and I were running side by side through the sweeper and I was as close to the inside wall as I could get, my car got a little loose and we touched wheels", Potekhen explained. "The marbles from the Formula One cars in that corner were really bad if you went off the racing line and there was no grip. After the red flag I was locked in a battle with Kevin Lacroix for second place but Matt was able to get around both of us when Lacroix pushed me out wide in the hairpin, as we drove side by side Matt was able to open a gap on me to the finish."

Daniel Herrington, Gerardo Bonilla, Brad Jaeger and John Pew were all transported to local Montreal hospitals for further evaluation for non life-threatening injuries sustained in the crash and all were reported to be in stable condition.

As a result of the melee the championship points standings have been shuffled with Carrio assuming the championship points lead with 189 points. Potekhen climbs from third to second place with 179 points while Herrington drops to third place with 168 points.

In the Expert Championship, for drivers aged 30-44, Mark Pavan, of Toronto, Canada, drove to the class victory on home soil in his #92 Molecule/Canaccord Adams Phenom Racing Group Mazda, finishing 12th overall. Though he was knocked out on the opening lap, Bonilla, pilot of the #9 Skip Barber Racing Andersen Racing Team Mazda holds onto the Expert Series points lead with 82 points. Brian Thienes remains in second place with 68 points in the #77 Thienes Engineering JDC Motorsports Mazda and Dan Tomlin III, driving the #56 Team Tomlin Mazda holds onto third place with 66 points

In the Masters Championship, for drivers aged 45 and older, John Faulkner, driving the #93 Molecule/Canaccord Adams Phenom Racing Group Mazda was the class winner finishing 9th overall, sending him from 6th to 3rd place with 67 points. Ken Losch remains in first place in the championship with 73 points while John Pew holds second place in his #15 NVG Velocity Motorsports Mazda with 68 points.

In the Team Championship World Speed Motorsports moves from second to first with 99 points while Apex Racing rises to second with 85 points. AIM Autosport drops from first to third place with 80 points.

The series now regroups and heads to the recently opened Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah for Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, marking the halfway point for the season, on July 13-15.

Round Five from the Montreal Grand Prix weekend is scheduled to air at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, July 9th. For more information please visit www.starmazda.com.