Utah: John Edwards dominates in his debut

AIM Autosports wonder kid John Edwards concluded his impressive Star Mazda debut weekend with a dominant win at Miller Motorsports Park this afternoon, despite the baffling live timing and scoring glitch which didn't even show Edwards in the field! Starting on pole, and leading every lap, and surviving a dicey restart, the speedy 17yr old crossed the finish line 14.514 seconds ahead of second place finisher Charles Hall, and 22 seconds ahead of points leader Joel Miller, who finished 3rd.

“Joel gave me a good run for my money, but I was able to make a somewhat brave move on the outside of Turn One and make it stick, which was the defining moment of the race for me,” says Edwards, now a resident of Cincinnati, Ohio. “He had a better start, and a better re-start, but I was on newer tires and when I drafted past him to take the lead, it was just a matter of driving smooth and bringing it home. The AIM team did a remarkable job in a really short amount of time and I’m delighted to be able to respond with a win in my first race.”

Despite a textbook standing start, only 23 of the 29 cars who took the green emerged from turn one. One of the 23 who made it through unscathed was second place finisher Charles Hall.

“I didn’t qualify where I would have liked, but I got a good start and was able to work my way up to third,” said Hall, who was close to signing a Formula One testing contract before a serious accident in a street car derailed his career and put him in physical therapy for a year. “I saw the fight up front and knew from Sebring that Joel was a clean racer, so I thought I wait and see how it sorted itself out. The team gave me a really good car for the race, and it was a good clean race with no problems, but there was just
no catching Edwards today.”

Rounding out the top three was 2007 Skip Barber Pro Series Champion Joel Miller, who won his 2008 Star Mazda ride courtesy of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Program.

“I drove most of the race with a big red warning light on my dashboard, but the team said to stay out and go for it, so I did,” said the 2007 Skip Barber Pro Series Champion who won his 2008 Star Mazda ride courtesy of the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Driver Development Program. “I don’t know if John and I made contact on the re-start, I guess we’ll look at the tapes in slow motion and see, but the JDC team and my engineer Rick Cameron gave me such a good car that I was able to drive back up through the field to finish on the podium and keep me leading the championship.”

Round Two of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at Miller Motorsports Park can be seen tape delayed on SPEED TV, Saturday, May 31 at 3:00 pm EDT (check your local listings)

Round Three on the 12-race 2008 schedule takes place June 7 at Watkins Glen International in combination with the Grand-Am Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen weekend. This will be Star Mazda's first visit to the Glen.

For more information on the Star Mazda Championship, its drivers, and complete results, please visit www.starmazda.com

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