AND THE RACERS EDGE / MARQUIS JET TEAM IN LAST WEEKEND'S SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN
The Racers Edge team and co-drivers Dane Cameron and Bryce Miller had one of those 'character-building' weekends at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen; a fast car and great teamwork, with a potentially podium-finishing effort de-railed by niggling mechanical problems.
Dane Cameron of Sonoma, Calif., started the No. 30 Marquis Jet Mazda RX-8 sixth on the GT class grid. He moved up to fourth before handing off to Peter Ludwig of New Paltz, N.Y. Ludwig held fourth through his stint, as did Miller, who drove third in the rotation. The three drivers each drove two stints, but each was hampered by a series of small mechanical problems. The team persevered, though, and finished with Miller recording the sixth-fastest GT lap of the race. Ultimately the team finished 14th in class and 28th overall. The Racers Edge team currently sits 11th of 32 in the team championship and Dane Cameron is 13th out of 63 in the driver's championship.
"It was an odd combination of small problems and a show of strength," said Cameron. "The race itself didn't go well, but I was able to put the car sixth on the grid after only a dozen laps of practice on a track where I've never raced before, so that says something about how good the package is. And we were fast in the early stages of the race; I though this might be the event where we broke through for a podium finish, but a series of small things kept us out of contention. We've been fast right out of the box at ever race so far this season, so we have the team and the car and the speed, now we need to laser in on the details."
Cameron arrived at this point in his career via an accomplished climb up the open-wheel ladder. Driving for Genoa Racing in the ultra-competitive 2008 Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Cameron started from the pole once and scored two podiums and five top-5 finishes, finishing seventh in the championship during his rookie season.
In 2007, he was both series champion and Rookie of the Year in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with three wins, six pole positions, five podium finishes and two top-5s. In 2006, Cameron was the Rookie of the Year and finished second in the F2000 championship and, as a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005, he was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. His karting career, beginning in 2000, was similarly successful, including the 2003 Jim Russell Karting 80cc Junior Shifter Championship and a 2004 finalist in the Red Bull Driver Search. Cameron's long-time personal sponsors include the Finlay Motorsports Driver Development Program, Lynx Racing, Rett.org, Nearburg Exploration and Sparco USA.
Racers Edge is a former Star Mazda team that won back-to-back championships in 2002 with Guy Cosmo and 2003 with Luis Schiavo before moving up to the Grand-Am series in 2007. Under the guidance of President, Team Manager (and former driver) Jon Mirachi, Racers Edge has established itself as one of the premier teams in North American road racing with substantial achievements in both open wheel racing and sports cars. In the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex GT series, Racers Edge led three races, scoring five top-5 and ten top-10 finishes. In 2008, racing the same Mazda RX-8 they will field this season, the team again led three races and scored three top-10 finishes.
The next event on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Schedule is the EMCO Gears Classic at the 2.258, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, June 9 - 10. Several practice sessions are scheduled for Friday, June 19, with qualifying for the Rolex GT cars scheduled to take place from 5:35 - 5:50 pm in the afternoon. The 2 3/4-hour EMCO Gears Classic for the Rolex Sports Car Series Presented by Crown Royal Cask No. 16 is scheduled to take the green flag at 5.00 pm Saturday, June 20. The race will be broadcast live starting at 5pm ET on SPEED TV.
