STOCK CARS AND ROTARY ROCKETS AT THE MILWAUKEE MILE THIS WEEKEND –

STAR MAZDA OPEN-WHEEL CARS SET FOR 100 LAPS OF WHEEL-TO-WHEEL RACING 

Fast Facts –     Round 6 of the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with the

                        NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Milwaukee Mile, June 20

  The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is the college baseball of Indy-style auto racing, a high-speed training ground for future stars of the sport with a $1.5 million prize fund.  Graduates of the series include Nationwide Series racer Michael McDowell, currently 11th in the points as driver of the #47 Daugherty Racing / Tom's Snacks Toyota, as well as Indy-car stars Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and Raphael Matos.

  This is the first of two oval tracks on the 2009 Star Mazda Calendar (including 100 laps under the lights with the ARCA RE/MAX series at Iowa Speedway on July 10).  In Star Mazda pre-race testing at the Milwaukee Mile last month, the fastest lap was turned by the youngest rookie in the series, 16 year-old Michael Furfari.   Driving the #13 Juncos Racing / Furfari Paving Mazda, the 5-ft.5-in., 120-pound student from Toronto turned a fast lap of 27.548 (130.681 mph) – in 2008, the pole speed for the Nationwide race was 121.298 mph.

  The Star Mazda Championship features a race-within-a-race for Expert (ages 30 -44) and Master (45 and older) Series drivers; company presidents and entrepreneurs in high-speed, wheel-to-wheel battles with top young drivers from around the world.  Chris Cumming of Vancouver, B.C. is leads the Experts while Californian Mike Guasch is the top-scoring Master.

  Hot drivers to watch include Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalvez (#72) who turned the second fastest time in testing, and third-fast driver Englishman Richard Kent (#33) who won last weekend at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  Also a contender is another Englishman, Adam Christodoulou (#11), winner of two races so far this year and he turned the fastest lap in testing on the Iowa Speedway oval.

WITH FOUR WINNERS IN THE FIRST FIVE RACES, THE STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP IS HEATING UP HEADING TO MILWAUKEE FOR 100 LAPS OF NON-STOP RACING

FURFARI FASTEST -- YOUNGEST DRIVER IN THE SERIES SETS THE FASTEST TIME

DURING STAR MAZDA CHAMPIONSHIP TWO-DAY TEST AT THE MILWAUKEE MILE

With four different winners in the first five races of the 2009 season -- and the top three drivers within three points of each other -- the driver battle in The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is heating up as the series heads for 100 laps of non-stop, wheel-to-wheel racing this weekend with the NASCAR Nationwide Series at the Milwaukee Mile. 

And cheering them on will be rising NASCAR star Michael McDowell, the 2004 Star Mazda champion and now driving the #47 Daugherty Racing / Tom's Snacks Toyota in the Nationwide Series.  Other series graduates who have raced at the fabled Milwaukee Mile recently include IRL stars Marco Andretti, Graham Rahal and 2005 Star Mazda champion Raphael Matos.

The Star Mazda Championship is the college baseball of Indy-style auto racing; a high-speed training ground for future stars of the sport.  This is the first of two oval races on the 13-event 2009 schedule and in pre-race testing here last month, Canadian rookie Michael Furfari, at 16 the youngest driver in the 2009 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, set the fastest time of the 21-car, two-day test (May 21-22); driving the #13 Juncos Racing / Furfari Paving Mazda, the 5-ft.5-in., 120-pound student from Toronto turned a lap of 27.548 (130.681 mph) on lap 70 of the final session on Thursday afternoon.  And just to prove it was no fluke, he backed it up with a 27.550 on lap 71.

The lap record for a Star Mazda Championship car at the Milwaukee Mile is 27.249, set by Adrian Carrio in winning the pole for the series' last and lone visit to the legendary oval in 2006.  By way of comparison, in 2008, the pole speed for the Nationwide race was 121.298 mph.

"It was certainly a challenge, getting used to how the oval is, the speed and how you go much faster through the corners than a road course," said Furfari, speaking on his cell phone from his mother's car on his way to a lesson required for him to get his Canadian driver's license.  "You also have to drive it much differently; on a road course you go as deep into a corner as possible and then brake, but on the oval you never touch the brakes, you need to let the speed carry the car through the turns.  The passing is different too, and the turbulence in traffic.  The Juncos Racing team did a great job on the setup; at first the car would only be good for a couple of laps, but they made some changes and made the car really consistent, so I feel really confident in both myself and the team."

Other hot drivers to watch include Venezuelan racer Jorge Goncalvez (#72 AIM Autosport/Mazda) who turned the second fastest time in testing, and third-fast driver Englishman Richard Kent (#33 Andersen Racing / Traka / Lafarge / Allied Interior Products Mazda) who won the Sunday race of last weekend's double-header at New Jersey Motorsports Park.  Also a contender is another Englishman, Adam Christodoulou (#11 JDC Motorsports / Molecule Mazda); currently second in the championship, he's the only driver to win two races so far this season, and he turned the fastest lap in Star Mazda series testing on the Iowa Speedway oval.  And a driver with the pedigree of Conor Daly (right), son of racing legend Derek Daly, is always worthy of attention; he turned the 7th-fast time in testing at the Milwaukee Mile, but he won from the pole on Saturday at New Jersey and momentum counts for a lot in racing.

Daly is also the 2008 Skip Barber series champion and winner of this year's MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder scholarship.  This unique program is the only automaker-supported 'ladder' that provides funding for young champions at all levels of racing to move up to the next series on the ladder with a fully-funded ride. 

The Star Mazda Championship also features a race-within-a-race for Expert (ages 30 -44) and Master (45 and older) Series drivers; this means fans will see company presidents and entrepreneurs in high-speed, wheel-to-wheel battles with top young drivers from around the world.  Chris Cumming of Vancouver, B.C. is leads the Experts while Californian Mike Guasch is the top-scoring Master; both won races last weekend in New Jersey.

On-track action for The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear begins with a pair of 45-minute practice sessions on Friday afternoon, June 19.  Qualifying takes place from Noon to 1:00 pm Saturday, June 20th, with the race scheduled to take the green flag at 2:30 pm.  The event will be 100 laps of flat-out, side-by-side racing with no pit stops.  The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is now in its 19th year as one of the most successful open-wheel driver development series in North America; the Milwaukee Mile race is Round 6 of the 11-weekend, 13-race (two double-headers) 2009 Star Mazda Championship race schedule that includes road courses, oval tracks and street circuits in both the U.S. and Canada.