EDMONTON, Alberta -- Star Mazda Race 1 at this weekend's Edmonton Indy was a wet and wild affair, and when all the rooster tails finally faded away, it was Venezuelan rookie Camilo Schmidt, a top South American kart racer making the jump directly to Star Mazda, who was leading the flock.

Given that his previous best finish in the series was 9th... and having qualified 15th in his #21 Linares Racing Mazda... and with the race ending in a green/white/ checkered melee, it would be easy enough to write his victory off as luck-- except for the fact that he got a monster start when the lights went green and climbed from 15th to 5th by lap 5.

Then of course the rain came, and the carnage, and the confusion, and the collisions, so yes there was luck, but also a tremendous drive from this talented 16 year-old who speaks about five words of English.

"It was the craziest race I was ever in," he said through his teammate/interpreter Carlos Linares. "But I got a very good start and was able to move up a lot of places before the rain came down really heavy, and we decided to stay out on dry tires while a lot of people went into the pits. When the race went to green, everyone started spinning and crashing and I was able to stay out of the way. I'm very proud to be able to have this result for the Linares Racing team."

Finishing 2nd in the #88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda was pole-sitter Sage Karam, who, though clearly unhappy with the outcome, himself put in a tremendous drive after pitting - along with half the field - at the mid-way point to change to wet tires. He re-joined in 10th, with the race still under a long yellow, and, in a fast-forward repeat of his charge from last to 3rd at the Toronto Indy two weeks ago, he powered his way through the field from 10th to 2nd during the green/white/checkered finish lap. Turning in yet another finely-driven performance was Colombian racer Gabby Chaves, his fourth podium of the season so far in the #19 JDC Motorsports / CLARO / Marca Colombia / Tecpro Mazda.

Martin Scuncio drove an aggressive and lucky race to move up from 6th and finish 4th in the #22 Juncos Racing / Pullman Bus / Gobierno Regional del Bio-Biol Mazda. Another beneficiary of the pandemonium was Connor De Phillippi, who came to Edmonton second in the championship but battling a long run of bad luck. An early collision forced a visit to the pits for a new nose, and a second visit for further adjustments, yet he still moved up from 13th to finish 5th in his #2 Juncos Racing / ModSpace Racing / One24 Mazda.

And also putting in a drive of note was Young American Ryan Tveter, who had the worst of all possible weekends in Toronto, as he moved up from 16th on the grid to finish 6th. Another surprise came in the form of Blair Robertshaw, the Alberta businessman/racer making his professional open-wheel debut in Star Mazda here this weekend. He qualified his #42 Robertshaw Racing / SEKO Construction / Web Mechanical Mazda 19th and survived to finish 12th.

As for the rest, how even to begin to describe what happened? There was a portent of things to come between this morning's qualifying and this afternoon's race; a 60-second downpour that seemed to fulfill the promise of the day's cloudy skies and gloomy weather forecast. Cars rolled to pre-grid on wets, but one of the top teams changed to drys and that started the stampede. The track was fairly dry, just a few leftover wet spots, and it seemed a reasonable enough decision that every car in the field started on dry tires -- until the skies started spitting again just a few laps into the race. Even at that point is was more entertaining than threatening, with the slippery track offering opportunities for the young drivers to slide around and show their car control.

Then the sky stopped fooling around and the race turned into a skating lesson conducted largely under yellow flags. Petri Suvanto, the Finnish 2011 USF2000 champion who is racing in Star Mazda this season on a Mazda Road to Indy scholarship, was the first car out, dropping from 5th on the grid to finish 19th. Local driver Stefan Rzadzinski also took an early hit in his #93 JDC Motorsports / PoweredByAlberta.com Mazda and dropped from 9th to 17th. Zach Veach, starting from the outside of the front row, spun and finished 9th in the #77 Andretti Autosport / K12 / Zakosi Data Backup Mazda.

The major drama was provided by Jack Hawksworth, one of the eight drivers who stayed out on dry tires and seemed set to win -- despite an apparently quixotic decision by his team -- as the full course yellow lengthened until only a few minutes remained in the 30-minute race. On the green/white/checkered re-start, he was leading in his #82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda with teammate Gustavo Menezes (also on drys) in the #83 Team Pelfrey / TrueCar.com / Oakley Mazda alongside as they entered Turn 1. Even with what seemed like plenty of room between them, the super-slick track caught both out and Menezes slid into Hawksworth under braking. Both spun and continued, but Schmidt, with his car twitching but still under control, had already taken full advantage. Hawksworth finished 7th and retains a strong lead in the points championship, and Menezes, who crashed heavily into a concrete wall several turns later, finished 13th.

Championship points at the conclusion of Race 1 show Hawksworth still in the lead with 212, followed by De Phillippi with 175 and Chaves in third with 172. Sage Karam moves up from 5th to 4th with 166, followed by Martin Scuncio rounding out the top-5 with 160. For complete points, click here.

Star Mazda on-track action and the Edmonton Indy continues with Race 2 of the weekend's double-header taking the green light for the series' spectacular standing start at 9:30 am tomorrow, Sunday, July 22. The grid will be set by the quickest lap turned by each car in Race 1, which means Jack Hawksworth will collect his sixth PEAK Performance pole award of the season. Starting on the outside of the front row will be today's 3rd-place finisher Gabby Chaves.

Provisional Results


Pos
No.
Name
Best Tm
In Lap
Diff
Gap
Sponsor
Team
Laps
1
21
Camilo Schmidt
1:34.212
7
Linares Racing
15
2
88
Sage Karam
1:33.538
7
1.281
1.281
Comfort Revolution
Andretti
15
3
19
Gabby Chaves
1:33.265
7
1.907
0.626
Claro/ Marca Colombia / Tecpro
JDC Motorsports
15
4
22
Martin Scuncio
1:34.379
7
2.942
1.035
Pullman Bus
Juncos Racing
15
5
2
Connor De Phillippi
1:37.266
7
4.752
1.810
ModSpace Racing / One24
Juncos Racing
15
6
33
Ryan Tveter
1:36.648
7
5.221
0.469
Rogers TV / Motorola Mobility Canada
Team GDT
15
7
82
Jack Hawksworth
1:33.030
7
6.082
0.861
TORGOEN Swiss Watches/ EXA Networks
Pelfrey
15
8
9
Juan Piedrahita
1:34.099
7
6.782
0.700
Petrosur / Colombia es pasion / GFK Motors / Lamd Link
JDC Motorsports
15
9
77
Zach Veach
1:33.362
7
8.847
2.065
K12.com / Zakosi Data Backup
Andretti
15
10
57
Diego Ferreira
1:37.987
6
1:22.515
1:13.668
Team Viso Venezuela
Juncos Racing
15
11
53
Andres Mendez
1:38.365
7
2:11.129
48.614
GrupoKriterion.com / DataFile.com.co
Team GDT
15
12
42
Blair Robertshaw
1:40.987
1
1 Lap
1 Lap
Robertshaw Racing / Seko Construction / Web Mechanical
14
13
83
Gustavo Menezes
1:34.106
7
2 Laps
1 Lap
Team Pelfrey / Safety Park / Oakley
Pelfrey
13
14
20
Carlos Linares
1:35.387
6
2 Laps
2.323
Mindeporte
Linares Racing
13
15
91
Ashley Freiberg
1:34.246
7
2 Laps
0.737
TRUECar.com
JDC Motorsports
13
16
66
Zack Meyer
1:36.169
7
2 Laps
2:18.711
Partners III
Aim Autosport
13
17
93
Stefan Rzadzinski
1:43.540
5
3 Laps
1 Lap
PoweredbyAlberta.com
JDC Motorsports
12
18
15
Bruno Palli
1:36.473
1
11 Laps
8 Laps
Team Viso Venezuela
Juncos Racing
4
19
81
Petri Suvanto
0
15 Laps
4 Laps
Mazda Road to Indy
Pelfrey

Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International. In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, August 25. In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.

About Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear

The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is a part of the Mazda Road to Indy, the official driver development program for IndyCar. The 2012 schedule currently includes 17 races on 10 weekends, most with IndyCar. Rising stars from around the world will compete on road courses, street circuits and ovals in front of more than a million fans as they compete for prizes valued at $1.2 million, including a scholarship to move up and race in the 2013 Firestone Indy Lights series. Drivers 16 and older are welcome to compete and the Star Mazda Championship also features the Expert Series for drivers 30 and older. The Star Mazda Championship features standing starts, wheel-to-wheel racing at 160 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.

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, please contact Star Mazda Communications Director Peter Frey at (818) 398-5733 or starpr@starmazda.com.

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