Star Mazda: John Edwards breaks Dempsey's victory streak

By ,

American racer John Edwards snapped the 3-race winning streak of Irishman Peter Dempsey with a win from the outside of the front row in Race 1 / Round 9 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship at New Jersey Motorsports Park. This is the third win this season for Edwards. Rounding out the top-3 in today's race were pole-sitter Joel Miller, who finished second and the aforementioned Peter Dempsey, who drove his #21 car to a third-place finish. Finishing first in the Expert Series for drivers aged 30 to 44 was J.W. Roberts. The victor in the Master Series for drivers 45 and older was Chuck Hulse, scoring his sixth class win. Chris Cumming, the Vancouver racer who has dominated the Expert Series this season with six class wins, qualified 10th overall but retired with mechanical problems on Lap 4.Joel Miller led the first 21 laps of the 32-lap event, building as much as a 3-second gap over Edwards, but it was traffic that was the undoing of his race. Provisional points after Race 1 at New Jersey Motorsports Park have Joel Miller leading with 315, followed by Peter Dempsey with 310 and John Edwards with 296. Rounding out the top-5 are Charles Hall with 293 and Alex Ardoin with 287.Rounding out the top-5 was Tom Gladdis who qualified 7th and finished 5th. Sunday's on-track activities begin with a 45-minute qualifying session; the 32-lap/45-minute race is scheduled to start at 2:15 pm. Round Nine and Ten - Star Mazda Championship
New Jersey Motorsports Park
Round Nine Qualifying: PosNo.NameBest TmIn LapDiffGap 120Joel Miller1:15.6771527John Edwards1:15.940120.2630.263321Peter Dempsey1:16.40190.7240.461451Alex Ardoin1:16.96671.2890.565531Valle Makela1:17.01571.3380.049617Scott Rettich1:17.264141.5870.24975Tom Gladdis1:17.33281.6550.068824J.C. Kester1:17.447131.7700.115977Charles Hall1:17.579141.9020.1321016Chris Cumming1:17.95072.2730.371...1712Chuck Hulse1:18.99843.3210.116 Round Nine Race : PosNo.NameLapsTotal TmDiffGapAvg. SpeedBest Tm 17John Edwards3241:21.908101.0471:16.371220Joel Miller3241:29.3327.4247.424100.7461:16.460321Peter Dempsey3241:38.72016.8129.388100.3681:16.452431Valle Makela3242:03.29341.38524.57399.3901:17.10555Tom Gladdis3242:05.94344.0352.65099.2861:17.183677Charles Hall3242:09.86947.9613.92699.1321:17.495717Scott Rettich3242:17.50055.5927.63198.8341:17.896824J.C. Kester3242:18.42156.5130.92198.7981:17.834915Taylor Hacquard3242:21.05259.1442.63198.6961:18.0731019Caio Lara3242:23.7501:01.8422.69898.5911:17.723...1212Chuck Hulse3141:31.6181 Lap0.19297.5081:18.940...1965J.W. Roberts2027:01.98012 Laps8 Laps96.6371:18.837...2116Chris Cumming45:58.42028 Laps11 Laps87.4641:19.979...2351Alex Ardoin216:10.32030 Laps1 Lap16.1544:42.355