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Andersen Racing's Kent Finishes Third
While Miller and Daly Nab Top-Five Finishes
In Nightcap of Star Mazda Doubleheader
Sunday at Autobahn Chicago
JOLIET, Ill., July 27 - Andersen Racing's Richard Kent followed up his
fourth-place finish on Saturday with a third-place finish on Sunday in the
second half of a Star Mazda doubleheader that was part of the Harrah's Grand Prix
presented by Mazda at the Autobahn Country Club.
Two of his teammates took the checkered flag right behind him after 40
minutes of competition on the bumpy, 3.56-mile, 21-turn road course. Joel
Miller recorded his best finish as a member of the Palmetto, Fla.-based team by
finishing fourth, while Conor Daly held off all comers to nail down fifth
place in the non-stop, 18-lap race that was carried live on HDnet.
A fourth Andersen Racing driver, Denis Navarro of Sao Paulo, Brazil, passed
the most cars of the quartet to come from 14th to 11th.
Kent, of Clifton Reynes, England, dramatically earned the third starting
spot at the last possible moment during qualifying Saturday night, and then
followed polesitter Peter Dempsey and second-place starter Adam Christodoulou
throughout Sunday afternoon's race in his No. 33, which is sponsored by
Traka and Allied Interior Products.
Miller, of Hesperia, Calif., followed Kent the whole way, as he started and
finished fourth with his No. 2, which advertises Fader Higher Productions,
eSoles Custom Footbeds, Doug Mockett & Co., Burns Truck & Trailer and
Brazos Bend Energy Services.
Daly, a MAZDASPEED Motorsports driver development driver from Noblesville,
Ind., started sixth on Sunday in his No. 22, which is sponsored by Indeck,
Cytomax, College Network and Merchant Services. He passed the fifth-place
starter, Michael Furfari, on lap one and then followed Dempsey, Christodoulou,
Kent and Miller for 17 more laps. The best battle of the race was the one
Daly won for fifth place, as he held off repeated challenges from Furfari,
Alex Ardoin and David Ostella even though his car's handling was seriously
compromised due to a tire issue.
After the race the team discovered that an employee for the firm mounting
tires at the track for all the teams had made an unintentional human error
and provided a mislabeled tire for Daly's car's right-front wheel. Instead of
the road-course compound, it was a very hard, experimental oval-track tire.
The error was definitely not the team's fault, and it made for a
frustrating race for everyone involved with the No. 22, and especially Daly. He did a
great job to not spin out while driving with the incorrect tire, let alone
hold off all challengers and place in the top five.
Navarro had a busy race too. He got a good start with his No. 21 sponsored
by Navarro Medicines Distribution and Allied Interior Products. He had
already advanced two spots to 12th by lap two, but then he dropped to 16th
while taking evasive action when another driver spun in front of him.
He quickly regrouped. He passed Kevin Toledo for 15th on lap four, Michael
Guasch for 14th on lap five, Ashley Freiberg for 13th on lap six, and then
got 12th when Rusty Mitchell spun ahead of him working lap nine. He passed
Anders Krohn for 11th on lap 14, and safely brought his car home in that spot
at the end.
Team co-owner Dan Andersen noted that Navarro had the third-quickest race
lap until the very end of the race, when Miller nabbed that distinction.
The series now travels to the Trois-Rivieres street course in
Trois-Rivieres, Quebec for a race on Aug. 16, the first of four remaining races for 2009.
The rest of the schedule can be found at starmazda.com.
Going into Trois-Rivieres, Dempsey leads the driver point standings with
342 points. Christodoulou is second with 323. Andersen Racing drivers are
third and fourth, as Daly has 280 points and Miller has 275. Kent is currently
seventh and Navarro is 11th. Andersen Racing is currently second in the
team point standings with 221 points to JDC Motorsports' 251.
Allied Building Products Corp. and Lafarge North America sponsor Andersen
Racing, the development team of Rahal Letterman Racing. The team's Web site
is located at andersenracingteam.com. Information on the team's 1-mile road
course test track at its headquarters in Palmetto, Fla. can be found online
at andersenracepark.com.
All four Andersen Racing Star Mazda cars sported the logo of Best Friends
Animal Society as a salute to that not-for-profit animal welfare group, which
celebrates its 25th anniversary this month. The donated signage drew
attention to Best Friends' quarter century of service to the welfare of abused,
abandoned animals at its 3,700-acre sanctuary in southwestern Utah, and for
its on-going campaign work across the United States. Best Friends' No More
Homeless Pets program includes national campaigns in key American cities to
address the problems of saving pit bull dogs, speaking out against puppy
mills, addressing the problem of cat overpopulation and striving that one day
there will be no more homeless pets. More information on the organization can
be obtained at bestfriends.org.
Post-race quotes follow:
Richard Kent: "It was a long race. It didn't seem to want to end, just
sitting in third place the whole time. It's difficult when you're pushing as
hard as you can and you just see the guys in front of you edging away from you
each time.
"But we got some good points; that's the most important thing. We're back
on the podium, which is good, considering the last two events we had.
"I didn't get a blinding start like yesterday, but I got a clean start. I
just couldn't catch Peter [Dempsey] and Adam [Christodoulou] today. It was
just a question of keeping the car on the track and bringing it home. I
started third and just sat there the whole race.
"The track didn't seem to change much from yesterday. We changed the car a
little bit from yesterday but I'm not sure we went the right way. But it
was OK; not too bad.
"I want to thank my sponsors, Traka and Allied Interior Products, as well
as our team, Andersen Racing, and of course everyone at Mazda and Goodyear.
It's a very bumpy track, but my Goodyear Eagles were perfect - they were
very consistent all weekend."
Joel Miller: "I got off normal and fell into fourth right there behind
Richard and just kind of paced it there the whole race.
"At the beginning all of us kind of took different paths via the set-up.
In the beginning we tried a few different things which didn't really work,
and in the middle of the race we went back to something that I knew would work
plus tried something else with the front bar, and after that it started
laying down really consistent 13 flats. On my last lap I was able to pull down
a 12.9, so I was able to find pace in the car late. I nearly caught Richard
on the last lap, but here you just can't really get around anybody. I
thought lapped traffic would work to my advantage, but it didn't really.
"Yancy and I are making improvements on the car. They have some things to
work on at the shop that I know they'll fix. I'm happy to move forward to
Trois-Rivieres. I was fourth there last year, and I'm definitely looking
forward to improving on that and getting on the podium there."
Conor Daly: "It's always unfortunate when you have to be on the defensive
the whole race. By the second or third lap the top four were already gone.
"My car would turn right fine, but on all the left-hand turns I got a
massive understeer. Apparently a mistake was made by the company that mounts the
tires at the track, and our team was given the wrong compound for my
right-front tire. It was an even harder compound than the oval-track tires we run.
It was just very unfortunate.
"I'm still pleased with fifth. With something unusual like that happening,
fifth is really more than I could hope for. I just had to get off the
corners and take care of the major passing zones as best I could.
"I'm looking forward to Trois-Rivieres. It will be my first true
street-course race ever."
Denis Navarro: "My car was very good. One guy spun right in front of me
and I went to the left and I lost about five positions to avoid him.
"I tried to pass some people. I just started too far back. But it was
still a good race for me. My lap times were very good."
Sunday's stats:
Round 9 (1 p.m. to 1:40 p.m.):
1. Peter Dempsey
3. Richard Kent
4. Joel Miller
5. Conor Daly
11. Denis Navarro
About Allied Building Products Corp.:
Allied Building Products Corp., headquartered in East Rutherford, N.J., is
one of the largest roofing and siding distributors in the United States.
Founded in 1950 with five employees and two trucks, today it is a $1.8 billion
building material distribution company with over 3,500 employees, more than
200 branches in 30 states, well over one million square feet of office and
warehouse space, and an inventory of approximately 85,000 products, from
residential roofing and siding to doors, windows, waterproofing, manufactured
stone, interior products and commercial roofing systems. For more information
see alliedbuilding.com.
About Andersen Racing:
Andersen Racing strives to provide the best and most comprehensive training
possible for future open-wheel superstars while giving its marketing
partners media exposure and hospitality opportunities at some of the most prestigi
ous events in North America. It provides a unique, four-step program
utilizing multiple entries in four different platforms: karting, Formula BMW
Americas, Star Mazda and Firestone Indy Lights (televised on VERSUS). In 2008 it
fielded multiple entries in 42 races in 18 states and provinces at some of
the best facilities on the continent, including the famed Indianapolis Motor
Speedway.
Andersen Racing won the team championship for 2008 for both the F2000
Championship Series presented by Hoosier Racing Tire and the Star Mazda
Championship presented by Goodyear. Two of its drivers finished first and second in
the F2000 driver point standings, while another was sixth. Three of its Star
Mazda drivers placed third, fifth and sixth in that series' driver
standings. RLR/Andersen Racing finished sixth in the 2008 Firestone Indy Lights team
standings, while one of its drivers placed fifth in that series' driver
point standings.
Andersen Racing's principals, brothers Dan and John Andersen, have
extensive experience in series administration as well as team management. They've
worked with many of today's top open-wheel stars, including several Indy 500
winners.
Andersen Racing is sponsored by Allied Building Products Corp. and Lafarge
North America. It is the official development team of Rahal Letterman
Racing. The team is headquartered at Andersen RacePark, an 18-acre facility in
Palmetto, Fla. that includes a 1-mile road course test track. For more
information see andersenracingteam.com and andersenracepark.com.