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-WORLD SPEED WINS AT MONTREAL F1-

Ace Carrio drives to his first Star Mazda Victory

June 24, 2006. Montreal Quebec, Canada.

Driving the #14 Rockford Fosgate World Speed Motorsports Mazda, Adrian Carrio, from Monument, Colorado, earned his first career Star Mazda victory today on the Gilles Villeneuve Circuit in Round Five of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, being held in conjunction with the Formula One Grand Prix of Canada. Carrio lead every lap to take the checkered flag ahead of Matt Varsha by 1.482 seconds in a race marred by an opening lap incident towards the front of the field that knocked 15 of the 42 competitors out of the event and shortened the race.

The opening lap trouble came as the cars entered the high-speed right-hand kink on the backstraight when Herrington and Michael Potekhen touched wheels, sending Herrington into the tire barrier and back onto the circuit. Chaos followed as the cars behind all tried to avoid Herrington and each other. "I came up on the blind corner flat out and all I could see was smoke and waving yellow flags," John Faulker described. "I hit my brakes as hard as I could and flat spotted my right front tire but was able to find a way through the accident."

"Coming down to the green flag for the start of the race Daniel and I were wheel to wheel and I was able to hold on on the outside of turn one and then move into first place in the right-hander so I was ahead of the incident and really didn't know what happened until we came around and stopped for the red flag," Carrio explained. "Once the race resumed it came down to managing my tire temperatures and running consistent laps. I have to thank World Speed team owner Telo Stewart, my engineer Mike Doyle and everyone else at World Speed for all their hard work this weekend and hope that all the other drivers are okay."

Chris Cumming and Jim Mashburn who are WSM Russell Pro Series regulars came out to their first Star Mazda Series event and finished 14th & 18th respectively.

The championship points standings have been shuffled with Carrio assuming the championship points lead with 189 points. Potekhen climbs from third to second place with 179 points while Herrington drops to third place with 168 points.

In the Team Championship World Speed Motorsports moves from second to first with 99 points while Apex Racing rises to second with 85 points. AIM Autosport drops from first to third place with 80 points.

The series now regroups and heads to the recently opened Miller Motorsports Park in Salt Lake City, Utah for Round Six of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear, marking the halfway point for the season, on July 13-15.

Round Five from the Montreal Grand Prix weekend is scheduled to air at 1:00 PM Eastern Time on Sunday, July 9th. PHOTO GALLERY>>

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