Braselton, Georgia (April 19, 1999) — The World Speed Star Formula Mazda pair of stars – Jeff Bucknum and Grant Ryley – had their share of ups and downs during last weekend’s second round of the Star Formula Mazda Best Western series, part of the American Le Mans Series’ Grand Prix of Road Atlanta presented by Lease Plan USA. Bucknum captured his second consecutive podium with a solid third place finish, while Ryley’s strong performance netted seventh at the checkered flag.
“It’s weird,” said Bucknum, who drives the #14 World Speed Motorsports/Red Line Oil/Shames Construction Mazda. “We went faster with every session this weekend, but, somehow ended up slipping a position for qualifying and then again for the race. Tim (Enoch) and Joey (Hand) kind of snuck up on us. I was having a hard time getting off the corner onto the back straight. Joey got a good run on me out of the corner and managed to get around. I could catch right up to him through the corners, but I couldn’t get around him. It was great having Mike (Miller) engineer for us. I think we developed a good foundation to build on and we certainly have a good working relationship. By no means are we out of the championship and it looks like it’s going to be an exciting year.”
Ryley, also in his first appearance at Road Atlanta, claimed his best Star Formula Mazda finish thus far after starting fourth. “It was definitely a challenging weekend. Although our finishes weren’t as high as we had hoped, we learned a ton. I had a bad run at the start and dropped a few spots, and then focused on getting into a groove and settling into a race pace. This series is tough. It’s going to be an interesting year, but we’re up for it.”
Round three of the Star Mazda Best Western series is scheduled for June 26-27 at Pikes Peak International Raceway in Fountain, Colorado. Meanwhile, the World Speed Star Mazda team kicks off its first round of the Star Formula Mazda Pro Series – West this weekend in Buttonwillow, California. World Speed Motorsports’ dominance of the Formula Mazda series includes six championship and five pro series Rookie-of-the-Year titles since 1991. Most recently, the team captured five wins (Mike Miller – 4, Bucknum – 1) and two poles (Bucknum) en route to second (Miller) and third (Bucknum) in the 1998 Star Formula Mazda Pro Series championship.