Velocity Motorsports race through the streets of Houston - May 18, 2006
Prospect Hill, NC- Fresh off a successful test at the newly paved Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course the Velocity Motorsports team arrived in Houston. The scene was a street race around the Reliant Stadium Park. The facilities were set with huge grandstands and the Houston Astrodome as a backdrop. The Star Mazda Championship was part of the American Le Mans and Champ Car weekend. Drivers, John Pew and Logan Gomez would compete on Saturday in the 22 lap event.
Despite Gomez finishing in 13th and Pew finishing in 21st positions the drivers are sitting in strong positions for the season long championship. After two races Gomez sits in 5th place overall and in 2nd place in the rookie standing. Pew sits in 11th overall and maintains his 1st place status in the Master Series. The third round of the championship is May 20th at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The Houston race will be televised on Sunday May 28th at 5pm Eastern Time on the SPEED Channel.
Ken Erb, Team Principal;
"I am not sure which was more challenging for out drivers, the sweltering Houston heat and humidity or the bone jarring bumps surrounded by immovable concrete walls at every turn exit. Watching the cars bouncing down the fast right hand sweeper was nothing short of frightening. This would be the first race event for our new engineer Shawn Thompson, who brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to our already talented staff. We only had two test sessions prior to qualifying for the crew to work on the car’s setup, while the drivers tried their best to learn the track. In the qualifying session both drivers would continue to improve on their previous lap times, however Logan would start in P17 and John in P20. The race was marred by a substantial amount of contact which I guess you would expect when you put 38 cars on a tight 1.7 mile street course lined with concrete barriers. Logan would post the 7th fastest lap after making contact with the aforementioned concrete bending his left front steering link and lower wishbone, which was nothing short of amazing. John would struggle with his car’s handling as, despite the ambient temperatures, not running many green laps did not allow the tires to get up to proper operating temperature and pressure. He did well to hang on and finish in P21. While the team felt disappointed with our results, Logan and John still scored valuable points for the championship. We are all looking forward to good results at the next race at Mid-Ohio after our successful test last week."
John Pew, Driver, Star-Mazda #15;
"The Houston race was disappointing for me, but I did learn a lot for the next time we do a street course. It was very difficult to get many laps in practice with all the red flags and yellows which created quite a bit of challenge dialing in the setup. In qualifying, we were getting closer with the setup as my lap times were improving. We had limited time however, between qualifying and the race to make many changes to the car. I think we did learn a lot and will be ready for the next race at Mid-Ohio. We did finish unscathed which at a street circuit is always a concern."
Logan Gomez, Driver, Star-Mazda #23;
"The first session on the track was probably our best of the weekend. When the track is new to everyone it leaves it up to the driver to really be the first to challenge the track and put down a quick lap time. I found street racing to be more demanding for the driver, especially with two concrete walls on both sides of you! The start of the race was chaos, my plan was to lay back and let other drivers take each other out. The numerous full course cautions hurt me as I ran out of racing time. I look forward to Mid-Ohio after our test there last week and to race on a familiar track."
