'Irish Steamroller' Dempsey hits front in Star series

Added: 17th September 2008

 

Peter Dempsey, quickly earning the nickname “the Irish Steamroller”, rolled to his fourth victory in the last five races with a lucky but dominant win in Race 2/Round 10 of the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear at New Jersey Motorsports Park.

The driver of the #21 Andersen Racing / LotusWorks / Quayside.ie / Motorsport Ireland /Allied Building Products Mazda previously won three races back to back at Road America, Trois Rivieres and Mosport. “I didn’t have quite the pace to win the race, but I could run with the leaders.” Said Dempsey, who started from third on the grid and cruised to 14.659-second margin of victory. “I had a bit of luck when Joel Miller spun and dropped back a couple of places, and another bit when a car spun in front of Edwards and he had to swerve off track to avoid contact. That put me through into first and from there on it was just taking care of the tyres and not making any mistakes. The Andersen team gave me a great car, and I’d like to thank my sponsors, including LotusWorks and Allied Building Supplies for helping me continue in the series”.

By Lap 20, the field was fairly well spread out with the sole exception of Dempsey, who was obviously stalking Edwards. And a fruitful stalk it proved to be, as on Lap 23 a lapped car spun in front of Edwards, who had to take evasive action into the grass to avoid contact and this allowed Dempsey to slip into the lead.

After all the dust cleared from the weekend, Peter Dempsey, with four wins in the last five races, moves into the Championship point lead with 354. Joel Miller on 349, John Edwards on 334. The Star Mazda Championship awards 44 points for a race win, and pay points down to 15th place. With two races remaining on the schedule, there are seven drivers still mathematically capable of winning the championship. Round 11 of the 2008 Star Mazda Championship will take place at the ALMS Petit LeMans at Road Atlanta on October 3. The season finale is at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on October 18.


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