Previous winners of the Star Mazda Master Series Championship include 2008 winner Chuck Hulse, also a Californian driving for JDC Motorsports who scored eight in-class victories driving the #12 Silicon Salvage Mazda, as well as Steve Hickham (2007), Doug Petersen (2004 & 2006), John Pew (2005), John Faulkner (2003) and Joe Pruskowski (2002).
“Mike has shown that he is a true competitor and everyone at JDC Motorsports has felt energized working with him during the season,” says JDC Motorsports co-owner John Church, whose team won the 2007 Star Mazda Championship with Dane Cameron. “His desire to follow in the footsteps of our championship winning drivers makes him a real asset to our organization. And his championship victory at Trois-Rivieres—along with our driver Alex Ardoin winning the race overall and our F2000 driver Chris Miller winning his championship with a victory in the season finale at Mid-Ohio—made it one of the most memorable and rewarding race weekends in my career.”
JDC engineer Rick Cameron has engineered cars for a Who’s Who of top open-wheel drivers on their way up the ladder, including Indy Car stars Buddy Rice (the 2004 Indy 500 winner), Patrick Carpentier, Memo Gidley and Alex Barron, as well as Star Mazda champions Michael McDowell, Raphael Matos (2005) and Dane Cameron (2007).
“I was able to watch Mike develop a lot as a driver last season as we worked together at the west coast events,” said Cameron. “As he started looking towards the 2009 season and his goal of going for the Master Class championship the idea of working together at JDC Motorsports made perfect sense. He has made tremendous progress as a driver this season and I’m looking forward to working with him if he decides to defend his championship in 2010.”
As for Guasch, his plans for 2010 at this point are being finalized. He is keen to defend his championship and work to finish regularly in the top-10 racing against the hottest young open-wheel drivers from around the world, but, like every driver, he also longs to go faster.
“The Star Mazda Championship is a tremendous training ground for drivers of any age, and I could certainly do with another year of experience,” says Guasch. “But people call me ‘Ironman’ because I love to drive lap after lap and these 45-minute races just aren’t quite long enough for me. Everybody else was beat when they got out of the car at Trois-Rivieres but I could have gone on another two hours. I’m going to test a GT car in the fall just to see how that feels, and the Grand-Am series, particularly the prototype class, has a lot of appeal for me. I don’t see why I can’t be as fast, or faster, at 53 or 54 than I am at 51; it’s just a matter of dedication, that’s what makes anyone good at what they do.”
The Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear is now in its 19th year as one of the most successful open-wheel driver development series in North America. The Star Mazda Championship is the college basketball, the triple-A baseball of auto racing, a high-speed training ground for future stars of the sport and a major step on the MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development Ladder and automaker-supported scholarship program that provides funding for young champions to move up to the next level of racing. Star Mazda Championship racers are high-tech open-wheel cars powered by Mazda’s legendary ‘Renesis’ rotary; top speed exceed 160 mph and 0 to 60 mph acceleration takes just 2.8 seconds. The series races on major motorsports weekends and the 13-race, 11-weekend 2009 schedule includes races on road courses, street circuits and ovals. A uniquely diverse group of drivers will be part of the Star Mazda Championship series in 2009, including racers from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, England, Ireland and Japan as well as drivers ranging in age from 16 to 51.
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