The Grid

The next event on the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Schedule is at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal. Practice begins on Friday, August 28, with qualifying set for 5:20 - 5:35 pm that afternoon. The green flag for the 2-hour/200-mile Rolex Series race is set to wave at 2:15 pm Saturday, August 29. The race will be broadcast live on SPEED TV beginning at 2 pm ET.

Racers Edge is a former Star Mazda team that won back-to-back championships in 2002 with Guy Cosmo and 2003 with Luis Schiavo before moving up to the Grand-Am series in 2007. Under the guidance of President, Team Manager (and former driver) Jon Mirachi, Racers Edge has established itself as one of the premier teams in North American road racing with substantial achievements in both open wheel racing and sports cars. In the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex GT series, Racers Edge led three races, scoring five top-5 and ten top-10 finishes. In 2008, racing the same Mazda RX-8 they will field this season, the team again led three races and scored three top-10 finishes.

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A ROUGH AND TUMBLE RACE ON THE WATKINS GLEN SHORT COURSE PRODUCES THE

FIRST GRAND-AM PODIUM FINISH FOR DANE CAMERON AND THE RACERS EDGE TEAM

The new driver pairing of Californians Dane Cameron and Tom Sutherland continued to demonstrate exceptional chemistry in scoring the first-ever podium finish in a Grand-Am event for the Racers Edge team and the #30 Racers Edge/ClickAway GT1 Mazda RX-8. This result, on the heels of a 4th-place finish at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, has elevated the team to 9th in the championship battle (among 32 teams competing in the GT class) and resulted in high hopes for the next event on the calendar at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal on August 28 – 29.

"This podium finish was a long time coming, but the Racers Edge team has been working really hard and made a lot of progress in the last few weeks, so I feel we really earned it," says Cameron, a rising sports car and open-wheel star from Sonoma, California. "We were quick out of the box, which is the key to any race weekend, and given that we had to start from the back due to a problem in tech inspection, I think the result shows we had a car that was actually capable of winning the race."

The Racers Edge team made a spring and suspension change that should have resulted in improved handling without changing the ride height of the car, but after Tom Sutherland posted a time that put the car second on the GT grid, it proved less than a millimeter too low during the post-qualifying inspection and – by the rules - the team was relegated to starting at the back of the field. Sutherland, having qualified, started the car in the race and battled his way up to sixth before handing the car over to Cameron at the mid-point of the race. He then took it to the front and battled with the leaders, passing both cars that finished ahead of him before dropping back to finish third due to traffic in the closing laps of the race.

"It was a crazy race on the short course at Watkins Glen," said Cameron. "Everyone is driving very, very aggressively, the pace is really fast and there's lots of body contact and traffic. It's actually a blast to drive in those conditions because you usually have to be so measured and careful in these races, but the track suited our car and I think the same will be true of the track at Montreal as well. We've worked out a lot of issues with the car, and the team is functioning very smoothly and hopefully we can battle for another podium, or even a win, before the end of the season."

Cameron arrived at this point in his career via an accomplished climb up the open-wheel ladder. Driving for Genoa Racing in the ultra-competitive 2008 Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Cameron started from the pole once and scored two podiums and five top-5 finishes, finishing seventh in the championship during his rookie season.

In 2007, he was both series champion and Rookie of the Year in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with three wins, six pole positions, five podium finishes and two top-5s. In 2006, Cameron was the Rookie of the Year and finished second in the F2000 championship and, as a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005, he was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. His karting career, beginning in 2000, was similarly successful, including the 2003 Jim Russell Karting 80cc Junior Shifter Championship and a 2004 finalist in the Red Bull Driver Search. He is also a winner of the prestigious Gorsline Company Human Performance Institute Scholarship presented to young drivers who consistently display exceptional talent and a professional respect for motorsports. Past winners include Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice, Bryan Herta and Butch Leitzinger. Cameron's long-time personal sponsors include the Finlay Motorsports Driver Development Program, Lynx Racing, Rett.org, Nearburg Exploration and Sparco USA.

Racers Edge is a former Star Mazda team that won back-to-back championships in 2002 with Guy Cosmo and 2003 with Luis Schiavo before moving up to the Grand-Am series in 2007. Under the guidance of President, Team Manager (and former driver) Jon Mirachi, Racers Edge has established itself as one of the premier teams in North American road racing with substantial achievements in both open wheel racing and sports cars. In the 2007 Grand-Am Rolex GT series, Racers Edge led three races, scoring five top-5 and ten top-10 finishes. In 2008, racing the same Mazda RX-8 they will field this season, the team again led three races and scored three top-10 finishes.

ENERGIZED BY A TOP-4 FINISH AT MID-OHIO, DANE CAMERON AND THE RACERS EDGE TEAM

HEAD FOR THE HIGH BANKS OF DAYTONA

The new driver pairing of Californians Dane Cameron and Tom Sutherland demonstrated exceptional and immediate chemistry in scoring the first top-4 finish in the of the 2009 season for the #30 Racers Edge/ClickAway GT1 Mazda RX-8 at last weekend's EMCO Gears Classic at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. And they're headed for this weekend's one-day, 4th of July shootout on the high banks of Daytona with high hopes and a hot car.

"Tom and I have been racing against each other for years, but this is the first time we ever drove together as teammates and it worked out really well," said Cameron, a native of Sonoma, California. "We led two hours of a two-and-three-quarter hour race and would have won if not for an unplanned pit stop. The team and the car keep getting better every race and Daytona is a track well-suited to our car, so we're all excited about the possibility of a podium finish or even our first win."

Sutherland qualified the car third at the Mid-Ohio road course, but was moved up to second when one of the cars ahead was penalized for a 'technical infraction.' On the pace lap, the pole-winning car pulled into the pits before even taking the green flag due to a mechanical problem, so the #30 Racers Edge car effectively started from the GT1 pole and led every lap in class while Sutherland was at the wheel. When Cameron took over driving duties, expecting to finish out the race, he again led the class, but a malfunction of the cooling system in his driver's suit caused it to actually pump hot air instead of cool and made it impossible for him to finish his full stint due to overheating and dehydration. An unplanned pit stop toward the end of the race to change drivers resulted in the team dropping back several places and finishing fourth in class and 16th overall.

A CHARACTER-BUILDING WEEKEND FOR DANE CAMERON AND THE RACERS EDGE /

MARQUIS JET TEAM IN LAST WEEKEND'S SIX HOURS OF THE GLEN

The Racers Edge team and co-drivers Dane Cameron and Bryce Miller had one of those 'character-building' weekends at the Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen; a fast car and great teamwork, with a potentially podium-finishing effort de-railed by niggling mechanical problems.

Dane Cameron of Sonoma, Calif., started the No. 30 Marquis Jet Mazda RX-8 sixth on the GT class grid. He moved up to fourth before handing off to Peter Ludwig of New Paltz, N.Y. Ludwig held fourth through his stint, as did Miller, who drove third in the rotation. The three drivers each drove two stints, but each was hampered by a series of small mechanical problems. The team persevered, though, and finished with Miller recording the sixth-fastest GT lap of the race. Ultimately the team finished 14th in class and 28th overall. The Racers Edge team currently sits 11th of 32 in the team championship and Dane Cameron is 13th out of 63 in the driver's championship.

"It was an odd combination of small problems and a show of strength," said Cameron. "The race itself didn't go well, but I was able to put the car sixth on the grid after only a dozen laps of practice on a track where I've never raced before, so that says something about how good the package is. And we were fast in the early stages of the race; I though this might be the event where we broke through for a podium finish, but a series of small things kept us out of contention. We've been fast right out of the box at ever race so far this season, so we have the team and the car and the speed, now we need to laser in on the details." Cameron arrived at this point in his career via an accomplished climb up the open-wheel ladder. Driving for Genoa Racing in the ultra-competitive 2008 Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda, Cameron started from the pole once and scored two podiums and five top-5 finishes, finishing seventh in the championship during his rookie season.

In 2007, he was both series champion and Rookie of the Year in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with three wins, six pole positions, five podium finishes and two top-5s. In 2006, Cameron was the Rookie of the Year and finished second in the F2000 championship and, as a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005, he was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. His karting career, beginning in 2000, was similarly successful, including the 2003 Jim Russell Karting 80cc Junior Shifter Championship and a 2004 finalist in the Red Bull Driver Search. Cameron's long-time personal sponsors include the Finlay Motorsports Driver Development Program, Lynx Racing, Rett.org, Nearburg Exploration and Sparco USA.

ANOTHER TOP-10 FINISH FOR DANE CAMERON AND THE RACERS EDGE TEAM

IN A WET AND WILD VERIZON WIRELESS 250 AT NEW JERSEY MOTORSPORTS PARK

The Racers Edge team and co-drivers Dane Cameron and Bryce Miller survived a torrential downpour and difficult track and mechanical conditions at New Jersey Motorsports Park to bring the #30 Racers Edge / Marquis Jet / Total Petroleum / Piloti Mazda RX-8 home in 9th place in the GT class at the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series Verizon 250.

Cameron qualified the car fourth on the grid for the start of the race and moved into the class lead after 65-minutes of the 2-hour 45-minute race. He led twice before pitting for a driver change at the 1-hour 24-minute mark; Miller returned to the track in 12th-place and drove the final stint, re-gaining three positions to finish 9th. Both drivers were slowed by a malfunctioning windshield wiper. While Cameron experienced intermittent problems, the wiper motor failed early in Miller's stint, leaving him with very limited visibility under extremely difficult on-track conditions.

“It was a tough weekend all around; torrential rain from start to finish," said the native of Sonoma, California, an area no stranger to rain. "After the green flag dropped, it was all a battle for survival and I found out how different it is to race an open wheel car in the rain from a closed car; the windshield and rear window fogged up, and the outside mirrors were useless, so we were driving pretty much completely blind. The upside was that we qualified well on a track that didn't really suit our car, and we had a really good wet setup for the race. We ran consistently in the top three – I think we were actually 4th overall, including the DP cars, at one point – but our yellow flag pit to change drivers probably came a little late. Bryce got shuffled back in the field, but did a good job to make us some places and bring the car home. The next race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca should be where it all comes together for us."

In 2007, he was both series champion and Rookie of the Year in the Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear with three wins, six pole positions, five podium finishes and two top-5s. In 2006, Cameron was the Rookie of the Year and finished second in the F2000 championship and, as a Team USA Scholarship driver, he won the 2006 Palmer Audi Winter Championship in Europe. In 2005, he was the SCCA Formula Jim Russell Series champion and Rookie of the Year. His karting career, beginning in 2000, was similarly successful, including the 2003 Jim Russell Karting 80cc Junior Shifter Championship and a 2004 finalist in the Red Bull Driver Search. Cameron's long-time personal sponsors include the Finlay Motorsports Driver Development Program, Lynx Racing, Rett.org, Nearburg Exploration and Sparco USA.

The next race on the 2009 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series schedule is the Verizon Festival of Speed at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in two weeks, May 13 – 15. Along with Infineon Raceway in his home town of Sonoma, California, Mazda Raceway is one of two top racing facilities Cameron claims as 'home tracks.'

"I've raced at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca twice in my career so far, both times in open-wheel cars," says Cameron. "I qualified on pole and finished second in the Star Mazda Championship season finale in 2007, and the next season, with Genoa Racing in the Atlantic Championship, we were the fastest car in pre-season testing but had a mechanical problem in the race. It's a great track that should suit the characteristics of our Mazda RX-8 well, and the team is really coming together, so a podium finish is a realistic goal."

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