7-22-2006
Camara Wins at The Milwaukee Mile,
Second Consecutive Schmidt Indy Pro Series Victory
WEST ALLIS, Wis. (July 22) – This week, it was Jaime Camara’s “turn”, as the Brazilian won Saturday’s Indy Pro Series race at the Milwaukee Mile, following on the heels of teammate Jay Howard’s win last weekend in Nashville.
Camara posted his first win of the 2006 Indy Pro Series, and third career IPS victory, with an excellent restart from a caution period in the final laps of Saturday’s 100-mile event. Camara dived down the inside of race leader Wade Cunningham in the run to the first turn, pulled ahead as the pair exited Turn 2, and led the final two laps for the win.
Camara started on the outside of the second row in fourth, but passed teammate Jonathan Klein, for third, on the third lap. Pole qualifier Cunningham dominated the first half of the race, opening up a lead of 5.5 seconds by Lap 50.
After that, however, Camara steadily reduced the gap, and was within a second of Cunningham, with Klein another half-second back, on Lap 94 when Tom Wood spun to bring out the only caution of the day.
When the green flag waved for the final time on Lap 98, Camara made is run past Cunningham and into Victory Circle. The victory moved Camara up one position in the IPS points standings, to fourth, with four races remaining in the 2006 season.
Rookie Klein posted his third consecutive third-place IPS finish, conserving his car during the first half of the 100-lap race, then closing up on leaders Cunningham and Camara in the last 30 laps.
Klein made a bid to pass both Camara and Cunningham on the restart, but fell just short, to finish third. Klein also finished third last weekend at Nashville, and on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Today’s result for Klein closes the gap in the IPS championship points standings, with Klein now just one point behind Bobby Wilson for second place, and 31 points behind teammate and championship leader Howard, who endured a tough afternoon with handling problems. Despite his problems, Howard persevered and still salvaged a seventh place finish to maintain a 30-point lead in the championship over Wilson.
Jamie Camara, #11 Neo Quimica Dallara/Firestone
Started 4th, finished 1st, 1st IPS win of 2006, 3rd career victory,
Moves up to 4th in the IPS Points Standings
"It was obvious all weekend that Wade [Cunningham] had a really good car, but I knew that I had a good car, too. It was better than we showed in qualifying yesterday. My car was pushing [understeering] early in the race, but I made some adjustments in the cockpit and from about Lap 50 on the car became quicker and much more balanced. Just before the yellow [flag] I could see Wade was really loose [oversteering] and I closed the gap between us. We’ll never know if I could have passed him without the yellow, but during the caution I decided to really go for the win. When we got the green, I went down low into Turn 1 and we were side-by-side. He got loose exiting Turn 2 and I knew then the race was mine. It’s great to finally win here today. I think we’ve turned our season around in the last few weeks and I’m really looking forward to the rest of the year.”
Jonathan Klein, #27 Klein Tools/Turn-Key Forging & Design Dallara/Firestone
Started 3rd, finished 3rd, third consecutive 3rd place finish, 3rd in IPS points
"For the first half of the race, I just tried to conserve my car and tires and it paid off for us today. For the last 30 laps, I could see that [leader] Wade [Cunningham] was going loose and we were making up ground on him with every lap. I almost wish it hadn’t gone yellow at the end, I might have had a better chance for the win. On the [Lap 98] restart, I followed Jaime [Camara] down low as he got alongside Wade. I tried to follow him through but Wade came down and stopped me. That was fair, I would have done the same to him. It’s another great finish for us, and I think we’re in great shape for the final four races.”
Jay Howard, #7 Lucas Oils/Isilon Dallara/Firestone
Started 2nd, finished 7th, continues to lead the IPS championship
“The car was okay at the start, but pretty soon I just started losing grip and the car was sliding all over the place. It was pretty good one minute and then bang, like a switch, the car was all over the road. There were three or four times when I thought there was no saving it and I was headed for the wall. But you’re going to have these kind of days every now and again and when that happens, you’ve got to just salvage what you can from it and we did that today. We hung on for a seventh-place finish and still have a decent [30] points lead. On to Kentucky!”
Sam Schmidt, owner, Sam Schmidt Motorsports
On today’s victory for Jaime Camara at Milwaukee
“We started the second half of the year right with Jay’s win last weekend and Jaime’s win today just continues that momentum we’ve been building this season. I was excited to see the yellow [flag] come out, because I knew how badly Jaime wanted a victory and I thought he’d have a great shot on the restart, which proved to be the case. Jaime had some bad breaks earlier in the year, and so I’m really happy for him now. In addition, Jonathan drove a stellar race. He’s becoming a regular third place finisher and is have a great rookie season. We’ll have to look into Jay’s problems during the race, but he did the best he could today and I’m sure he’ll bounce back strongly in Kentucky.” |
