Prospect Hill, NC - The season ending race for the 2005 Star Mazda Championship presented by Goodyear was held at the appropriately named Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, CA. The Velocity Motorsports team returned to the track that one year ago marked the beginning of the pro series effort with drivers Mark Patterson, John Pew and Phil Saville. With a full season of competition under the team’s belts, they were focused on securing the Master Series Class Championship with driver John Pew.

During practice Phil Saville was showing great speed with a ninth quickest time in one of the practice sessions. Pew and Patterson saw their lap times drop as practice continued over the Monterey Sportscar Championship weekend. Unfortunately during the first test session of the day prior to qualifying, Saville suffered a hard impact crash while avoiding the spinning car of a competitor. Roger Kosik, Saville’s lead mechanic along with help from the rest of the team would get the car ready.

During qualifying the team and drivers would find the track challenging due to typical cold and wet northern California weather conditions. Team engineer, Ian Macpherson, crew chief, Keith Mellick and driver coach, Oswaldo Negri, decided to send the drivers out on the super soft and sticky rain tires for the start of qualifying. “With the cold temperatures, all of the drivers did an excellent job in landing them in P16, P17 and P18 in qualifying in a field of 42 cars,” stated Macpherson. “This was our best qualifying effort of the season,” remarked team owner, Ken Erb. “Ian, Keith and Ozz made the right tire call and the drivers did an excellent job of being patient and then setting quick times.”

The race was marred by several incidents one of which damaged Patterson’s front wing. Patterson did a great job in getting the car back into the pits to install a new front wing. Saville would also suffer some race damage and was forced to complete his race without the front wing. “The car was a real handful after I lost the wing making stopping next to impossible,” stated Saville. Pew was able to run a smart race and stay in front of his championship challengers. Pew would finish in 22nd place overall to secure his Masters Series Championship and in 15th position in the overall championship. Patterson and Saville would cross the finish line despite some race damage. Patterson ended the season in fourth position in the Masters Series Championship and Saville finished in sixth position in the Expert Series Championship. For more team information, contact the BMS Group at www.burrismotorsport.com.

Team Quotes:
Ken Erb, Owner Velocity Motorsports
“This was our first full season in pro racing after six seasons of club racing. It is great to hold three trophies this year; John Pew’s first place in the Masters Series, his 15th place overall trophy and Mark Patterson’s fourth place Masters Series trophy. Our team goal for 2006 is to win three Star Mazda Championships!”

John Pew, Driver of the #75 Star-Mazda;
“No championship is won by the driver alone. It’s a team effort. Thanks go to my mechanic Lucas Griffin, engineer Ian Macpherson and driver coach/mentor Oswaldo Negri. It could not have been done without their hard work and dedication. Special thanks to Ken Erb for putting a great team together. Also thanks to my team mates Mark Patterson and Phil Saville, for their moral support. Thanks last, but definitely not least, to my sponsor, NVG Residential, for making this year and next year possible.”

Phil Saville, Driver of the #74 Star-Mazda;
“The team has been very supportive all season. I thank my sponsors NVG Residential and MAC for their support all season. It is also great for the team to support the Racing For Kids® program. I look forward to the 2006 season with the team as we challenge for the Expert Series title.”

Mark Patterson, Driver of the #73 Star-Mazda;
“A successful building year for Velocity Motorsports where we could field three cars at every race throughout the season, enhance the team of mechanics, attract talented engineering and crew chief pros. Everyone benefited from the excellent coaching experience provided by the incomparable Oswaldo Negri. We missed the goal of achieving a top ten race finish but are proud that we reached the other primary goal: one of the Velocity drivers winning the Masters Championship. Next year we’ll get a Velocity top ten race finish.”

Ian Macpherson, Team Engineer;
“Velocity Motorsports had a good season winning the Masters Championship with John Pew, plus to record our best ever qualifying position in the season finale at Laguna Seca. In addition, the fact that we were able to get our driver coach, Ozz Negri, in the car and run near the top of the practice time sheets affirmed the team’s potential for next year.”

Oswaldo Negri, Jr., Driver Coach;
“It was a great season; we accomplished one of our goals which was to win the Masters Series Championship. The team improved a lot from the start of the season. It is getting more professional with experienced people working for Velocity. For next year we will fight very hard for the Expert and Masters Series Championships. If we gave the competition a hard time this year, they should expect a much tougher season in 2006.”