Star Mazda Race 1 at this weekend's Edmonton Indy was a wet and wild affair, and when all the rooster tails finally faded away, it was Venezuelan rookie Camilo Schmidt, a top South American kart racer who made the jump to cars directly to Star Mazda, who was leading the flock. 

Given that his previous best finish in the series was ninth and having qualified 15th in his No. 21 Linares Racing Mazda, and with the race ending in a green/white/ checkered melee, it would be easy enough to write his victory off as luck-- except for the fact that he got a monster start when the lights went green and climbed from 15th to fifth by Lap 5. 

Then of course, the rain came, and the carnage, and the confusion, and the collisions, but most notable was the tremendous drive from this talented 16-year-old.

"It was the craziest race I was ever in," he said through his teammate/interpreter Carlos Linares.  "But I got a very good start and was able to move up a lot of places before the rain came down really heavy, and we decided to stay out on dry tires while a lot of people went into the pits.  When the race went to green, everyone started spinning and crashing and I was able to stay out of the way.  I'm very proud to be able to have this result for the Linares Racing team."

Finishing second in the No. 88 Andretti Autosport / Comfort Revolution Mazda was pole-sitter Sage Karam, who, though clearly unhappy with the outcome, himself put in a tremendous drive after pitting - along with half the field at the midway point to change to wet tires.  He rejoined in 10th with the race still under a long yellow, and in a fast-forward repeat of his charge from last to third at the Toronto Indy two weeks ago, he powered his way through the field from 10th to second during the green/white/checkered finish lap.  Turning in yet another finely-driven performance was Colombian racer Gabby Chaves, his fourth podium of the season so far in the No. 19 JDC Motorsports / CLARO / Marca Colombia / Tecpro  Mazda.

Martin Scuncio drove an aggressive race to move up from sixth and finish fourth in the No. 22 Juncos Racing / Pullman Bus / Gobierno Regional del Bio-Biol Mazda.  Another beneficiary of the pandemonium was Connor De Phillippi, who came to Edmonton second in the championship but battling a long run of bad luck.  An early collision forced a visit to the pits for a new nose, and a second visit for further adjustments, yet he still moved up from 13th to finish fifth in his No. 2 Juncos Racing / ModSpace Racing / One24 Mazda.

And also putting in a drive of note was young American Ryan Tveter, coming off a hard weekend in Toronto, as he moved up from 16th on the grid to finish sixth.  Another surprise came in the form of Blair Robertshaw, the Alberta businessman/racer making his professional open-wheel debut in Star Mazda here this weekend.  He qualified his No. 42 Robertshaw Racing / SEKO Construction / Web Mechanical Mazda 19th and survived to finish 12th.

There was a portent of things to come between this morning's qualifying and this afternoon's race; a 60-second downpour that seemed to fulfill the promise of the day's cloudy skies and gloomy weather forecast.  Cars rolled to pre-grid on wets, but one of the top teams changed to drys and that started the stampede.  The track was fairly dry, just a few leftover wet spots, and it seemed a reasonable enough decision that every car in the field started on dry tires until the skies started spitting again just a few laps into the race.  Even at that point is was more entertaining than threatening, with the slippery track offering opportunities for the young drivers to slide around and show their car control.

Then the sky stopped fooling around and the race turned into a skating lesson conducted largely under yellow flags.  Petri Suvanto, the Finnish 2011 USF2000 champion who is racing in Star Mazda this season on the Mazda Road to Indy scholarship, was the first car out, dropping from 5th on the grid to finish 19th.    Local driver Stefan Rzadzinski also took an early hit in his No. 93 JDC Motorsports / PoweredByAlberta.com Mazda and dropped from 9th to 17th.  Zach Veach, starting from the outside of the front row, spun and finished 9th in the No. 77 Andretti Autosport / K12 / Zakosi Data Backup Mazda.

The major drama was provided by Jack Hawksworth, one of the eight drivers who stayed out on dry tires and seemed set to win -- despite an apparently quixotic decision by his team -- as the full course yellow lengthened until only a few minutes remained in the 30-minute race.  On the green/white/checkered re-start, he was leading in his No. 82 Team Pelfrey / TORGOEN Swiss Watches / EXA Networks Mazda with teammate Gustavo Menezes (also on drys) in the No. 83 Team Pelfrey / TrueCar.com / Oakley Mazda alongside as they entered Turn 1.  Even with what seemed like plenty of room between them, the super-slick track caught both out and Menezes slid into Hawksworth under braking. Both spun and continued, but Schmidt, with his car twitching but still under control, had already taken full advantage.  Hawksworth finished 7th and retains a strong lead in the points championship, and Menezes, who crashed heavily into a concrete wall several turns later, finished 13th.

Championship points at the conclusion of Race 1 show Hawksworth still in the lead with 212, followed by De Phillippi with 175 and Chaves in third with 172.  Sage Karam moves up from 5th to 4th with 166, followed by Martin Scuncio rounding out the top-5 with 160. 

Star Mazda on-track action and the Edmonton Indy continues with Race 2 of the weekend's double-header taking the green light for the series' spectacular standing start at 9:30 a.m. local time Sunday, July 22.  The grid will be set by the quickest lap turned by each car in Race 1, which means Jack Hawksworth will collect his sixth PEAK Performance pole award of the season.  Starting on the outside of the front row will be today's 3rd-place finisher Gabby Chaves.

Star Mazda Championship cars all carry two Replay XD1080 cameras to provide exciting driver POV footage for races that are part of the Mazda Motorsports Hour broadcast tape-delayed on Discovery's Velocity Channel in the U.S. and globally on ESPN International.  In the U.S., the race will air on Velocity at 12 Noon, Saturday, August 25.  In Canada, the Mazda Motorsports Hour airs on Rogers Sports Net; please check your local listings for date and time, or go to http://www.sportsnet.ca/tvschedule.