John Wins Laguna to become the 2009 Atlantic Champion!
Winning is never easy. To have a chance at the championship he had to deliver. He had to qualify on pole in the finale at Laguna. And he had to win. He did both. That's what champions do. This is the story.
MONTEREY, Calif. (October 11, 2009) –John Edwards picked up his fourth Cooper Tires Presents The Atlantic Championship Powered by Mazda victory of the season to become the youngest champion in the 36-year history of the series with a dominating performance at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on Sunday afternoon.
Edwards started from the pole position and led throughout the 50-minute race in the No. 36 MAZDASPEED Motorsports Development/Nuclear Clean Air Energy/NEI/Entergy machine from Newman Wachs Racing, beating Summerton to the stripe by 1.380 seconds to get the victory. At the age of 18 years and seven months, Edwards becomes the youngest champion in the 36-year history of the series. Michael Andretti was previously the youngest At
lantic champion at 20 years, nine months and 30 days of age. It was the second consecutive championship for Edwards, who claimed the 2008 Star Mazda title at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca last year. Edwards finished the year with nine podiums in 12 starts.
“Someone told me after I got off the podium that I looked like I was on ‘Cloud 36,’ and I think that’s about where I am right now,” Edwards said. “For the last 30 minutes or so, my engineer came on and told me there were 30 minutes to go. That 30 minutes went by like six hours to me. I was just waiting for them to throw the checkered. Finally it came out and they told me I was the champion.”
