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Photo Caption: Steve Welk will make his Star Mazda Championship debut with John Walko Racing. (Photo Courtesy: Russ Lake)
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“Steve Welk Joins the Star Mazda Championship at Road America with JWR”
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – Steve Welk has announced that he will join the Star Mazda Championship for the Generac Power Weekend at Road America August 10th and 11th. The former Formula Ford 2000 front runner will make his first start in the series with 2006 Star Mazda Team Champions John Walko Racing. Support for Welk will come from long time backer GBR Racing and CITGO with other marketing partners to be announced in the near future.
Welk, who has spent most of the 07 season competing in the Spec Miata category in the SCCA, tested with JWR last week at the BeaveRun circuit to get acclimated to the new car and new team. The Plymouth, Wisconsin resident completed around 150 trouble free miles. The weather at BeaveRun allowed Welk to sample the Star Mazda car in both dry and wet conditions which could prove to be valuable with the unpredictable Elkhart Lake weather.
“The car was incredible,” Welk stated after the test. “This is by far the fastest car I have driven on a racetrack and one of the most fun. John (Walko) runs a great team and I really had a good time working with them. During the test I was able to find a really good balance with the car in both the wet and the dry which I think will be invaluable as we get the race weekend. I really have to thank GBR Racing and Rick Krieger for all of his support, because without it I would not be driving this car at all.”
“We are really excited to support Steve in his maiden run in the Star Mazda Championship,” GBR Racing CEO Rick Krieger stated. “The Road America event is going to be a great place to kick off our new marketing initiatives in order to grow GBR Racing to the next level of motorsport. Steve has been a big part of our success and I am sure that he will help us grow the GBR name in the future.”
The Generac Power Weekend at Road America takes place August 10 – 12 and will feature both the Champ Car World Series and the American LeMans Championship. Steve Welk will take in the green flag in the Star Mazda Championship race Saturday August 11 at 11:40 AM with the race airing on the SPEED Channel Saturday August 18 at 12 noon.
Steve Welk has been involved in Motorsports for 16 years. Starting his career at the age of eight, Welk has remained focused on his goal of being a professional racecar driver since. In 2006 Welk formed Linear Sport, a motorsport company that specializes driver development and race team management. For more information on Steve Welk, please visit his official web site at www.SteveWelk.com.
GBR Racing was born out of one family’s love for motorsports. Rick Krieger and his two sons Blake and Grant took up kart racing at their local Minnesota karting club in the summer of 2004. From their grassroots beginnings the family team began to grow bringing in Steve Welk at the beginning of 2005 as team manager and driver development specialist to work with Blake and Grant and growing GBR Racing into a 7 driver national level racing team. With Welk’s guidance, both Grant and Blake went from club racers to national caliber drivers notching podium finishes at one of the toughest karting events in the country, the WKA Grand Nationals in 2007. GBR Racing, with the business acumen of Rick Krieger and the motorsports knowledge of Steve Welk, is now working to develop the GBR name into one of the strongest brands in North American road racing.
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