LAZZARO WINS PLAYER'S/TOYOTA ATLANTIC RACE AT MILWAUKEE


WEST ALLIS, Wis. (June 2) - - Running on a limited budget, slightly dated 
equipment,
and tires that were used in a previous race this season, Georgian Anthony 
Lazzaro displayed grit, ingenuity, and desperate persistence to score his 
first career victory in the  Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship at the 
Milwaukee Mile, Sunday, June 2.

Lazzaro, who hails from Acworth, Ga., started fourth but doggedly stuck with 
the front runners before overtaking race and series points leader Patrick 
Carpentier, of Joliette, Que., on the 25th lap, and eventually winning by a 
0.273-second margin of victory over race runner-up Case Montgomery, of 
Salinas, Calif.

"The pass for the lead was a pretty sharp pass," said Lazzaro.  "Patrick 
(Carpentier) got bogged down coming through turns three and four and I had a 
run going.  I took my car to the inside wall and I've got to admit that it got 
pretty exciting down there.  The car made it through turn one and that was 
essentially the critical moment in the race."

Driving the BG Products Ralt RT-40, Lazzaro averaged 121.61 miles-per-hour 
around the one-mile oval, and completed the 70-lap Atlantic sprint in 
34:32.196, to become the fourth different Atlantic race winner in as many 
races this season.  Lee Bentham, of Richmond Hill, Ont., finished third in the 
P1 Racing/NTN Bearings-TMI Ralt RT-41.  Carpentier remained on top of the 
Atlantic leader board  with a fourth-place showing in the Lynx Racing Ralt 
RT-41.

"This was a very satisfying win," said Lazzaro, whose previous best finish 
this season was fifth place at Nazareth (Pa.) one race ago.  "A lot of people 
don't know that I have to share this car with another guy who is a club 
(amateur) racer.  It's been very difficult to share a car in a pro series. 
This same car runs every weekend. Not only that, it crashes a lot on those 
weekends, and that's the part that's been tough.  We weren't able to make the 
Thursday test day because of an accident the car suffered last week.  I want 
to keep racing and I want to race in Montreal.  I only had two thousand 
dollars for a budget this weekend so I guess you can say my winner's purse 
raised my bottom line a bit."

Lazzaro's take of the posted $87,000 was $22,000.

After Lazzaro took control of the race, it appeared only Miami race-winner 
Tony Ave, of Indianapolis, Ind., could seriously threaten Lazzaro for the 
lead. Ave, in the Olsson Engineering/Schuler Design Ralt RT-41, started ninth 
and quickly blew past six other drivers.  The former Hurley, Wis., native then 
slipped past Carpentier on lap 35 for second place, and was setting himself up 
to catch Lazzaro when he tagged the turn three wall on lap 54 and was forced 
to retire for the day.  Ave was passing lapped traffic on the outside when his 
car lost traction.

"I was coming up on a couple of guys who were busy racing each other," said 
Ave. "I went outside of the second one but he didn't know I was there. He 
pushed me into the marbles, I slid against the wall, and that was all she 
wrote. I was running second at the time, so this was a real heartbreaker.  I 
didn't want to believe it.  I was running as strong as ever but I couldn't 
bring it home."

From there, Montgomery stepped up his attack, and when a yellow flag came out 
for Ave's incident, Montgomery was ready to challenge for the race.

"I caught up to Lee (Bentham) and passed him on the outside of turn two on 
lap 46," Montgomery said. "I moved into a healthy lead over the next eight or 
so laps but then I got stuck in traffic and Lee caught up to me. On the 
re-start, he had a good jump and he dove to the inside before getting blocked 
himself.  I, on the other hand, was able to hold my spot."

Bentham, flirted with the lead again when he passed Montgomery on lap 52 in 
his P1 Racing-NTN Bearings/TMI Ralt RT-41.  He inherited again inherited 
second place, but by default, when Ave dropped out of the race.   When the 
race resumed on lap 60, Bentham's defense against Montgomery fizzled and 
Montgomery was able to squeeze past him for a second time. Bentham fought 
steering problems throughout most the race, so he was pleased with his 
third-place showing.

"Overall, I had a good race," said a reserved Bentham.  "The car was 
understeering at the beginning of the race, it was perfect in the middle of 
the race, and it was terrible at the end of the race.  We did well to make the 
podium."

Paul Jasper, of Lake Forest, Ill., started from the pole, his first ever 
Atlantic pole position.  Jasper, in the B.D.J.S./Quaker State/SHUR TECH/Agfa 
Ralt RT-41, clicked off a track record 25.187 seconds = 142.93 mph, which 
eclipsed a two-year-old mark set by Greg Ray of 25.611-seconds. Jasper held 
the lead for the first six laps, then went on to record a season-best 
fifth-place finish.

"It started well enough," explained Jasper.  "I was leading for the first six 
laps and it felt really good. The car was perfectly set, but after about 10 or 
15 laps, the car started to get loose."

Carpentier remained the series leader with 63 points, followed by Montgomery 
with 57, Bentham at 56, and Paul Jasper with 40 laps. Lazzaro's victory moved 
him into fifth place in the points chase with 38.

Atlantic veteran and Indy Racing League driver Stan Wattles, of Sewall's 
Point, Fla., returned to Atlantic competition for his first race action since 
he suffered injuries caused in a crash during a practice session while 
preparing for an Indy Racing League race at Phoenix International Raceway on 
March 22.   Wattles qualified 10th and finished 11th in the Metro Racing 
Systems Ralt RT-41.  

Bernie Schuchmann, of Montreal, maintained his lead in the C2 Championship 
with 52 points, following his fourth-place finish in class, and 18th overall 
in the race.

The Milwaukee race will be broadcast on ESPN2 on Sunday, June 9, from 5 p.m. 
to 6 p.m., EDT. 

Round five of the 12-race 1996 Player's/Toyota Atlantic Championship is set to 
drop the green flag on June 15 in Montreal at the Canadian Grand Prix.

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