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| June 30, 2008 News |
| Firing Becomes Inaugural Ironman 150 Winner |
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Photo gallery courtesy of DavidLeePhoto.com can be found HERE
 | Travis Firing taking the checkered flag for the Ironman 150 victory
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
Travis Firing can now call himself the ‘Ironman’ following his dramatic victory at Sunday’s Ironman 150 at the New Castle Motorsports Park in New Castle, IN. The former WKA Gold Cup champion from White Hall, PA took the lead on the final lap with just two corners remaining to win the inaugural 150-mile (140-lap) endurance race.
The two-day event began with a full day of practice followed by qualifying, which was led by defending Mazda RoboPong 200 Presented by Bridgestone co-winner Tony Loniewski. A 1:11.858 lap time around the new 1.1-mile NCMP special configuration would earn the former WKA Triple Crown winner the right to pace the field to the green flag for the main event. The co-runner-up in the 2007 edition of the RoboPong 200 - Josef Newgarden - would start alongside to fill the front row. Newgarden's Skip Barber National counterpart Conor Daly was third overall while Firing also started from outside row two, showing his speed during the qualifying session.
When Sunday morning rolled around, Mother Nature decided to play a pivotal part in the event, delaying morning warm-up with a Saturday night rain storm that was followed by rain showers just before the waving of the green flag. With the track wet, teams scrambled to dial rain set-ups into their karts before the engines fired for the pace laps. With the clouds looking like they would break up soon after the start, a few competitors chose to stay with a dry set-up but they would find trouble once they hit the track. With the rain, everyone’s strategies were thrown out the window and new ones began forming with just minutes before the start.
 | Conor Daly led early in the rain followed by Loniewski and Larson
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
When the green flag waved following one failed attempt, the drama began. Before completing the opening lap, Newgarden and Mark Dismore Jr. both spun in the turn 15 hairpin. Newgarden continued on, falling back to ninth while Dismore needed to be brought back on a recovery vehicle. He would continue shortly after making repairs. Up front, Daly paced the field on the opening lap followed by Loniewski and Chris Larson for a First Kart 1-2-3 followed by Firing in the Margay. After another spin that took him out of the top five, Newgarden slowly worked his Arrow back into the top five by lap 13, getting around the Kosmic of Caleb Loniewski.
As the rain stopped and a dry line began to form, teams began to set up for early pit stops to change over from rains to slicks. On lap 26, drivers began to duck onto pit road, beginning with Caleb Loniewski. Just laps after making his stop, however, his engine seized, forcing them to make an engine change that resulted in him losing ten laps.
The First Kart trio stretched their rain tires to the edge, running roughly 35 laps for Daly and Larson as they pulled in, handing the point to Tony Loniewski. The veteran would stretch it out to 41 laps before swapping tires and adding fuel. As they shuffled through the opening stops, eight drivers were on the lead lap with Daly at the point ahead of Loniewski. That would not last as a throttle cable malfunction brought Daly onto pit road, handing the top spot to Loniewski, followed by Firing and Newgarden.
 | Josef Newgarden was the man in the dry until seat issues put him on the sidelines
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
Near the halfway mark, Newgarden had moved into second but came in for a short fill-up along with teammate Timmy Megenbier - his co-driver in the RoboPong - who worked up into the top-five in front of Larson. Loniewski and Firing stretched out their second stint with Firing coming in first on lap 80 and Loniewski on lap 83. With everyone getting their calculators out, it was figured that no one would be able to stretch it out to the end with about 40-45 laps as the fuel window.
After the field cycled through, Loniewski came out in front of Newgarden and Firing. Newgarden made a quick pass to assume the point and pulled out a gap. Unfortunately for him, seat issues put him on the sidelines on lap 95 after he was looking like the driver to beat. This put Firing at the point followed by Loniewski, Megenbier, Mark Dismore Sr. and Larson. Megenbier would pit on lap 105 as he was on the early pit schedule, moving Jimmy Simpson aboard an Arrow as well into the top-five, albeit one lap down.
Firing led until pitting on lap 120 for his final stop, sitting on pitl lane for approximately 25 seconds, as the entire First Kart crew clocked his stop to judge just how long Loniewski would need to pit. Ten laps later, on lap 130, Loniewski made his way onto pit road for splash of gas, and he was off in under 20 seconds to pull onto the track in front of Firing. During the stop, however, they discovered that the clutch was broken, as he needed a good push down pit lane to get going. Firing then took advantage as Loniewski was not getting off the corners at optimal speed. With two laps to go and with the help of lapped traffic, Firing closed onto Loniewski’s bumper.
 | A last lap pass after 149-miles gave Firing the lead
(Photo: DavidLeePhoto.com) |
After a couple failed attempts for the lead, Firing got a great run down the first long straightaway after Loniewski bobbled coming out of the corner to take over the lead. Coming to the flag, Loniewski tried to get alongside Firing into the final corner but came up too late and could not make the pass stick, allowing Firing to take the checkered flag and $4000 for the win. Loniewski took home a $2100 total for second and the most laps led. Larson finished third, despite making one extra stop and being the last kart on the lead lap. Megenbier, Simpson and Dismore Sr. - the top Masters finisher and a man who said he’d be lucky just to finish before taking the green flag - were one lap down to round out the top six.
Completing the top-10 were Dismore Jr., who battled back after the early hiccup to finish three laps down in seventh. Daly continued to have throttle issues but was fast on-track to run to eighth (four laps down), along with taking home the Wagner Race Products Simulator Race award top prize money. Local drivers Marshal Vortriede (Birel) and BJ Anderson (Merlin) finished ninth and tenth, respectively. For complete results, click HERE |
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