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| August 16, 2008 News |
| EKN Trackside: WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series - New Castle Saturday Report |
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 | Two wins on the day by Ryan Stewart help Birel earn four victories
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
It was a long and exciting day at the first of two days of action at the WKA George Kugler/Bridgestone Manufacturer’s Cup Series Driven by Mazda for the Zoom Zoom Nationals at the New Castle Motorsports Park in Indiana. The competitors on day one on the 1-mile road course known for producing exciting races did not disappoint with the all but important final corner deciding many of the results throughout the day. Ryan Stewart continued on his hot streak that began in Norway by picking up two wins on the opening day to give Birel a five win advantage in the Manufacturer’s Championship Trophy standings heading into the final day of the year.
Stewart (Birel) began the day earning the top qualifying honor in HPV Lite, his first of three Streeter Super Stands Top Qualifier award on the day. Championship leader TJ Koyen (Merlin) was second Julia Landauer (Birel) third. Stewart would edge Landauer for the Prefinal win with Koyen slotting third. Stewart was able to get away in the 12-lap final and looked to have the race in hand until Koyen was able to cut into a one-second gap. Koyen made his move on lap 10 to lead Stewart to the white flag. With Stewart on his bumper, Koyen was able to keep him at bay as they headed to the final corner. As the two made the turn in, Stewart made an aggressive move for the win and the championship that resulted in hard contact, putting them both off and out of the race. This allowed Jesse Wirtz (Merlin) to slide through and take his first win on the season. Blake Deister (Birel) edged Landauer for second with Mark Vielgut (Haase) and Brandon Newey (Top Kart) completing the top five. With Koyen and Stewart finishing 17th and 18th, Koyen has the provisional championship by 35 points over Stewart.
The Cadet Jr. Sportsman final came down to the final corner, as predicted. After some light contact, Logan Bearden (Birel) came through to earn his first win on the season, edging Jacob Donald (Arrow) to the line. Kilian Bloat (Juncos), top qualifier Collin Campbell (Birel), and Jake Cole (Birel) completed the top five. Bearden heads into the final day with the provisional championship lead by just six markers over Cole, setting up for an exciting Sunday in Cadet.
HPV Jr. Lite was all Merlin with championship leader Tommy Andersen leading the way in Streeter Super Stands Qualifying ahead of teammate Shinya Michimi. Come the Prefinal, Michimi took the reigns at the front of the field as the rest of the top ten put on a great show, shuffling multiple times. Michimi continued on his fast pace to lead nearly every lap in the Final to take the checkered flag, however was removed in tech with a clutch issue. This gave second place finisher Andersen the win, his fourth on the year to earn him the championship. Robby Bujdoso (Tony Kart) moved to second with Colton Ramsey (Margay), Zack Busch (Arrow) and Shawn Sharkey (Merlin) moving to the podium.
Class two on the day for Stewart, Yamaha Heavy, was a clean sweep for his first win on the year, leading to a provisional championship. After earning the pole position by seven-tenths, Stewart went green to checkered in both the Prefinal and Final victories. Kevin Nelson (Margay) battled back from trouble in the Prefinal to run second in the main event ahead of Jason Foley (Merlin). Chuck Tate (Margay) also bounced back from a rough Prefinal to fourth with Corey Reeves (Margay) crossing the line fifth.
 | Kyle Wiegand won an exciting TaG main event
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The Cadet drivers got everyone on their feet in the Yamaha Jr. Sportsman final lap. With a four kart lead group taking the white flag turned into eight as they shuffled around to the final corners. Going two and three wide down the long back straight to the final corner, drivers made slight contact as they fought for realestate. As they excited, Jake Cole (Birel) crossed the line first ahead of Jeremy Remick (Margay), Trent Hindman (Merlin), Stephen Kalogiannis (Merlin) and James Bennett (Birel). Kyle Kalish (Merlin), Austin Self (Birel), and Garrett Johnston (Margay) collected at the line, finishing eighth, 15th, and 33rd. With his second win on the season, Cole sits on the provisional championship.
The drama began early in the TaG division with championship contender Travis Firing (Margay) unable to complete a lap in Streeter Super Stands Qualifying with a broken carburetor. Forcing him to go through the Last Chance Qualifier, he was able to win and get through the Prefinal and Final with a 18th place run. At the point, Chris Wehrheim put his Top Kart on the pole ahead of local driver Jimmy Simpson (Arrow) on the outside. Wehrheim was able to take the lead in the Prefinal with Caleb Loniewski (Kosmic) and CJ Lintner (Merlin) advancing to second and third. Coming into the final corner early on, the three made contact, all losing spots but able to continue on. This allowed Brandon Adkins (Tony Kart) to slide through for the lead and the win.
Adkins with Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) lead the field to the green for the 12-lap main event. Adkins would fall to seventh in the opening lap however as he was not able to get up to speed. Through the opening lap, Wiegand held P1 with championship leader Chris Larson (First Kart), Billy Lewis (Arrow), Scott Ferris (Margay), Chris Livengood (Merlin) and Adkins. Ferris would pull off on lap five however with a seized motor. The top four ran nose to tail with Lewis showing the way. The front four shuffled a few times but returned to the previous lineup as Wehrheim began to run them down after starting ninth. After getting by Livengood and then Larson, Wehrheim put his nose on the bumper of Wiegand. As the came to the checkered flag, Wiegand got help for Wehrheim down the straight. As they went through the final corner, Lewis and Wehrheim made contact to allow Wiegand to take the win. Wehrheim crossed second with Larson and Livengood ahead of Lewis.
Yamaha Masters saw two new guests on the weekend in Kevin Nelson and John Crow. Nelson (Margay) swept the event with the Qualifying, Prefinal, and Final runs on the day. Crow started the day off a bit off the pace, running in the second half of the top ten but stepped up in the Final to battle in the top five. With a few moves he was able to steal second on the final lap, bringing Bobby Cummings (Margay) with him to get around provisional champion Jeff Jewell (Haase). John Dixon (Birel) completed the top five.
 | After losing his first national win earlier in the day, Shinya Michimi bounced back to earn it officially in Yamaha Jr. SuperCan Heavy
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
After learning of his disqualification in the HPV category, Shinya Michimi (Merlin) put that behind him and put all effort into the Yamaha Jr. SuperCan Heavy feature. Starting from outside row one, Michimi got the better start and was able to get into the lead. From there he would lead the field to the checkered flag for what now would be his first national win. Melissa Landpurg (Birel) was able to edge Nicky Defronzo (Margay) for second with Colton Ramsey (Margay) and Weston Moon (Arrow) rounding out the top five. Good drives from the tail of the field were put in by Dakota Pesek (Arrow), Cody Humphreys (Merlin) and Jack Manley (Arrow) to finish ninth through 11th.
Stewart’s second win came in the final day of the class, Yamaha Sr. Sportsman Lite. It was a sweep with the top honors in Streeter Super Stands Qualifying and the Prefinal and Final wins however it was not as easy as the first win on the day. After a close Prefinal run with the top-five close, it became a six kart battle in the 12-lap Final. In the end however, Stewart would prevail with the win despite heavy pressure. Ryan Phillips (Bandit) got the second at the line ahead of Josh Call (Margay) with Jimmy Simpson (Arrow) and CJ Lintner (Arrow) completing the top five. Simpson would skip tech and be removed from the results, moving Lintner to fourth and Mark Dismore Jr. (Arrow) to fifth, and earning the provisional championship.
With four wins, Birel leads the Manufacturer’s Championship Trophy standings with 22 victories. Margay is second with 17 and Merlin just one checkered flag back. With eight classes on the schedule tomorrow, anything can happen with all three chassis in running in all divisions.
Continuing tomorrow will be unofficial top-10 results posted in the Official Discussion Thread as they sit on the scale line after each on-track session. You can also catch up on the daily reports, full results and photos from Go Racing Magazine available in the Official Event Page. |
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