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| August 31, 2008 News |
| EKN Trackside: Rock Island Grand Prix - Sunday Report |
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 | Alex Speed became the six different King of the Streets winner in his first visit to the Rock
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
It was a record breaking day at the 2008 running of the Rock Island Grand Prix in the streets of the southwestern city of the Quad Cities along the might Mississippi River. A picture perfect weekend of weather for the first time a the last few years greeted the 275 entries on the weekend. The 6/10-mile street circuit saw many newcomers come to the six-turn course and find success and veterans of the event continued their reign as the leaders of the Rock.
The main event for the King of the Streets began the racing action for the day with drivers having a chance to mingle with the fans and sign autographs before strapping on their helmets and firing up their engines for the 30-lap event. Speed got away from the line in first with Wiegand slotting into second. Derek Crockett (Wild Kart) was third with Cole Mathewson (CRG) and Jason Lee (CRG) the early top five. Speed and Wiegand ran nose to tail and pulled away from the rest of the field as Crockett worked to hold off Mathewson. It seemed as Wiegand was waiting for his time to get by Speed until 10 laps to go when Wiegand pulled off into the pit lane after his chain broke off. This allowed Speed to cruise to his first ever King of the Streets victory in his first visit to the event to take home the $4,000 cash prize from Superkarts! USA and MG Tires for the win. Crockett was able to get away from Mathewson for what was now second place. Nick Johnson (Intrepid) recovered from a tough qualifying effort to finish fourth ahead of Patrick Malacarne (Intrepid).
All-time win leader Gary Lawson (Arrow) began his journey toward adding to his 12 RIGP wins with the Animal Heavy class. Starting from the pole, Lawson went green to checker in the 12-lap race with a 1.679-second margin of victory to remain undefeated in the classes five-year history. Taylor Moore (Margay) started second and would finish there with Scott Kleman (Coyote) on his bumper early until traffic split them up at the end. Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) won the battle for fourth with Matt Gifford (Olson Karts) up from seventh to fifth.
A clinic was put on in TaG Masters courtesy of Scott Hamble. The Margay driver went from fourth to first in the opening lap and pulled out to a large lead with second through fifth in a tight battle including defending champion Brian McHattie (Kosmic), Drew Hockenson (Arrow), Roberto Castro (Birel) and John Dixon (Birel). Dixon was the man on the move as he worked through to second and began charging toward Hamble. The gap was too much though as Hamble took the win by two-seconds. The remainder of the fight for third got into some contact on lap 15, as lap traffic put McHattie into the barriers. Hockenson was able to get Castro at the end for third but would be removed in tech. That put Castro third with Rick Apichairuk (Birel) fourth and moving Chris Clover to fifth.
 | Gary Lawson was the only driver to win twice Sunday, putting his RIGP win total to 14
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The first of two Sportsman groups took the green flag as the Heavy division got underway with Tim Goettsch (Margay) getting the better start over pole-winner Lawson. Michael Dittmer was the third chain in the lead draft as he was able to get by Lawson early on as well. Lap nine Lawson went back to the second spot on put his nose on the bumper of Goettsch. That would all change as lap traffic would benefit Dittmer on the final lap. The lead group went three wide into turn two after getting around the lapper with Dittmer coming out with the lead. He would go on to take his third straight class win, remaining undefeated in the three years of the class at the RIGP, ahead of Lawson and Goettsch. Kyle Erdmann (Margay) was alone in fourth with Brandon Cather (Margay) coming up from tenth to fifth.
It was a wild one for the main event in the 125cc Moto Shifter class as early on pole sitter Josh Lane (Energy) dropped back to third behind Pat Malacarne (Intrepid) and Scott Barnes (Wild Kart). Lane would lose another position to Crockett before eventually hitting a barrier and force to retire with a damaged sidepod. Crockett was on a charge as he got by Barnes and set his sights on Malacarne. A few laps later Barnes made contact with the barrier and collect Dan Roe (Intrepid) however Roe would continue on with Barnes sitting on the sidelines with no chance to repeat his 2007 victory. Up front, Crockett had caught Malacarne and looked for a way by but it would not come easy as contact between the two put Malacarne into the bales in turn two, ending his chance at the win while Crockett assumed the top spot. As the laps closed, two-time class winner Robert Pretts (Intrepid) closed in on Crockett and with the white flag displayed, Pretts put himself within striking distance. As they came to the final corner, Pretts made his move and got it to stick in the final corner for the victory over Crockett. In an attrition filled race, Phil Gordon (SKM) got up to third with Carly Mandarino (BRM) and Joel Brown (Avanti) completing the top-five.
Wiegand looked to redeem himself in the ICC starting from the pole position however Speed got the holeshot and led the field through the opening lap as Wiegand fell to third behind Crockett. Wiegand move to second on lap two and began to run down Speed. On lap seven, Speed slowed to get through an incident in turn five and Wiegand capitalized to get around to take over the top spot. Speed now in chase mode, tried to work by Wiegand however was not able to as Wiegand would go on to win and earn $4,000 thanks to Stars of Karting and Bridgestone, moving him closer to Alan Rudolph in the RIGP all-time money winners standings. The win was Wiegand fifth total ICC victory and his fourth straight. Speed settled for second with Collin Lynn (Birel) coming home third in his warm-up race for the Masters division. Scott Barnes ran fourth with Zachary Betts (Birel) with an impressive fifth.
 | Michele Bumgarner made history by leading the TaG Senior field for the first ever female to win at the event
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Goettsch would not be denied in the 2-Cycle Pipe Heavy class as he was able to get away at the drop of the green to lead all 12-laps. Contact behind him shuffled up the top-five while Erdmann cruised to second. Tony Neilson (CRG) moved up to third following the opening laps of contact while Hamble and Todd Bolton (Margay) finished fourth and fifth.
Jr. Sportsman race saw a their second red flag of the day as the Prefinal had one earlier in the day and another in on lap two of the main event. Turn five was the scene that collected nearly the entire field with TJ Keesy needing medical attention after flying out of the kart. Only four karts were able to continue out of the 13 entered with Justin Jennings (Margay) leading Sam Beasley (Arrow) to the green flag for the restart. Jennings held off Beasley for his second straight win at the ‘Rock’ with Tyler Stillmunkes (Margay) and Gregory Gerst (CRG) third and fourth.
History was made in the TaG Senior race with Michele Bumgarner becoming the first female to score a victory. Starting from the first grid position, Bumgarner lead green to checker with pressure from Kyle Erdmann for the entire 20 laps. They were alone up front with TaG Masters winner Scott Hamble coming from seventh to third early on, finishing in that spot. Behind them, it was a great battle for fourth that was led by Jonathan Evans (RBI) before he was shuffled back with Brett Johnson (Margay) breaking away. That left about five drivers looking for fifth with Andrew Coulter (Arrow) earning the spot at the line.
Round two for the Sr. Sportsman division was up next with the Medium class going another 12 laps of action. It was a six kart lead group with Goettsch and Lawson able to break away near the halfway mark. With the white flag displayed, Lawson made his move down the front straight into turn one and held on to the spot around the final five corners for win number 14 of his RIGP career, his fourth in the class. Dittmer won the fight for third ahead of Tony Jump (Margay) and Josh Call (Margay) - who came up from ninth.
 | Derek Crockett earned his first ever RIGP victory in the new 125cc Stock Moto division
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The first ever main event for the 125cc Stock Moto class at Rock Island saw a first time winner as Derek Crockett, in his fourth class of the day, finally got to take the victory lap after the 20-lap race. Starting fifth, he moved to third in the opening lap. The second lap saw Scott Barnes (Wild Kart) spin in turn one while in fourth, taking out Nick Lucido (CRG) out as well. Crockett stole second from pole sitter Jordan Musser (Birel) with a slide job into turn one on lap four. The front four were close until Crockett got by Voytek Burdzy (PCR) for the lead and pulled away to the win. Matt Zeis was on a charge from and got to second for a Wild Kart 1-2 finish. Burdzy settled for third with Musser and Clint Korte (Birel) in fourth and fifth.
The action started before the green waved in the new TaG SuperPro division as Brandon Jones (Margay) climbed up the back of Steve Krock (PCR) on the front straight, ending Jones race. Once the green waved, the drivers scattered into the opening corner with no incidents with the Johnson brothers Johnny and Adam showing the way aboard their Kosmic machines. Outside row one starter Chris Wehrheim (Top Kart) and Caleb Loniewski (Kosmic) gave chase on Adam as Johnny continued to click off the fast laps of the race to pull out to a two-second lead by lap 13. Johnny cruised to the victory by nearly four-seconds. Loniewski was able to make some moves in the final laps to get by both Wehrheim and Johnson. That allowed Wehrheim to come through for third and dropping Adam to fourth. Travis Firing (Margay) completed the top-five.
Two grand in hard cash was up for grabs in the ‘Rumble at the Rock’ Animal Medium class that saw an opening crash in turn five take out top Qualifier Gary Lawson, Scott Kleman, and two others. This put John Floor (Bandit), Jason Trennepohl (Coyote) and Steven Kilsdonk (Bandit) in the fight for the win. With a few laps remaining, Trennepohl took the lead but his lead wasn’t for long as the white flag came out and the drivers shuffled around the final six corners. When they came around for the checkered, Kilsdonk was alone to take the win and the prize money. Floor would not come around as Trennepohl fell to third behind Connor Lund. Matt Pewe was fourth with Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) crossing the stripe in fifth.
The final race of the day saw 20-karts line up for the 125cc Masters Shifter class with a stellar field take the green flag. Coming around for the opening lap, Collin Lynn held the top spot followed by Jason Lee and Shayne Shipley (Arrow). Lynn pulled out to a good lead as Lee held off Shipley until lap seven when he got around for second. By the halfway point of the 20-lap race, Shipley had closed in on Lynn however lap traffic would space them out again. Able to run Lynn down again, Shipley was focused on getting his first Master Shifter victory at the Rock. With two to go, Shipley got around to lead his first lap however Lynn struck back with a draft pass down into turn one after receiving the white flag. Coming to the finish line, Lynn held Shipley off for his first RIGP victory with Shipley finishing second. Lee held onto third while John Dixon (Birel) gave chase until a broken pipe put him on the sidelines, moving 2006 winner Dan Roe (Intrepid) up to fourth while 2007 winner Voytek Burdzy (PCR) came from the last row after trouble in qualifying to a fifth place run.
To discuss the event, visit the Official Discussion Thread in the eKartingNews.com forums. For results, click HERE for classes 1-7 and click HERE for classes 8-14. |
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