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| October 12, 2008 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting National Finals - Sunday Report |
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 | Michael Vincec is the 2008 ICC National Champion
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine - otp.ca) |
Championship Sunday has come and gone with another amazing event in the books to wrap-up the 2008 season of the Snap-on Stars of Karting presented by IndyCar Series. The National Finals at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas, Nevada was completed following the exciting feature races that would decide the five class national champions. The ICC division saw a new driver earn the title of national champion as Canadian Michael Vincec completed a season of successful consistency, finishing on the podium in seven features that was highlighted by a victory at the Race of the Americas in June. Bryan Eady edged Michael Hogg to become the first-ever TaG ICC titlist while Victor Cabrera held on for the Stars TaG crown. The JICA category came down to the final lap for a second straight year with Brendan Phinny earning the championship and Trent Hindman crowned the Cadet champion in his first year in Stars competition.
ICC
At the drop of the green, Gary Carlton (CRG) got the holeshot with Jordy Vorrath (Intrepid) slotting into second. Michael Vincec quickly challenged for the second spot getting inside Vorrath with a late braking move into turn one and the two made contact as Vorrath’s engine quit on him during the exit. The following lap, Alex Speed (Tony Kart) used the same move, this time without contact on Vincec to overtake the second spot. Carlton would not pull away as thought with the early fighting going on behind him as Speed closed the gap quickly to give chase with Vincec running ahead of Ron White (GP) and David Jurca (Italkart). They would run that way for the remainder of the 24-lap race.
Vorrath got the jump to start final two over Carlton as they went side by side through the opening corner. Carlton attacked quickly and retook the lead with Speed and Vincec running behind Vorrath. Lap three however Vorrath pulled off with ignition trouble to his powerplant, making it a disappointing end to the season. From there, Speed took over second with Vincec up to third - the position he needed to finish to clinch the championship if Carlton was to win. White ran fourth and looked to be closing the gap during the middle portion of the race but fell off in the closing stages. Up front, Carlton led the remaining laps to take the victory, three-seconds ahead of Speed. Vincec held on to third and clinched his first ever national championship, becoming the first Canadian to do so in Stars of Karting ICC competition. White held on to fourth with Curtis Fox (CRG) winning a great battle for fifth.
 | Bryan Eady became the first-ever TaG ICC champion
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine - otp.ca) |
TaG ICC
The same front three again challenged one another during the opening 20 lap race. Bryan Eady (Intrepid) got the holeshot over Jose Zanella (Tony Kart) with Michael Hogg (Italkart) sliding into third. The three ran close during the first half of the race with Eady and Zanella bouncing back and forth until after the halfway mark when they pulled away from Hogg. Zanella held the lead until the two laps to go signal when Eady made the move into turn one to assume the point. Eady ran a blocking line as they got the white flag, which allowed the two to run side by side into turn two. Zanella pulled back to not force the issue and allowed Eady to keep the lead. Unchallenged to the line, Eady took the win. Hogg ran alone in third with Don McGregor (Italkart) and Scott Campbell (Italkart) completing the top-five.
Zanella however was found light on the scales, giving him a disqualification and taking him out of the championship. This gave Eady a ten-point advantage over Hogg heading into the final race.
Making up for the disappointment from the opening final, Zanella put in a text book performance to win the second final handedly from green to checker. The win put him third in the standings behind the first ever TaG ICC national champion Eady. It was a tough start as he fell back to fourth in the opening laps and had a tough time getting around McGregor. Once by, he hunted down Hogg who was running second and near the end of the 20-lap race, he stuck it to the inside in turn one and cruised on to the second place finish, taking the championship by 15 points over Hogg. Campbell ran fourth with McGregor dropping to fifth.
 | Scribner, Wiegand, and Licata put on a show in the Stars TaG final race
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine - otp.ca) |
TaG
Everyone got through clean to start the opening lap of 20 with Top Karts of Chris Scribner, Kyle Wiegand, and Chris Wehrheim showing the way. The early charger was Joey Licata Jr. as he crossed the line fourth in the opening lap and was second by lap three. Lap five Licata made his move into turn one to overtake the lead. Scribner fell back into second with Wehrheim in third ahead of Wiegand and Neil Alberico (Top Kart). Wiegand got back by Wehrheim and the top three pulled out to a small gap over the other two. Championship leaders Victor Cabrera (Kosmic) and Joey Wimsett (Intrepid) continued to struggle, running 13th and 17th at the halfway mark. On that same lap, Scribner ran overtop of Licata in the tight turn five lefthander. That took Licata out and dropped Scribner to ninth.
Wiegand inherited first with Wehrheim, Alberico, Neil McCoy (Top Kart), and Scott Saunders (CRG). Lap 16, Alberico got under Wehrheim for second in turn one and began closing on Wiegand. It only took a lap before he found Wiegand’s bumper. The two then went back and forth in the closing laps with Alberico coming out on top for his first ever Stars victory. McCoy got around Wehrheim for third with Saunders completing the top-five. Scribner finished sixth however the Stars officials penalized him for the contact, dropping him to 21st behind Licata, taking the Western Division champion out of contention for championship.
Cabrera was able to advance up to eighth during the second half of the race while Wimsett finished 14th. Cabrera enters the final event ahead by 62 points over Wimsett.
Wiegand took the point to open up the second final however Scribner fought back with a turn one pass after crossing the finish line for the first time. Licata moved to third ahead of Alberico and Toft after drivers shuffled around behind the top two. Saunders moved into the top-five after getting by Toft and worked on chasing down the front four. On lap eight, Wiegand made an awesome move through the fast sweeping turn two, not a pass seen much on the weekend, with Licata looking to come through however Alberico snuck into third. Next lap, Scribner answered into turn one but Wiegand fought back as they swapped the lead, allowing Licata to join the mix as Alberico fell back to fifth behind Saunders. Side by side through turn two, Wiegand shuffled Scribner to the outside, allowing Licata to slide to second and then first into turn one. Wiegand was shuffled back to third as Scribner shot into the gap as well.
No one wanted to work with another driver as it was every man for himself. With two to go, it was three drivers battling for the win with Wiegand, Licata, and Scribner. Licata shot to the inside into turn one as they got the white flag. Licata left a small opening for Wiegand through turn six and took it, allowing Scribner to get by as well and drag raced to the checkered. At the line, it was Scribner by 0.023-seconds over Wiegand. Licata ended third with Alberico and Saunders rounding out the top-five.
Finishing seventh, Cabrera earned the national championship by 69 points over Wimsett with Scribner, Wiegand and Wehrheim all finishing with eight points of each other to complete the top-five in the final standings.
 | Consistency in the feature races throughout the year earned Brendan Phinny the JICA title
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine - otp.ca) |
JICA
The green flag waved quickly for the JICA opening final with Top Karts Taylor Miinch and Tyler Thomas leading the way in the opening lap with a solid five kart lead pack including Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart), Angel Caban (Kosmic) and Sage Karam (Birel). Menezes went to second with a turn one pass over Thomas, dropping him to fourth with Caban moving through as well. Lap four, Menezes got by Miinch with the same move for the lead while Karam fell out of the race in a turn three shuffle in the fight for fifth. The top three pulled away from the field as Miinch and Caban pressured Menezes and Thomas was fighting Mason Marotta (Intrepid), who came up from 11th, and championship leader Phil DeLaO (Tony Kart). Caban would take the lead on lap nine after hounding Menezes for three laps as they put a couple kart lengths between each other.
Things changed in the championship picture for DeLaO as was caught up in a wreck involving Thomas and Marotta, with DeLaO retiring on lap 15 in 21st position. Up front with two to go, Miinch went to P1 as Caban fell to third behind Menezes. As they received the white flag, Menezes got around Miinch. As they entered the back section, Menezes was able to pull away with Miinch and Caban running side by side allowing Menezes to cruise to the win. Caban edged Miinch at the line for second with Felkins and Phinny completing the top-five.
With DeLaO’s DNF along with the finishes put in by Phinny and Menezes, the challengers moved into a tie for the lead heading into the final race with 515 points each and DeLaO three points back at 512.
The final JICA feature began with Miinch and Menezes playing games on the front row with two failed starts and finally green on the third attempt. Miinch got the better of the start with the inside line as did Thomas as they both got by Menezes with Pigot fourth and Tristan DeGrand (Kosmic) fifth. Lap two, the fight for second allowed Miinch to pull out to a sizable lead with Pigot now hold the second spot ahead of Menezes, Thomas and DeGrand. On the same lap, championship contender DeLaO got involved in a three-wide incident into turn one and fell to 23rd, taking him out of the title chase at that time.
Up front, Thomas was shuffled back and into the barriers in turn one on lap five, taking him out of a chance at victory now with Caban slowly moving his way up back into the top-five. Getting by his teammate DeGrand, he then took care of Menezes and set his sights on the top two. Lap 10, Pigot was able to get by Miinch for the lead and their battle allowed Caban to close the gap. The next time by the stripe, Caban had moved into second and then into first. From there, Menezes and DeGrand joined in and the fight became five.
Things were shuffled around as contact took Pigot out of contention on lap 13 and Miinch retired one lap earlier with engine issue. That brought in a slew of new players including Miles Maroney (CRG), Louie Pagano (Birel), and Marotta. On lap 17, Menezes was shuffled back to about eighth and now Phinny running in front of him on track. The fight for the win came down to Caban and DeGrand with Caban earning his first win of the season. All the fighting for third came down to Maroney escaping from the rest to fill in the final podium position with Phinny crossing the line fourth ahead of Menezes.
With Phinny one spot ahead of Menezes, that would earn him the national championship by five points. Menezes would finish runner-up in the standings for a second-straight year. DeLaO would end up third with a solid season nonetheless behind him.
 | Trent Hindman overcame early weekend troubles to muscle through for the Cadet championship
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine - otp.ca) |
Cadet
The Cadet drivers got away clean for the opening final with Luis Tyrrell (Top Kart) and Broc Yocom (Intrepid) breaking away from the pack. Tyrrell led the opening three laps before Yocom took over the spot. That allowed Logan Bearden (Birel) and Andrew Murray (Birel) close the gap and become a four kart lead battle. Bearden and Murray seemed to be the faster duo as they put Tyrrell back to fourth and then Yocom out of the top spot on lap six. With the high speed track, the second duo used the draft to their advantage to not lose any ground. Lap eleven Yocom and Tyrrell went back to the front as they both got around Bearden and Murray. With two laps to go, Yocom again went from first to fourth and they got by at the line with two laps to go. Taking the white flag, Tyrrell went to a block line and it cost him in the opening corner, allowing Murray to slide through on the exit of the corner for the lead. As they went into the back section, Murray would lose the position to Bearden and as they came to the line, he edged Tyrrell by 0.024-seconds for the win. Yocom nipped Murray at the line for the final podium spot while championship leader Trent Hindman (Merlin) completed the top-five.
Heading into the last race, Hindman’s point advantage was 45 points, needing a ninth place finish or better if Murray was to win the race.
Tyrrell and Murray led the field to the final green flag of the 2008 season with Tyrrell, Yocom sliding to second and Murray in third for the opening lap. Hindman came up from seventh to fourth with Bearden dropping to fifth and Jake Craig (Top Kart) completing the lead group. During the shuffling of positions, Murray and Tyrrell - who broke a throttle cable and controlled by hand - lost the lead draft that now saw Yocom up front challenged by Craig. More position swapping allowed Murray to rejoin the fight as he moved up to third behind Bearden and Craig. With two to go, Murray got by Craig and on the white flag, went around Bearden for the lead. He would hold off the challenges on the final lap to take the victory. Bearden and Craig joined him on the podium with Yocom edging Hindman for fourth. Tyrrell, working the throttle by hand for the majority of the race earned the ironman award and placed 11th.
With his finish, Hindman clinched the championship by 20 points over Murray.
Wrap-up
Special awards given out at the end of the day included Rookie of the Year honors to Jose Zanella for the Senior divisions and Tristan DeGrand for the Junior category. The Skip Barber Scholarship award went to the new ICC national champion Michael Vincec, who will have a full season in the Skip Barber National program in 2009. With plans already in the works for next season, the Stars of Karting organization is looking to bring an even bigger and better program to the karting community in '09.
To follow complete coverage of the National Finals, visit the Event Page that includes a link to the Official Discussion Thread for updates throughout the race day. |
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