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| November 29, 2008 News |
| Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals: Heat and LCQ Race Report |
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The Saturday action at this year’s Rotax Max Challenge Grand Finals displayed both extremes of success for the North American contingent, as the day began with the final round of heats and ended with the Last Chance Qualifiers in the three categories. Some drivers raced their way into the final action on Sunday thanks to successful runs in the LCQs, while others saw their Grand Finals experiences cut short when they failed to earn a transfer position into the Prefinal. The USA and Canadian teams experienced mixed results with drivers coming home early, however, there are still many drivers still in the hunt.
DD2
Canadian Pier Luc Ouellette would go wire-to-wire in the 12-lap A vs. D heat race to edge Frenchman Damien Vuillaume at the line by just four-tenths of a second. Florida Winter Tour champion Stuart Marsell was in the top-five the entire race, as high as third on the final lap, but he crossed the line fourth behind Mirco Rossi (Italy). American Curtis Cooksey was seventh after the first lap, but was pushed back to 18th on the following circuit. The Las Vegas kart shop owner managed to climb back up to 13th, two spots behind Canadian Darren White ,who had a solid run in his final heat race. Ryan Fowler (USA) was able to gain a few spots as well, finishing 17th, which would help is starting position in the LCQ.
Christophe Boisclair attempted to make it a Canadian sweep in the third round of heats, but he came up just short, finishing second in the B vs. C heat race behind Maik Barten (Netherlands). Fellow countryman Scott Campbell started the heat toward the front, however, he was involved in an opening lap crash that put him at the tail of the field, eventually working up to a 22nd finish. Americans Andres Lopez, Marc Miller, and Nathan Mauel were 19th, 22nd, and 27th, respectively.
 | Stuart Marsell will start ninth in the DD2 Prefinal on Sunday
(Photo: BRP-Rotax - soa-design.com) |
The heat point tally put Ouellette on the pole position for the Prefinal, a great place to begin his defense of the World Championship on Sunday. Marsell was the top USA driver in the standings, and he will start ninth. Boisclair and White will go from the 12th and 17th grid spots in Sunday’s Prefinal, while Campbell just slid in to 27th to go direct to Sunday’s action, avoiding the second chance heat. Fowler, Cooksey, Miller, Lopez and Mauel would all have to battle 30 other drivers for a top-six finish spot in the LCQ.
Starting third and fifth, Fowler and Cooksey had the best chance at moving on to Sunday. The two showed the way in the 14-lap scramble with Fowler leading the opening eight laps before Cooksey took his turn at the point, going on to take the LCQ victory. Fowler would fall to third, yet transfer on to the Prefinal. Miller was scheduled to start 11th, but starter button failure would delay his release on the grid and lost his starting spot. Once started, Miller tried to work his claw his way back to the scheduled grid position but he came up a few rows short and would eventually finish 13th. Lopez would put forth a valiant effort as he came up from 23rd to finish 10th, while Mauel advanced forward to 22nd.
With seven drivers now set to battle in the 34-kart field on Sunday, the DD2 contingent led by defending champion Ouellette and Marsell have a solid chance at bringing back the crown on North American soil.
DD2 Results
Round 3 Heats
Heat Points
Second Chance Heat
Senior
After Friday’s opening two rounds of heat races, Team USA was sitting pretty with a pair of drivers in the top-20. Phillip Arscott and Wesley Phillips had both logged consistent results and were certainly in good positions to transfer directly in the mains. In the first race of the third round, Phillips - with Gatorz Karting Cup’s Andy Seesemann turning the wrenches with Phillips original mechanic missing the flight over - again stepped up his game, taking a strong fifth running in a three-kart group that was fighting for third. In a race won by the Netherlands’ Hannes Von Asseldonk, Phillips was just 2.486 seconds behind the victory with a faster race lap. Arscott was in this race as well, joined by Clayton Snow. Arscott slipped a little to 16th in the final tally, while Snow rebounded once again after his tire problem in qualifying, powering from the tail of the field all the way up to 19th. This performance most definitely put Snow in a position to challenge for a transfer spot in the LCQ, as he would finish up 42nd in the points to start 13th in the Repechage. Phillips’ stellar result put him 12th in the overall order, on the outside of the sixth row for the Prefinal, while Arscott was 23rd in the post-heat race standings.
 | Wesley Phillips will look to drive into the top-10 in Sunday's Prefinal
(Photo: BRP-Rotax - soa-design.com) |
Canadian Alexandre Laboissonniere was also in the race, and his 28th place finish would put him 62nd in the standings, the final driver to make it into the LCQ. Competitors finishing outside the top-62 would be done for the weekend.
In the Group B vs. C heat race, the UK’s Ben Cooper won yet again to secure the pole position for the Prefinal, while Americans Arie Ouimet and Garrison Masters failed to finish in the top-25 as Ouimet took 26th to Masters’ 28th. This result left Ouimet out of even the LCQ, finishing off an event that was riddled with back luck. After winning the U.S. National title in convincing fashion, this was not to weekend that Ouimet was hoping for. Masters, on the other hand, ended up 50th in the standings and would start the LCQ from 22nd. Canadian Marc Arsenault posted a 14th place result that nearly earned him a transfer, taking 29th in the standings just a single point out of the top-28. He would still have the pole for the LCQ. Fellow team Canada driver Olivier Sirois was also in the fight, but he would finish 29th after a lap one incident.
In the LCQ, with just six spots up for grabs in the Prefinal, Austria’s Niki Laa scored the win over Italy’s Daniele Maccini. Masters gave it his best shot and worked his way up to tenth to fall just a couple places short, while all three Canadian drivers capped their efforts. Arsenault started on pole but was involved in several contact incidents that dropping him to 13th and out of the running. Laboissonniere took 27th in the final tally while Sirois suffered a pace lap mechanical issue and did not take the green flag.
This now puts just the two Team USA drivers in the Prefinal to represent North America. Phillips and Arscott are the lone qualifiers into Sunday, starting 12th and 23rd, respectively.
Senior Results
Round 3 Heats
Heat Points
Second Chance Heat
Junior
The North American drivers entered Saturday’s event positioned at many different levels in the standings. Jesus Rios Jr. and Justin Coplen were looking good, strongly placed thanks to good results in the opening two heats, but not all of their teammates were so lucky. Heading into the final round of heats, a position in the top-28 would transfer a driver straight to Prefinal, which anything between 29th and 62nd meant a run in the Last Chance Qualifier.
 | Justin Coplen posted solid results to go from P9 in the Junior Prefinal
(Photo: BRP-Rotax - soa-design.com) |
Coplen has been consistently improving his program, working with mechanic Chris Freckleton, and he turned in a clutch performance in Heat #3. With Groups A and D finally facing off, Coplen posted a strong fifth behind race-winner Kevin Korjus from Estonia. The Californian was just under seven seconds back at the checkered flag. Rios was not so lucky in this one after having recorded a pair of top-10 results, getting involved in a couple incidents that saw him fall back to 25th, just one position behind Phil DeLaO. DeLaO fought back after his Heat #1 flip, keeping himself within the top-62 in order to qualify through to the LCQ. Canadian Tyler Wheeler was also in this race, but he struggled and would finish 28th in the final tally.
In the B vs. C heat race, the Estonians continued to impress as Aavo Talvar took the win by 0.037 seconds over France’s Paul Fourquemin. Canadian Steven Szigeti and American Taylor Miinch turned in their best drivers of the weekend to finish sixth and seventh, respectively, drastically improving their LCQ starting positions. Canada’s Kevin King was 14th in the order while fellow Canuck Philip Orcic brought his luckless weekend to an end with a 22nd place finish. A pair of DNFs in the first two heats meant that Orcic would finish outside the top-62 in points, eliminating him from a shot in the LCQ, which would only start 34 drivers.
Following the three rounds of heats, Coplen was the highest finishing North American, sitting ninth in the standings. This will put the Californian on the inside of row five for the start of the Prefinal on Sunday morning. Rios’ rough third heat dropped him from the top-10 to 15th in the order for the Prefinal, but we know he has the speed to run upfront, so he will need to attack quickly to put himself in the right position for the final. The Junior class featured a four-way tie for 28th in the points, the final transfer position. Canadian Wheeler and King had both accumulated 51 points, as did Lithuania’s Matas Kiznis and the Netherland’s Peter Hoevenaars. Wheeler would win the tie-breaker, advancing him straight into the Prefinal while fellow Team Canada driver King would start on the pole for the LCQ as a result. Szigeti’s brilliant Heat #3 recovery advanced him to 40th in the order to start 12th in the LCQ while Miinch finished up in 47th, leaving himself an uphill battle in the Repechage.
In the 10-lap Last Chance Qualifier, Szigeti was out early with a damaged axle, while King fell from his pole starting spot back to eighth midway through the race. Undaunted, he worked back up to fourth to start 32nd in the Prefinal tomorrow. Needing to advance to the top-six to keep his weekend alive, Miinch fought valiantly up to seven from 19th on the grid, falling one spot short of the transfer. Russia’s Eugen Sokolov won the LCQ and he will start 29th in the Prefinal.
To cap the qualifying events, Team USA and Team Canada will each put a pair of drivers into the main events as Coplen and Rios will suit up for American, Wheeler and King for Canada.
Junior Results
Round 3 Heats
Heat Points
Second Chance Heat |
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