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| December 29, 2008 News |
| WKA Daytona KartWeek - Manufacturer’s Cup Series - Monday Report |
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The opening day of official wheel-to-wheel competition got underway at this year’s WKA Daytona KartWeek with action on both the sprint track and the full Daytona road course. A total of nine classes were run during Monday’s Margay Sprint Championships schedule and the racing went right into the night as the sun had set by the time the final checker was shown. The following is a class-by-class review of the racing from the opening day of the 2009 Manufacturer’s Cup Series.
Yamaha SuperCan Heavy
 | Josh Call began a streak of sweeps on the day with his Yamaha SuperCan Heavy win
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Josh Call (Margay) earned the first pole position award of the event with his fast lap in the Yamaha SuperCan Heavy division. A blistering 44.166-second lap put him on the front row alongside former Triple Crown winner Corey Reeves (Margay). Call would show the way for the eight-lap Prefinal while the rest of the field tucked in tight, as per the norm in Yamaha Can racing. Call would hold off the field to take the win with James Digirolamo (Merlin) and Mark Dismore Jr. (Arrow) dropping Reeves to fourth as CJ Lintner (Arrow) ran fifth.
Call led the field to the green flag to begin the first 16-lap final of the day, pulling a slight advantage through the opening complex of corners. Dismore got an excellent launch at the start as well to take over second from Digirolamo. The early shakedown was not complete as Digirolamo would fall back another position as Reeves slipped into third to begin lap two. Call and Dismore used the early laps to stretch away from the rest of the field, looking to fight this one out between themselves.
Call would continue to pad his lead heading to the halfway point, pulling 20 kart lengths, enjoying the fact that Dismore and Digirolamo were fighting once again for the second position. Digirolamo eventually dove down the inside of Dismore in turn one to take over P2. Lintner was also settling into a groove during the opening circuits, moving into fourth ahead of Reeves and Foley as the top six drivers began to pull away. Lintner, Reeves and Foley would then team up to get past Dismore after Lintner made a great move for the position, sticking Dismore out in the marbles where he got freight-trained by the quick trio.
Call would go on to score the victory over Digirolamo and Lintner. Reeves and Foley capped the top-five while Dismore was forced to settle for a tough sixth place result.
Cadet
 | Kyle Kalish earned his first win of 2009 in the opening Cadet final
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Similar to Call in Yamaha SuperCan Heavy, Kyle Kalish (Merlin) was the man to beat early on in the Cadet category, as he put his machine at the top of the timing sheet in Qualifying with a 45.308-second lap time. Kalish was be able to hold off the challenges of Santino Ferrucci (Maranello) and Aidan Landauer (Merlin) to score the eight-lap Prefinal victory, keeping hold of the pole position on the main event grid. Gresham Wagner (Birel) and Collin Warren completed the top-five to remain in the fight for the overall win.
Kalish used his pole position to lead the early laps in the Cadet main, as Ferrucci grabbed second ahead of Landauer to begin the 16-lap dice. Landauer was certainly on the move as he would slip into the lead by passing Kalish for the point well before the halfway point. Landauer and Kalish were then joined by a charging Wagner as the lead trio worked to pull away from Ferrucci. Kalish would take the top spot back, but the fight was only beginning. Derek Sobel was another driver to watch, jumping from eighth to fifth before the crossed halfway flags.
Kalish started the second eight laps of the contest with a three kart length lead, but Wagner, Landauer and Ferrucci were getting ready to challenge as the top four had all but left the rest of the field. Working together in the draft, second through fourth finally reeled in Kalish, setting up the smackdown for the win, with Landauer moving back to second ahead of Wagner. Ferrucci would demote Wagner to the tail of the quartet before slipping into second on the penultimate lap.
Despite Ferrucci’s charge, Kalish would not be challenged on the final lap to take the win, with Ferrucci, Kalish and Wagner completing the top-four with Sobel ending up fifth.
TaG Masters
 | Californian John Crow made history by becoming the first TaG Masters winner in WKA Man Cup competition
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The new TaG Masters class opened the year with some drama to begin the wheel-to-wheel action of the 2009 season. Top qualifier James Perkins was not able to take the green flag in the Prefinal as he encountered trouble on the pace lap, while the second fastest in qualifying, Brian McHattie (Kosmic), was removed from the class as he did not meet the minimum age rule as the WKA does not include drivers 200 lbs. and over in the category as is the case with the other organizations. This put John Crow (Birel) and Brett Thompson on the front row for the eight-lap Prefinal. Crow got the jump and would lead the entire distance for the win, while Thompson would retire early after contact, moving John Dixon (Birel) and Jeff Jewell (Haase) up to second and third. Chuck Tate (Margay) drove hard up to fourth ahead of Earl McCoy.
Crow kept the streak of polesitters holding the point on the opening lap by holding off Jewell during the first circuit of the TaG Masters main event. Things got ugly on lap one as fast qualifier James Perkins was part of the initial action after contact left him with a bent sidepod and out of the hunt for the win. The top-five would spread out early with Crow setting the pace ahead of Jewell, Dixon, Tate and McCoy, that is, until Jewell had reeled in the leader to begin the battle.
Crow and Jewell put on a show through the midway laps of the contest, as each driver had their own strong segments of the track to remain close. Further back, there was a lot of action, as Perkins would work his way back to fifth over the final laps, advancing to fourth as Tate ended his run in the infield with a mechanical failure. Perkins would then steal third from Dixon, completing a great run back to the podium.
Crow was be successful in holding off Jewell for the win, with Perkins recording an impressive recovery to third. Earl McCoy and capped the top-five.
HPV Jr. Heavy
 | Shawn Sharkey celebrated his HPV Jr. Heavy victory with a Carl Edwards-like back flip off the top step of the podium
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
It was a Merlin 1-2 to begin the season for HPV Jr. Heavy as Shawn Sharkey and Junior rookie Trent Hindman led the way in both Qualifying and the Prefinal. Nick Neri (Tony Kart) drove to another top-five in the Prefinal to finish third ahead of Sam Beasley (Arrow) and Austin Self (Birel), another first year Junior driver making the transition from the Cadet category.
A five-kart pile-up that involved Beasley began the 16-lap feature run for the HPV Jr. Heavy, however, the top-four would still include a majority of the same names from the Prefinal with Sharkey, Neri, Hindman, and Self at the point. Just as he was in the Prefinal, Self seemed to be the man willing to make the daring moves, working by Hindman after lap five. Self would fall back to fifth on the same lap, however, as Hindman and Jacob Duval were able to get back by. Sharkey continued to show the way as the halfway flags were shown with Neri and Hindman on his bumper.
Behind the lead group, a number of drivers battled for position with the opening lap skirmish shuffling the placements lap after lap. One of the drivers on the move was Alessandra Madrigal (Kosmic), as she worked into the top-10 before the halfway mark, eventually getting up to seventh by lap 12. Up front, Sharkey continued to knock off the laps at the point with Neri and Hindman keeping up the pressure. Despite these challenges, no move for position would be made as Sharkey would take the flag-to-flag win. Duval would hold off Self for the fourth spot in the order.
Yamaha Pipe
 | Tony Jump stuck in a last lap pass to beat Corey Reeves for the first-ever Yamaha Pipe victory
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
The newly-condensed Yamaha Pipe class, which the WKA developed by combining the Lite and Heavy divisions into just one class that will run one day on each Man Cup weekend, made its debut with former Triple Crown winner Corey Reeves (Margay) leading the way in both Qualifying and the Prefinal. Tony Jump (Margay) was second quickest in the timed session and he would then run on Reeves’ bumper throughout the Prefinal to start the final on the outside of row one for the feature. Veteran Kevin Nelson (Margay) advanced into the lead group in the Prefinal to run third, while Ryan Stewart (Birel) and Jason Foley (Merlin) completed the top-five.
Reeves crept out to a small advantage to open up the 16-lap feature run with Nelson sliding through on the first lap to overtake the second spot from Jump. Stewart and Foley held their spots to make up the early top-five. After the tires warmed up, Jump got back around Nelson just four laps into the race while Reeves continued to build on his lead. That lead, however, would be cut as Jump put down some quick laps. A dropped tire by Jump would space out the top-three back out to about the same distance between themselves as no real battles were going on anywhere else on the course.
The race would see attrition throughout the field with the warm temperatures, including Nelson, who pulled off with just a few laps to go having third place locked up. With no pressure behind him, Jump focused his full attention on cutting into Reeves’ lead. Lap after lap, he would get closer, setting up for a final lap attack. Jump eventually made his move into turn one, getting alongside Reeves and coming away with the lead. Reeves looked to make a last turn attempt but he would fall short, allowing Jump go on to earn the checkered. Defending Yamaha Lite champion Foley would beat ’08 Yamaha Heavy title winner Stewart for third while Josh Call (Margay) rebounded from a tough Prefinal to end up fifth.
HPV Sportsman
 | Santino Ferrucci held off challenges for the HPV Sportsman win
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
As we have seen in many Cadet races in the past few years, Santino Ferrucci (Maranello) is certainly one to provide some excitement in the category. Derek Sobel and Ferrucci put on a great show in the Prefinal with Ferrucci sliding through with a last lap pass to come out on top to start 1-2 in the feature. Kyle Kalish (Merlin) came up from fifth to third in the spring, moving Brandon Jarsocrak back to fourth and Garret Johnston up to fifth.
The outside line has proven to be a tough place to start at Daytona as Ferrucci would get the green to begin the main event, continuing to show the way with Sobel dropping back to third behind Kalish from outside row one. Contact on lap three between Kalish and Sobel would allow Ferrucci to pull out to a small gap over the rest of the top-five, however, the field would recover to return back to Ferrucci’s bumper.
At the halfway mark, Ferrucci was feeling the continued pressure from Sobel, however, with the two locked up, they were able to pull an advantage over Kalish and the Johnston brothers - Garrett and Jake. The lead duo were in the groove, running nose-to- tail, lap after lap, until Ferrucci was able to build just a few kart lengths over Sobel in the final stages to go on for the victory. Kalish held on to third while Garrett held off his brother Jake for fourth.
TaG Senior
 | David Sera - who finished sixth at the Rotax Grand Finals in Italy - made the trip to the states to sweep the opening day in TaG
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
It was a tough start for the defending champion Chris Larson (Maranello) as an engine failure during qualifying would put him 48th in the qualifying lineup, forcing him to go to the Last Chance Qualifier. Larson, along with multiple race winner Travis Firing (Margay) - who told EKN he just "had one of those days" - ran the six lap race and both would miss out on the transfer spots resulting in a tough start at the 2009 championships hunt.
The opening of the TaG Senior Prefinal was a wild one as polesitter David Sera (Arrow) held the lead through a crazy start, pushed aggressively in the early going by Marco Di Leo (Intrepid), who was able to work past Wesley Phillips (Birel) during the opening laps. Caleb Loniewski (Kosmic) then copied Di Leo’s move past Phillips in getting by Hunter Short for the fourth position. Serra would score the win in the eight-lap sprint, while Di Leo held on for second. Phillips suffered a mechanical issue as he crossed the line, still holding third, while Loniewski and Short capped the front-running quintet at the checker.
It was a clean start in the TaG final, which was not expected, as Sera took the point with Phillips sliding by Di Leo for the second spot. Sera continued his dominance in the early stages as he pulled out to a solid lead over Phillips and Di Leo as they battled hard for the second spot. It was a anti-climatic event, with not much happening in the top-five as Sera cruised to the big win as Di Leo won the fight for second over Phillips. Loniewski and Short completed the top-five.
Though Sera’s run to victory seemed easy, the journey was a long one. It took the 20-year old from Australia nearly 40 hours of travel time - including stops at four airports, leaving his friends in Washington DC, and a $180 cab ride from Orlando to Daytona Beach - to get to the event tardy on Sunday. With the late arrival, he was only able to get roughly 10 laps of practice Sunday on a course he had never driven before. With a deep field stacked with talent, it will be interesting to see if Sera can repeat his sweep on Tuesday.
Yamaha Jr. Lite
 | Nick Neri added another Daytona KartWeek victory to his CV with the win in Yamaha Jr. Lite
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Nick Neri (Tony Kart) was the man from the start of the Yamaha Jr. Lite Prefinal, leading from the pole to set the early pace. Sam Beasley (Arrow) jumped quickly into second at the green, planting himself on Neri’s rear bumper. Neri would hold on for the win to start the feature from the P1 spot with Beasley along side him on the front row. Shawn Sharkey (Merlin) would come back up to finish third after starting second.
The top three of Neri, Sharkey and Beasley got out to good lead to commence the Yamaha Jr. Lite feature as the rest of the field began to battle for fourth behind them. Sharkey and Beasley swapped the second spot throughout the race, but neither would be able to challenge Neri, who would go on to take the win. Beasley beat out Sharkey for third. Shinya Michimi (Merlin) had a great Prefinal and Final after a tough qualifying run to advance up to fourth when the checkered flag fell, while Tyler Thomas (Top Kart) made his way into the top-five as well.
This is going to be a hard-fought battle on the Man Cup this season, as the field is full of the finest Junior talent on the East Coast.
HPV Lite
 | Opening up the 2009 season with a win, Julia Landauer was near perfect in HPV Lite
(Photo: Go Racing Magazine) |
Julia Landauer was the quick driver in HPV Lite qualifying, turning a 42.415 to sit almost a half-second ahead of Bill McLaughlin Jr. (Birel). Landauer was able to hold off McLaughlin at the start of the Prefinal, and in fact, Ryan Stewart (Birel) - who qualified third - was able to slip past McLaughlin to take second on the opening lap. As Landauer’s kart began to come in as the laps clicked off, she stretched her advantage over Stewart to almost 10 kart lengths. The scrap for second was exciting as Stewart and McLaughlin diced it out, with McLaughlin eventually taking the position, bringing Wyatt Gooden along with him. Stewart would keep falling back as his chassis began to tighten up, and he would concede to Travis Firing (Margay). Gooden would fall back before it was all over, allowing Firing to take third ahead of Stewart and Tommy Andersen (Merlin).
With the sun sliding behind the west banks of the Daytona International Speedway, there was not a lot of sunlight left for the final race of the day as the HPV Lite were set to run as the final class of the day. Landauer would again put in a great run, going flag-to-flag for a clean sweep on the day, running unchallenged to the victory. With a turn one incident in the opening lap holding up karts behind her, the field behind Landauer was shuffled around as Andersen escaped with the second position where he would run the entire race. Mark Vielgut (Haase) would run third until David Kraeer worked by for the position, dropping Vielgut to fourth with McLaughlin battling back to take fifth in the final lap.
Wrap-up
With one busy day in the books, the Manufacturer’s Cup Series has another eight class day scheduled for Tuesday with the hopes of finishing before the daylight is gone as they did today. Luckily, there were no red flags to slow the action down and with one less class, the goal could be achieved. With seven of the nine classes swept by one driver, the competition will heat up with the rest of the paddock looking to knock the current kings off the mountain and leave Daytona with some momentum.
For complete coverage, click over to the Official Event Page. |
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