|
 |
|
 |
| May 02, 2009 News |
| EKN Trackside: WKA Manufacturer’s Cup Series - South Bend Saturday Report |
| |
 | Ryan Stewart stood on top of the podium three times after Saturday's action
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Though the trees surrounding the Michiana Raceway Park in South Bend, Indiana may not have the leaves in full bloom, the racing season is in full force following the first day of competition at the MRP Speed School Nationals for the WKA George Kugler/Bridgestone Manufacturer’s Cup Series driven by Mazda. An action packed day of 10 classes contested the 7/10-mile circuit with the WKA staff and the competitors running a smooth but long day at the track. The big winner on the day is the defending Manufacturer’s Championship Trophy winner Birel and Ryan Stewart. The chassis grabbed five wins on the day to move them to the top of the standings with Stewart earning three of them.
HPV Heavy class began the day’s action with Ryan Stewart (Birel) grabbing the Streeter Super Stands pole award and was challenged early on in the Prefinal by Brandon Adkins (Tony Kart). Adkins however retired on lap five with a thrown chain and would have to start the feature from the tail of the field. Stewart went on to win the Prefinal, edging CJ Lintner (Arrow) while defending champion Kevin Nelson (Margay) held off a charging Jason Foley (Merlin) - who started tenth - for the third position. The feature would see Stewart lead the way with Lintner running a close second. The two were able to get away from the field to go head to head. Lintner was able to work by Stewart, who drove hard to keep up. With two laps to go showing, Stewart got a great run off the final corner and made a late pass attempt into the first corner. The two made contact, resulting in Lintner dropping a wheel on the exit as Stewart went to the point. Foley benefitted from the contact and slide by Lintner. Stewart took the victory with Foley and Lintner running second and third. Scott Ferris (Margay) came up from eighth to the fourth spot with Cody Robinson (Arrow) crossing the line fifth in his first weekend as a Senior level driver. Heading into the event, Josh Call was the point leader, finishing sixth on the day and in jeopardy of losing the top spot.
Colin Warren (Birel) led the way in Cadet qualifying while in the Prefinal, championship leader and double Daytona winner Kyle Kalish (Merlin) worked himself to the point for the win. Aidan Landauer (Merlin) ran second as Warren fell back to seventh. The feature began with a long line of Cadets circulating the circuit but in the end the fight came down to Kalish and Landauer. The two went nose to tail until the final laps when they began to shuffle the event. At the line, it was Landauer with the victory. Behind them, it was a bit chaotic with James Bennett (Birel) winning the battle for third over Austin Osborne (Birel) and Santee. A good run was put in by Santino Ferrucci (Top Kart) who advanced 11 spots to the sixth position.
 | Marco DiLeo was handed the TaG win following Zanella's disqualification
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Earning the Streeter Super Stands pole award in TaG Masters was RC Zirves (Birel), a regular wrench at the MRP facility who put on the helmet for the weekend. Chuck Tate (Margay) however got the jump on him at the start of the Prefinal to show the way early. Masters veteran John Dixon (Birel) joined the fray, putting Zirves back to third. With help from a good bump draft down the front straight, Dixon was able to steal the top spot from Tate. Dixon took the win with Tate holding off Zirves at the line for second. Dixon would not be denied in the feature as he broke away early and pulled out to a four-second victory to put himself in contention for the championship. Behind him, Zirves, Jeff Jewell (Haase) and Kim Carapellatti (Margay) had a great battle for the second spot when Tate retired on lap four with a broken throttle component. At the line, Carapellatti would earn the spot with Jewell edging Zirves for third. Michael Busse (Arrow) completed the top-five.
Florida driver Nick Neri (Tony Kart) posted a strong lap in HPV Jr. Heavy qualifying to show the way in the session ahead of Sage Karam (Birel). The two ran nose to tail the entire 12 laps of the Prefinal to start the Final on the front row with Sam Beasley (Arrow) and Robert Bujdoso (Tony Kart) swapping positions in the second row. After a restart for a questionable start, the feature got underway with Karam getting the jump on Neri. On the cold tires, Karam was able to breakaway while Neri had a fight with Bujdoso. Once Neri secured the second spot again, he tried to run down Karam but the gap was too much. Karam took the checkered flag, his first of 2009, by 1.796-seconds over Neri. Bujdoso held third with Beasley finishing fourth while Olivia Beam (Arrow) put in a strong performance to round out the top-five. Point leader Shawn Sharkey (Merlin) ended up seventh behind Brennan Harrington (Birel). The hard charger award went to Trent Hindman (Merlin) as he came up from 22nd to 10th.
Ryan Stewart (Birel) was on point today in Yamaha Pipe with just one mistake. After he edged championship leader Tony Jump (Margay) by just five-thousandths of a second in qualifying, Stewart took the Prefinal win only to be found underweight at the scales. That put Jump on the pole for the feature with Stewart put to the tail of the field. It didn’t take long for Stewart to find his way back to the front as he and Jump ran nose to tail for the entire 16 laps. Stewart sized up Jump the entire time and made his move into turn seven on the final lap. The pass was a clean one as he caught Jump at the opportune time to take the position. Jump looked to regain the spot in the following corner but ran out of real-estate, losing considerable ground. At the line, Stewart took his second win of the day. Josh Call (Margay) ran third ahead of Nathaniel Dewitt (Kosmic) and Kyle Knecht (Tony Kart).
 | Trent Hindman earned his first Manufacturer's Cup Series win with the Yamaha Jr. Lite victory
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
HPV Sportsman saw four drivers with two-tenths in the qualifying session with James Bennett (Birel) earning the Streeter Super Stands pole award. He would battle Breyton Santee (Arrow), Kyle Kalish (Merlin) and point leader Santino Ferrucci (Maranello) in the Prefinal. Kalish would show the way with Santee and Ferrucci dropping Bennett back to fourth. The same four would lead the field in the feature as the four young pilots put on a game of chess on the track. When it came down to crunch time, Santee would shine as he made the right moves to be at the front of the lead pack when the checkered flag fell. Bennett was just 0.065-seconds back with Kalish and Ferrucci falling in behind. Austin Schoonmaker drove his Merlin machine toward the front as he came up from 12th to fifth.
Marco DiLeo (Intrepid) - the new championship leader in TaG - moved to the top of the standings with the absence of double Daytona winner Australian David Sera. DiLeo began his reign as the driver to beat with the fast lap in qualifying, nipping Timmy Megenbier (Birel) who was making his return to the Man. Cup series. In the Prefinal, Megenbier got the best of the veteran DiLeo with Jose Zanella (Tony Kart) coming up from seventh to third ahead of the Top Karts of Chris Wehrheim and Kyle Wiegand. Brandon Jones (Arrow) was third in qualifying but was shuffled back to seventh by the checkered flag. A terrible start for Megenbier dropped him outside the top-five as DiLeo took the point in the early stages of the 16-lap feature event. Zanella continued his charge forward as he put Wehrheim a spot back and set his sites on DiLeo. Once he caught the leader, the two went back and forth as the leader a couple times until Zanella secured the spot. DiLeo kept the pressure on but in the end it would Zanella taking the checkered flag. Wehrheim ran a close third with Senior rookie Andy Dunne (Birel) scoring a strong fourth place run in his TaG debut. Jones battled back forward to fifth with Megenbier winning the battle for sixth. CJ Lintner (Arrow), Zach Beard (Birel), and Wiegand were all in the mix for the position while Evan Batt (Birel) completed the top-10. The tech barn however would remove Zanella’s victory for an engine infraction, handing DiLeo the win.
Neri earned his second Streeter Super Stands pole award of the day in Yamaha Jr. Lite but was moved to the second row along with Dakota Pesek (Arrow) after two false starts. Neri - who came into the event leading the point standings - would not benefit as he looped his kart around in the opening corner, failing outside of the top-20. Trent Hindman (Merlin) and Sam Beasley (Arrow) took the field to the green flag but it was Pesek the showed the way for the majority of the Prefinal. On the final lap, contact among the top three put Pesek off at turn five, dropping him sixth in the order as Beasley held off Hindman for the win. Sage Karam (Birel) came up from 10th to third with Kyle Crump (Margay) to fourth from the seventh starting spot. Pesek rejoined the fight at the point with Hindman and Beasley as the trio put on a great battle in the 16-lap event. In the end, Hindman was able to hold on to earn his first Junior division victory of his career. Pesek edged Beasley for second with Crump able to get by Karam for the fourth spot. Neri put on a show as well as he was able to move up to eighth after starting 16th.
 | Kyle Tilley benefitted on the last lap to earn the first ever Yamaha Sportsman Heavy checkered flag
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Yamaha Sportsman Heavy is the new class added to the 2009 lineup with Jake Johnston (Margay) earning the first pole award for the class. Johnston led all 12 laps in the Prefinal despite heavy pressure from James Bennett (Birel), along with Merlin drivers Aidan Landauer and Kyle Kalish. The opening corner of the 16-lap feature mixed up the field as Bennett and Johnston were among those involved. This allowed Landauer, Kalish and Kyle Tilley (Margay) to break away from the field for a three kart battle for the victory. Tilley sat third as the top two worked together to try and make it a two-kart battle. The race came down to the final lap when the Merlin drivers made contact at the top of the hill going into turn five. That allowed Tilley to slide through to assume the point and go on to take the victory. Landauer and Kalish ended up second and third with John Powers (Arrow) and Johnston rounding out the top-five.
The HPV Lite wheel to wheel action began with a red flag in the Prefinal with Matthew Bigos (Haase) and Tommy Andersen (Merlin) making hard contact through turn one. Andersen required medical attention but would walk away with no serious injury. Once the field restarted, pole sitter Jose Zanella was slow at the drop of the green and fell back to third behind Ryan Stewart (Birel) and Julia Landauer (Birel). Stewart went on to take the win with Zanella coming back to second. Landauer fell back some and then contact between her and Mark Vielgut (Haase) sent them both to the back of the field. The early action of the feature looked as if Stewart would have a race long battle holding off Jump and Zanella. With Stewart leading, Zanella got by Jump with a nice move to take over the second spot early on. He then began to pressure Stewart for the lead however the distance between the two grew larger as Stewart put down some consistent laps. In the end, Stewart would take his third checkered flag of the day by half a second over Zanella. Jump ran alone in third with Bill McLaughlin (Birel) finishing fourth. Andersen bounced back from his incident in the Prefinal to drive up to fifth from 15th.
Birel’s five wins move them to the top of the Manufacturer’s Championship Trophy standings with seven total wins. Merlin bagged two victories to tie Margay for second at five total. Arrow added one to make four on the year with Maranello and Tony Kart holding still at two. Sunday will see eight classes competing on the day - four Senior divisions, two Junior and two Cadet. The Senior drivers will be looking to catch up to Stewart’s pace while the Junior field continues to be anyone’s for the taking. For complete coverage of the weekend, visit the Official Event Page. |
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
