|
 |
|
 |
| June 11, 2009 News |
| Day Two of IKF Road Race Grand Nationals Sees Number of Drivers Earn Their First Duffy |
| |
 | Mike Jones earned his first Duffy with the win in TaG Light
(Photo: Hart Photography MotorSports) |
Day two of the 2009 IKF Road Race Grand Nationals was a long and eventful day at the Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas. With the severe storms that rolled through Wednesday night, the paddock had minimal damage with a few sections of the track covered in mad - which delayed the start of on track action about two hours. Once underway, rain threatened to show itself again before racing action began but only a few sprinkles fell. When the action began on track, the Southwest Roadrace Association did everything they could to get all the races in on the day with none of the classes on-track time cut. Highlighting the day’s events were a number of drivers earning their first career Duffy.
TaG Light
The field came down for the first rolling green flag of the event with the majority of the field aboard Rotax engines. As they came around to complete the first green flag lap, a couple drivers, including the leader Gabriel Bargas, got loose in the final corner, sending Oregon drivers Joe Kitterman and Bill Gulick off course. Kitterman continued at the rear of the field while Gulick ended the heat race early. Up front, it was a four kart lead pack with yesterday’s winner Sean Kelleher, Bargas, Tyler Mann, and ‘Boy Scout’ Mike Jones. Bargas’s run ended on lap five as the exhaust came loose on his Margay. Jones however was able to break away with consistent two-minute laps times to stretch out to an eight-second victory over Mann. Kelleher lost the draft and was caught by Kevin Adds and Mark Beville to begin a three-way battle for third. In the final corner, Kelleher got a great run on the outside and was able to power away and win the race to the strip in front of Adds and Beville.
The second heat was stopped after the first turn with Adds getting sideways infront of most of the field and collected Cheryl Kurtis and Colby Novak. Kurtis was airlifted with possible broken ankles but was alert the entire time. Once the race was restarted, Jones was able to break away from the field again as four drivers fought for second. At the line, Jones took the victory by two-seconds to clinch his first Duffy. Bargas won the battle for second with Mann, Kelleher, and Beville rounding out the top-five. Kelleher however was bounced in the tech barn for an engine issue, thus moving the rest of the field up one spot behind him. When calculating the points, Mann was second next to Jones with Beville, Thomas Muth and Terry Prather completing the podium.
 | A photo finish gave Kyle Piepenbrok his first Duffy
(Photo: Hart Photography MotorSports) |
ICE
Mike Lewis had the ICE field covered in the opening heat race as he took the victory by over a minute ahead of Darryl Bertram and Glenn Ingram. In the second heat, Lewis looked to repeat his win however mechanical issues put him on the sidelines which ended his chance at the overall victory. This gave Bertram the heat win and the overall victory. Ingram was second with Lewis placing third after Dale McCollum, in a built from the ground up Superkart spun in the opening lap and finished fourth.
Formula 125
The opening heat began with the field starting from a standing start - two in a row. As the green waved, the field got away clean and Waylon McCulloch lead the field on the opening lap with Mike Smith breaking away from a big group battling for third. Lap four saw Smith put in a bad lap and fell back to fourth with Russell Pool and Cody Jolly moving up a spot each. Lap five, however, Jolly relinquished the third spot when he came into the pits after losing his airbox. By that time, McCulloch stretched out to a three-second gap and continued to add to it each time by the stripe. In the end, McCulloch took the win by six-seconds. Pool was alone in second with Danny Howie winning the fight for third over Kyle Piepenbrok while Allen Fleming completed the top-five.
The front row took off as the green flag waved for the second heat race with McCulloch and Pool pulling out to an early lead. They stretched it out over the opening laps to four seconds by lap three. On lap four, McCulloch came over the crest of turn seven off to the sidelines and got out of his Intrepid machine as engine issues cost him a chance at the Duffy. This put Pool alone in the lead with four karts battling for what was now second. Champion Racing’s Piepenbrok was able to break away and began running down Pool. As the got the white flag, Piepenbrok was latched onto Pool’s rear bumper. He waited for the final straight to slingshot by Pool as they made their way to the checkered flag. At the line, it was Piepenbrok by seven-hundredths of as second - the closet finish of the day. Howie was third at the stripe with Scott Rister and Cody Jolly rounding out the top-five. With the results from the two heats, Piepenbrok and Pool were tied with four points each with the Heat 2 finish deciding the tie-breaker, giving Piepenbrok his first ever Duffy. Howie, Fleming, and Rister completed the podium with four of the five aboard Intrepids.
 | Michael Sampson was another first time Duffy winner after he dominated the Yamaha Heavy Laydown division
(Photo: Hart Photography MotorSports) |
Yamaha KT100s Heavy Laydown
The fight for the Duffy in Yamaha KT100s Heavy Laydown looked to be a battle between Michael Sampson and Jamey Brown. The two Texans were locked together during the early portion of the 45 minute event until lap 12 when Brown went off course briefly. This gave Sampson plenty of space to cruise to the victory and his first career Duffy. Brown held on to second with Nevada driver Donald Meyering alone in third. Tim Kyser finished fourth with Sherry Nix completing the podium.
Formula 125 Ltd Heavy
Todd Vandermolen started from the front row of heat one and was able to pull out to nearly a three second advantage as the rest of the field scrambled for the second spot. Starting dead last, former Duffy winner John Kindhart was able to work up to the position by lap three with the fast lap of the race at that point. Kindhart then began to cut into the gap lap by lap as he clocked off the fastest lap each time by until he found Vandermolen’s rear bumper. Kindhart held ground until coming to the white flag when he worked by for the lead at the end of the long 2000 foot straight. Vandermolen returned the favor on the final lap with Kindhart charging back in the final corner but was not close enough to make a move. Vandermolen won the drag race to the checkered flag for the win. Kevin Bartlette ran third with Weston McCulloch and Allen Fleming Sr. rounding out the top-five.
Vandermolen and Kindhart got away from the line to start the second heat cleanly and were joined in the opening lap by Weston McCulloch. The three were in a solid lead draft until lap two when Kindhart’s throttle stuck wide open. After he thought he had it fixed while driving, he continued on in the back of the field but it would again get snagged. He would managed to limp into the pits and call it a day. The top two were than joined quickly by a charger Tyler Mann. The trio put on a great show for those watching atop the paddock hill until on the second to last lap when Mann dropped a wheel exiting turn six and was sent around doing a 360 spin but continued on. This allowed Vandermolen to pull out to a gap and cruise to the victory to clinch his first road race Duffy. McCulloch crossed second with Mann falling to just third. Bartlette climbed up fourth after stalling on the starting line with Fleming fifth until he was removed in tech as well as Bill Criddle, moving Todd Cormier to fifth. The top three remain the same after calculating the points with Cormier in fourth and Kindhart completing the podium even with his DNF.
 | Celebrating his 55th birthday a few weeks ago, Todd Vandermolen won both heat races in Formula 125 Ltd Heavy for his first Duffy
(Photo: Hart Photography MotorSports) |
Yamaha Ltd Light Sprint
What began as a four kart fight eventually came down to two in the 30-minute Yamaha Ltd Light Sprint category. Phil Harris and John Dale Brown swapped the lead multiple times until Harris was able to gap Brown in the final stages of the race. In the end, Harris stretched his lead out to just under seven seconds for the victory. This earned the veteran his eighth Duffy. Brown held on to second with Anthony Honeywell coming up to third over David Munden. Scott Cherry did not complete the race but outlasted the rest of the field to earn the final spot on the podium.
Rotax Max Junior / TaG Junior
One of the best races of the day came via the Junior race with the Rotax Max Junior lead group filled with four karts dicing the lead numerous times around the 2.5-mile circuit. Jake French, Conner Iseli, Kaiden Cook, and Alex Tartaglia were all in the mix. French spent most of his time at the point but was challenged by the other three. All four looked to set each other up for the final corner - turn 11 - and the draft to the checkered flag. French held the lead and was able to fend off the late charge by Iseli, taking the win by a tenth of a second for his firs ever Duffy. Cook edged Tartaglia for third with Joe Taylor rounding out the podium.
For complete coverage of the IKF Road Race Grand Nationals, visit the Official Event Page where you can find reports, results and photos. To keep up with the event as its happening or to comment, click over to the Official Discussion Thread. |
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
