|
 |
|
 |
| June 19, 2009 News |
| IKF Region 11 Wraps Up 2009 at Desert Park Raceway |
| Article by: Brian Rivera |
 | On his way to winning his second of three races during Round 5 of this year's IKF series, Cody Kay (2) begins to pull away from the pack during the HPV-4 Junior main
(Photo: Dan McGee)
|
Northern Nevada Kart Club hosted the last race of the IKF Region 11 Championship Series this last weekend June 1314, 2009. Saturday, rain played a key role in determining 1 race but for the most part it was a cloudy and chilly mid June day which paved the way for some good racing.
Up first were the Kid Karts. John Paul Maxwell grabbed pole by a little under a second over Hudson Morrow. Morrow would go on to win the first heat by 8 seconds over Donovan Bixler. That set up the main event as Morrow would take the lead for the first 5 laps. Jarrett Gilmer then made his pass for the lead on lap 6 and never looked back. Maxwell would finish in 2nd only to be DQ’d at Tech. 1st place went to Gilmer followed by 2nd place Carter Herrera who drove a fine race all day. Morrow would take home 3rd, Bixler 4th, Tyler Dean in his first IKF race would finish in 5th, Zach Corbitt 6th and JP Maxwell in 7th. Great day of racing by these little guys.
Jr. 1-2 Cycle was the most watched class of the day. 17 karts came out for this one. Qualifying saw the top 10 positions no more than 4 tenths of a second separated from each other. But it was Nitro Nick Sommers snatching the P1 from Hunter Corbitt. The green flag dropped in the Pre-final and that would lead to Sommers falling back to the 9th position. Justin Yanez would come from the 15th position to take the lead by lap 6 and win the heat by 10 seconds over Noah Hermansen. That set up the final as the rain clouds started moving in. Jeremy Kay’s crew decided to switch to rain tires right before the karts hit the track. As soon as the karts were ready to take the green flag, RD Tom Halbasch waived it off and decided to bring in the kids because of the heavy downpour. The #11 crew of Kay were not delighted. But safety is and always will be a concern in karting. A delay of several minutes ensued then the decision to let the kid’s race was made by the RD. All the teams had to keep their sticky tires on while Kay had on his rain tires. The green dropped and all the kids made it through turn 1-2 cleanly. It didn’t take but 1 lap for Kay to grab the lead and walk away with a 25 second victory. 17 karts started the race, 4 finished. JR Raczko came in 2nd followed by Justin Yanez in 3rd, who both drove a spectacular race in the rain on slick tires. Sonny Cervelli would finish up in 4th place and be the last moving kart on the track!
HPV-4 Junior got underway as hometown kid Cody Kay got back to usual business at Desert Park Raceway (DPR) out qualifying TJ Fischer by almost 1 second. Kay would go on to win the Pre-final by 16 seconds over Joey Teves. The main event saw the last of the rain on the track and that would make it a tighter race than the first. Teves would take the green flag and come out of turn 2 with the lead only to have Kay grab it back the next lap by. Deven Sanchez would also be able to pass Teves a little later on for 2nd. Fischer would pass Teves 2 laps from the end to take 3rd. But it was Kay who dominated all day to win the race and take the honors followed by Sanchez in 2nd, Fischer in 3rd and Teves in 4th.
Yamaha Super Y came up to Grid as 10 karts showed up for this battle. It was Clayton Snow pulling out a pole run to secure his inside front row position over Timothy Weddle. The Pre-final saw Weddle get the lead off the start from Snow. Weddle would lead all laps and take the checkered flag. Snow would follow in second. That set up the finale as Weddle would not even make it to the green flag. His kart broke at turn 3. That allowed Snow and his brother Anthony to claim the top spots. But at Lap 7 Clayton broke and had to retire. 2 laps’ later Brother Anthony broke and his race was done. That left crusty veteran Jesse Gwin to take the lead and bring home the checkered flag for a first place victory. Reno Native’s Tyler Wamre and Zach Dericco, both finished 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
Next up was Formula 80 Senior. 8 drivers came out for some fun under the clouds. Mark “Big Head” Nason took the pole by 2 tenths of a second over Cody McKinney. The Pre-final would see Nason lead from start to finish without much movement in the group. McKinney would hold for 2nd followed by Travis Duhn in 3rd. That led to the main event in which Nason got a great start and took to the lead. Duhn would fall back to 6th on a bad start. On lap 6, Nason would make a mistake and give the lead to Gerry Williams. Williams would then get pressured by the surging Duhn. By lap 7 Duhn would capitalize on all the other driver’s mistakes and take the lead and bring home the checkered flags. Williams was able to hold off Nason for 2nd while “Big Head” had to settle for 3rd.
 | J.R. Raczko celebrates after his runaway victory that clinched his IKF championship in the HPV-1 Junior main at Desert Park Raceway
(Photo: Dan McGee) |
IKF TaG Senior provided some good hard racing throughout the day. Position One Motorsports teammates Luis Martinez Jr. and Bobby Kelley got off on a fast start with Martinez Jr. grabbing pole over Kelley by 1 tenth of a second. The 1st heat would see Martinez Jr. take the early lead. But by lap 2 he had fell back to 3rd leaving the door open for David Harwin to sneak into the lead. Kelley would chase Harwin and make the pass on lap 4 for another lead change. Kelley would eventually go on to win the heat followed by Harwin and Mike Botelho Jr. The final then rolled around to see Harwin take an early lead only to be passed by Kelley for the lead. Martinez Jr. would come from dead last making his way through the field to take over the P2 spot by lap 6. The order of Kelly, Martinez Jr. and Harwin stayed the same the entire race until the white flag lap when Botelho Jr. passed Harwin deep in the middle of turn 1-2. Kelley would go on to win the race with Martinez Jr. picking up the 2nd place. Botelho Jr. would finish 3rd followed by Harwin in 4th.
Sunday’s racing proved to have a better forecast than the previous day. It was a cloudy day with a few of rays of sunlight with temperatures around the 70 degree mark. A few sprinkles dropped, but not enough to stop the action from happening on the track.
First up was the big class of HPV-1 Junior. 17 karts again set out to battle for supremacy. But it was 2 kids that paved the way for some great hard racing. JR Raczko snatched pole by 2 tenths of a second from Jarred Campbell. Raczko has been racing all of Reno’s 2009 club races in preparation for the IKF and Grand Nationals next month. The first heat would see Raczko walk away from the pack and take a commanding 8 second lead and the win. The battle was for 2nd though was between Nitro Nick Sommers, Noah Hermansen, Sonny Cervelli and Drew Setzer as they all battled ferociously to take the P2 spot. Sommers would eventually take the 2nd spot followed by Hermansen in 3rd. That led to the main event. At the green, Sommers would take an early lead only to be passed quickly by Raczko who then checked out from the pack. Sommers would hold his P2 spot over Hermansen who drove a solid race in 3rd. But the drive of the day came from Campbell who drove through the field from dead last dicing and making great moves to finally end up in the 4th position. Raczko would earn the victory by 10+ seconds over Sommers and Hermansen, who would finish 2nd and 3rd respectively. A great race by all the young drivers.
HPV-2 waited patiently for their turn around the .667 mile sprint track. On pace was Cody Kay who blistered a pole run 1 second quicker than his next closest competitor, TJ Fischer. The Pre-final saw Kay walk away slowly from the second place kart of Joey Teves. Kay would go on to win by 6 seconds. Also, on the white flag lap of the Pre-final, TJ Fischer made his move for 2nd on Teves to claim the outside pole for the main event. That brought up the main event. As the green flag dropped, Fischer would stick his kart deep in turn 1-2 for the early lead. But Kay had other plans. He quickly took the P1 spot on the ensuing lap and never looked back. The fight was for 2nd and 3rd between Fischer and Teves. On lap 7, Teves would finally take his P2 spot and hold off Fischer for 2nd. Johnny Norris and Spanish Springs local Logan Wyman had a fierce battle for 4th. Wyman would eventually pass Norris on lap 10 to claim the 4th spot. Kay would earn his 2nd victory of the weekend followed by Teves in 2nd, Fischer in 3rd, Wyman in 4th and Norris in 5th.
HPV-3 only brought out 2 drivers. Bobby Kelley would get pole over Luis Martinez Jr. by a little over 3 tenths of a second. The two would battle neck and neck all day in identically equipped and prepared karts. Kelley would go on to win the Pre-Final. The main again was a close battle between the 2 drivers as Kelley once again proved to be the man to beat. He would take home 1st place over Luis Martinez Jr.
Next up was 125 National Cup Masters. Locals David Harwin and Glenn McKinnon were the favorites to win this one. Harwin would go out and grab pole over McKinnon by a little over 7 tenths of a second. That brought up the Pre-final as Harwin would take the lead from start to finish and never look back. McKinnon would finish in 2nd, 5 seconds back. The fight was for 3rd though, as race kart engine builder Danny Bordogna was in a battle with Kevin Knight. Knight would eventually pass Bordogna and settle for the 3rd spot leaving Bordogna with the 4th. That setup the Final and to no surprise, it was the veteran Harwin pulling away from IKF expert McKinnon. Knight would find some speed and post some times in the 50 flats along with McKinnon. Knight was only a few karts away from McKinnon but just couldn’t seem to pull up any closer. Harwin would go on to take the checkered flag, followed by McKinnon in 2nd, Knight in 3rd and Bordogna in 4th.
 | This was about as far as the leaders were to each other after the F80 Masters main on Sunday but in the end Mark Nason (85Y) prevailed followed by Cody McKinney (3Y) and Gerry Williams (6), who slipped to third
(Photo: Dan McGee)
|
Jr. Tag took to the grid and rolled out to have a little racing fun. Again, it was Cody Kay running in the high 49’s to take pole over Austin DeMent. The pre-final would see Kay take off into 1st. Chelsi Wagner would get a good start and jump into 2nd followed by DeMent in 3rd. Wagner and DeMent would change positions twice in this race. Kay would win the heat and Wagner would eventually hold on for the 2nd place followed by Dement in 3rd. The main event was next and these kids were ready to race. Kay would jump into the early lead and never look back. The race was close behind though as Wagner would get passed by DeMent by lap 2 and then fall to Joey Teves by lap 4. Christian Scholz would fall behind to 5th and be unable to mount any kind of chase on the leaders. Kay would go on to win his 3rd and final race of the weekend followed by DeMent in 2nd who was able to hold off a late charge by Teves in 3rd, Wagner in 4th and Scholz in 5th.
IAME Cup rolled out next to take their qualifying run. Luis Martinez Jr. would snatch pole away from Travis Duhn by a half tenth of a second! The first heat would see Teammates Martinez Jr. and Bobby Kelley walk away to a 7 second win going to Martinez. Hometown favorites Duhn and Mike Botelho Jr. would come in 3rd and 4th, respectively. That brought out the 16 lap final in which everyone knew was going to be a shootout. Martinez Jr. would take the green flag and dart into the lead coming out of turns 1-2. Bobby Kelley would fall out on lap 2 for mechanical problems. That left Duhn to chase down Martinez Jr. In the mean time, Dylan Nobile would make his way up to third place. Zach Dericco who had bad luck early on in Qualifying and the first heat was moving up quick posting a fast time of a 49 flat. He quickly moved past Troy Buckman and Botelho Jr. He then set his sights on Nobile in which he passed him with 5 laps to go. Up front, Martinez Jr. was doing everything he could to hold off Duhn. Dericco could be seen catching the leaders at a furious pace. It wasn’t until the last lap 2 laps when Dericco finally caught on to the lead pack. The two locals (Duhn and Dericco) were in hot pursuit of Martinez Jr. Duhn tried as the white flag dropped to take Martinez Jr. deep into turn 1. The move was unsuccessful. The 3 karts roared around on the final lap only to see Duhn try one more time coming down the hill after the turn 7 sweeper. He stuck his nose on the side of Martinez Jr’s left rear tire but it was not enough to make the pass as he backed out to give Martinez Jr. the victory. At tech, Martinez Jr. was DQ’d and that gave Duhn 1st place honors followed by Dericco in 2nd, Nobile in 3rd and Botelho Jr. in 4th. Great race by all the drivers!
Last on the track was the Formula 80 Masters gang led by Mark Nason who came out to grab pole over the fast Gerry Williams by 2 tenths of a second. The pre-final proved to be the same for Nason as he led from start to finish. Cody McKinney would make his move on Williams on lap 2 and never give that spot up again. Williams would finish in 3rd driving a great race followed by Ben Fisher in 4th. That setup the finale in which Nason would take the green flag and dart into the lead. Williams was able to follow in second. But on lap 5, McKinney decided his best chance at catching Nason was to move past Williams in which he did at the end of the straightaway. The top three were bumper to bumper the entire way. That’s how they would finish as Nason earned another victory over McKinney in 2nd and Williams in 3rd. Fisher would take the 4th place finish followed by Matt Kattanek in 5th.
It was a great year of racing in Region 11. Championships were won at Reno this weekend but most are too close for us to make an unofficial announcement on. We will leave that up to IKF and NCTA to post.
The IKF 2 Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals in Reno are right around the corner. It’s time to start getting your equipment ready and parts ordered to stake your claim as a Grand National Champion. A Duffy holder! We’ll see all of you next month at Desert Park Raceway, Reno Nevada!!! |
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
