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| August 07, 2009 News |
| EKN Trackside: Championship Karting International Grand Prix of California - Friday Report |
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 | Gary Carlton posted the fast lap in KZ2, looking for his third straight CKI victory this weekend
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
The Grand Prix of California was kicked off on Friday with the first official laps of the Championship Karting International event taking place at the CalSpeed Karting facility outside the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California. Despite a small earthquake that registered in the area, the day was not effected by the ground shaking as three sessions of practice and 15-minute qualifying sessions took place to set up the action for Saturday. Returning back to California for his first CKI event, Gustavo Menezes grabbed both Junior division pole positions, highlighting the days action.
KZ2
Looking to earn his third straight CKI victory, Gary Carlton began the weekend on top with the quick lap in the KZ2 Qualifying session. The PCH Motorsports/SSC East/CRG driver posted a lap of 44.372 to earn the pole position, out-pacing teammate Jacob Neal by nearly three-tenths. Returning back to CKI, Alex Speed (Tony Kart) was third quickest in the session with Gregory Liefooghe (Intrepid) fourth, both needing to race their way forward in Saturday’s heats.
KF2
The Top Kart’s of Brendan Phinny and Chris Wehrheim were the first two on track for the KF2 qualifying session, posting the early fast laps of the session. The driver to watch however was Richard Benitez (Kosmic) as his out lap put him third in the order. He then jumped over Wehrheim for second and about five minutes into the session, moved to P1 by just 29-thousandths of a second over Phinny’s fast lap. Benitez time would last through the remainder of the 15-minute session to earn the J3 Competition driver the pole position with Phinny to start alongside on front row. Wehrheim on the other hand continued to drop as Brett Felkins (Intrepid) dropped Wehrheim back to fourth. Alex Speed (Tony Kart) would then jump over both after getting on track late to sit third, just 47-hundreths back of Benitez’s fast lap. Will Martindale (Tony Kart) was sixth in the order followed by Joel Miller (Tony Kart), who is unable to find the speed yet in his return back to the karting ranks.
 | Richard Bentiez has positioned himself as a championship contender with the pole position for Saturday's heat races
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
IAME Senior
New Jersey winner Andre Nicastro (Italkart) looked again like the driver to beat after posting the fast lap in the final practice session and set the bar in the early portion of qualifying. The session however belonged to SSC Racing’s Joey Licata Jr. as the one time eKartingNews.com TaG Driver Rankings number one driver put down a 46.708 lap to secure the pole position for Saturday’s heat races. Italian Motors’ Nicastro would have to settle for second, just 26-thousandths off of Licata’s time. Mason Marotta (Intrepid) began the session outside the top-five but gradually moved up to third in the order, posting his fast lap on his 14th circuit near the end of the session. That moved Kyle Shriver (CRG) down to fourth with championship leader Neil McCoy (Top Kart) set to start fifth.
The rest of the field shuffled around throughout the 15-minute session with Joe Paterson (Tony Kart) moving up to sixth ahead of the Top Karts of Michael Hogg and Timmy Bachman. Remo Ruscitti (Italkart) was a late advancer, moving up to ninth with Michael Politis (Tony Kart) completing the top-10.
KF3
The first group to hit the track for qualifying was the KF3 division with the quick lap times recorded in the first half of the 15-minute session. Taylor Miinch (Top Kart) and Phil DeLaO (CRG) posting the quick laps early. Each held a short amount of time at the top before Nicholas Silva (Kosmic) and Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart) both leaped over the duo to sit 1-2. About five minutes into the session, Menezes posted his fast lap of 46.145 to claim the top spot in the order. No one would be able to match his pace, giving the Tony Kart West driver the pole position for the three heat races on Saturday. Silva held on to second to start outside row one in his Reaction Karting entry. DeLaO ended the session in third with championship leader Tristan DeGrand (Kosmic) moving up to fourth in the order just after the halfway mark, putting Miinch to fifth. The rest of the order matched the final practice results with Alessandra Madrigal (Kosmic), Shawn Sharkey (Merlin), RC Enerson (Tony Kart) and Cole Loftsgard (Tony Kart).
 | Gustavo Menezes earned both KF3 and IAME Junior pole positions
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
IAME Junior
The IAME Junior group put in an exciting 15-minute run for their Qualifying session. The early pace setter was CKI rookie Louie Pagano (Birel) as he kept getting quicker and quicker. Gustavo Menezes (Tony Kart) and Tristan DeGrand (Kosmic) joined the mix up at the top with Menezes going to P1 on his second lap with DeGrand taking the top spot at the six minute mark. Menezes would then retake the spot at the nine minute mark with a 46.074 lap time. That time would hold for the Tony Kart West driver as the rest of the field came in to make changes in order to gain the extra few tenths.
The only one to move up in the order would be SSC East’s Phil DeLaO (CRG) - who posted his fast time on his 13th lap - as he crept his way up to second after sitting fifth before his stop. That moved DeGrand down to third with Kiel Spaulding (Top Kart) moving up to fourth just before the checkered flag, posting his quickest time on lap 15. Despite Pagano getting quicker and quicker each lap, he would end up completing the fast five. Taylor Miinch (Top Kart) ended up sixth with Camden Geise (CRG) falling down the order after spending some time near the top. Raquel Martinez (Top Kart), Shawn Sharkey (Merlin) and Alessandra Madrigal (Kosmic) completed the top-10.
Cadet
Zane Smith is shaping up as the driver to beat in the Cadet division as he posted a scorching lap (53.060) to outpace the entire field by over eight-tenths of a second. The rest of the top-10 looked like a local event with Wyatt May placed second with Slater Stowell, Willy Axton, and Brendan Baker completing the fast-five. Point leader Austin Schoonmaker continued to struggle to come to grips with the challenging CalSpeed circuit and was dead last in 20th and will have to fight his way forward in the heat races. |
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