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| September 05, 2009 News |
| EKN Trackside: Rock Island Grand Prix - Saturday Report |
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A near perfect day graced the Quad Cities area as the 15th annual Rock Island Grand Prix put the first day of action into the books. The world’s largest karting street race saw practice and qualifying for the 14 different race groups complete with no major issues and early enough for everyone to begin enjoying the Labor Day celebration activities in ‘The District’ of the Illinois city. On track, the chase for the pole positions were close, aside from a few dominating performances. Topping the day’s headlines was the performance put on by Jordan Musser to earn his first King of the Streets pole award while Gary Lawson made more Rock Island GP history by claiming four on the day.
King of the Streets
The 20 kart field of the King of the Streets headline division was split up into two groups with Nick Lucido (CRG) leading the way in the first group. The Texan kept dropping his fast lap each time across the stripe until the eighth time around when he posted a 34.280 lap to hold the provisional pole over Colton Aldridge (CRG) and Jason Lee (Top Kart). The second group came out with 10 more drivers capable of holding the pole position. Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) began where most expected him to be, posting the early fast lap in his second lap on track. Matt Zeis (Wildkart) had other ideas as he came around as the fast driver on lap three. From there, the top spot belonged to 2008 Stock Moto pole sitter Jordan Musser (Intrepid). The Texan was the first to drop below the 34 second mark and kept getting quicker, posting a 33.566 to earn his second straight, first for the King of the Streets. Zeis and Wiegand went back and forth for the second spot until Jennings slowly worked his way near the end of the session to the second spot. Just as he posted his fast lap, 2008 Stock Moto winner Derek Crockett (Wildkart) trumped them all to hold the second fast lap of the session. Jennings would move down to third with Zeis edging Wiegand for the forth spot to complete the fast-five. Lucido would fall to eighth overall with Josh Lane (Energy) and AJ Noud (GP) making his first start at the Rock since 2003. Colton Aldriged (CRG) and Marc Elliott (Arrow) rounding out the top-10.
Animal Heavy
The driver to beat in the Animal Heavy category has been Ohio’s Gary Lawson (Arrow). The All-Time Win leader has won the class in all five years the class has run at the event. Heading into this year’s event, Lawson came in tied for second for Career Pole Awards with Todd Bolton, both two back from Jason Birdsell’s 15. With four chances on the day, Lawson earned his first in the Heavy category, posting a 37.692 lap. Taylor Moore (Margay) - a junior winner here at the Rock Island, now moving up to the Senior category placing second in the timed session. Steven Kilsdonk (Bandit) was third with Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) and Cale Downs (Coyote) completing the fast five.
TaG Masters
The TaG Masters first group to hit the track began with a funny situation. Larry Fraser (GP) came around with the best out lap despite heavy contact with the last turn barriers. As the session went on, Fraser posted a 35.100 lap time to set the mark for the second group to hit the track. It did not take long for Scott Hamble (Margay) and John Dixon (Birel) to go quicker than Fraser’s mark. Running in a draft, both surpassed Fraser’s lap time as they dipped in the 34-second bracket. Defending race winner Hamble retired on lap four with an engine issue. Dixon however went on to post a 34.738 for the pole position. Hamble’s best put him second on the order with 2007 winner Brian McHattie (Kosmic) inching his way up to third. Fraser was lined up fourth overall but came in underweight, thus putting him at the back of the 23 kart field. That moved Dean Leifheit (Haase) up to fourth with James Slade (GP) rounding out the fast-five.
2-Cycle Super Sportsman Heavy
Making it 2 for 2, Gary Lawson (Arrow) earned his second pole of the day in the 2-Cycle Super Sportsman Heavy category to tie for the All-Time Pole Awards lead. His 36.562 lap was best, edging three time class winner Michael Dittmer (Margay) by over three-tenths. Tony Neilson, Tim Goettsch and Kyle Erdmann made it three more Margay’s into the fast-five.
S1
The new North American Street Championship race with the S1 karts matched up the old ICC and 125cc Moto divisions into one with a good mixture of engines in the class. Split into two groups, Derek Crockett (Wildkart) was the driver setting the mark in the first group with a 33.288 lap. After getting their tires warmed up, lap four would be the lap Crockett’s lap would fall as Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) was able to get open track and put down some quick laps for the provisional pole. No one would be able to knock Wiegand down as he earned his 10th Rock Island Grand Prix pole position with a 32.865 lap. Nick Johnson (Intrepid) was impressive, posting the second fastest lap to start outside row one. Crockett’s lap would put him third overall in front of Scott Barnes (Wildkart) and Josh Lane (Energy).
TaG Senior
A mixture of young and 'more experienced' drivers made up the early pace setters for the first group of qualifying in TaG Senior. Scott Hamble (Margay) and Larry Fraser (GP) were on top with Alex Angel (Kart Mini) and defending race winner Michele Bumgarner (Margay) just behind on the time charts. Mid-way through the session, Fraser held the provisional pole by just 0.048-seconds over Bumgarner as both worked around the circuit to better their lap time but were unable to. When the second session hit, lap six was the magic lap as Kyle Erdmann (Margay) was able to steal the provisional pole until former winner Caleb Loniewski put his Kosmic on top of the order. His seventh lap on track was the quickest of the session - a 34.392, as he edged Erdmann by 0.005-seconds. Fraser’s time was good for third with Tony Neilson (Margay) sliding ahead of Bumgarner for the fourth starting spot.
Tom Argy Junior Sportsman
The fight in tomorrow’s main event for the Junior Sportsman division may be for the second place as Sam Beasley (Arrow) schooled the field in qualifying. Working with Gary Lawson, Beasley has been shining on the sprint tracks throughout the Midwest and brought that success to the Rock. His 37.461 lap was 1.562-seconds quicker than first time street racer Shawn Sharkey (Merlin). Gregory Gerst (Mike Wilson) was third in the order with Drake Ostrom (Margay) and Dustin Blomme (Margay) rounding out the fast-five.
2-Cycle Pipe Heavy
The top three drivers of the Pipe qualifying session ran nose to tail for the first five laps, led by Kyle Erdmann. His 35.374 lap was quicker than fellow Margay drivers Tim Goettsch and Michael Dittmer. The three were separated by just 55-thousandths of a second. Brandon Cather was just under a second back with Scott Hamble making it an all Margay fast-five.
125cc Masters
A veteran of the Rock Island Grand Prix, Phil Gordon (SKM) was the top driver in the 125cc Masters qualifying session. Still looking for that first Rock victory, Gordon put down a 33.621 lap to claim the pole position. Chris Shultz (GP) was just 66-thousandths of a second back with Jason Lee (Top Kart) able to climb up to third ahead of Kurt Mathewson (CRG) and John Dixon (Birel), all looking for their first class victory.
2-Cycle Super Sportsman Medium
Scoring the hat trick on the day, Gary Lawson (Arrow) paced the Sportsman Medium field in qualifying to score his third pole position of the day to lock in the most pole positions at the Rock Island event with his 16th of his career. Tony Neilson (Margay) and Michael Dittmer tried a late charge at the end of session but Neilson came up two-thousandths of a second short. Dittmer was only 28-thousandths back with Kyle Erdmann and Brett Johnson making it four Margay’s in the fast-five.
TaG Junior
A new class to the Rock Island Grand Prix, the seven drivers in the TaG Junior category put on a battle for the top qualifying spot in the session. Lap by lap, the fast time got lower and lower until Sam Beasley (Arrow) looked to have a solid lap in hand. He would trump that lap just before the session ended with a 34.270 lap. Austin Self (Birel) gave chase all session but came up two-tenths short. Shawn Sharkey (Merlin), Jackson Mears (Birel) and Drake Ostrom (Margay) completing the top-five.
Animal Medium
Looking to make it a clean sweep, Gary Lawson (Arrow) began the Animal Medium qualifying session with the early fast lap while the rest of the field worked to wind up their Briggs and Stratton Animal engine. On lap five of the session, Lawson and Taylor Moore (Margay) crossed the line with the exact same lap to top the chards. Five laps later into the session, both posted quicker laps but Moore was just a click faster to hold the provisional pole. The following lap, Lawson struck back as they both went below the 37 mark. Lawson’s 36.590 held and he earned his fourth pole award of the day to bring his event total to 17. Moore was just 0.048-seconds off to start from the second grid spot. Rounding out the fast five was Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) in third followed by Zachary Linsell (Bandit) and Cale Downs (Coyote).
IAME Leopard
Another new class for the event is the IAME Leopard division for the Senior drivers, giving them a second chance at competing at the event. Alex Nowysz (Margay) set the pace in the first group with a 34.527 lap. In the second group, a host of drivers swapped out the provisional pole as the clocked off the opening laps of the session. Tony Neilson (Margay) was able to find space on the track alone and was clocking in as the fast driver while others were looking to get as much as speed as possible by drafting. Neilson’s strategy paid off as he was able to clinch the pole position despite a late charge by Colton Aldridge (Arrow) who came up just 0.057-seconds short. Caleb Loniewski (Kosmic) was third with Nowysz falling to fourth ahead of Kyle Erdmann (Margay).
Rotax Senior/Rotax Masters
Completing the run down, the Rotax Senior and Rotax Masters groups hit the track for simultaneous qualifying sessions. The Rotax Senior class made a comeback, having raced last alone in 2002 with King of the Streets pole winner Jordon Musser as the last driver to win the class while the Rotax Masters group made its Rock debut. John Dixon (Birel) was the quickest overall, classified in the Masters class with a 35.113 fast time on his 10th lap. The fight was for the Rotax Senior pole position as three drivers swapped the spot numerous times in the session. David Gwin (Emmick) was able to leap over Ian Henderson (Arrow) and Justin de Sa (GP) for the class pole. James Slade (GP) and Paul Hohlbein (Emmick) completed the top three in Masters.
eKartingNews.com will have live audio coverage - http://www.ekartingnews.com/live - of the main events on Sunday, beginning with the King of the Streets feature at noon local time. For complete coverage of the event, visit the Official Event Page and watch for updates on the Official Discussion Thread. |
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