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| September 04, 2010 News |
| EKN Trackside: Rock Island Grand Prix - Qualifying Report |
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The 16th annual Rock Island Grand Prix kicked off with a beautiful day for competition on the streets of the Quad Cities town. The 15 categories making up the event took to the 8/10-mile street course for two sessions of practice and qualifying - setting up for Sunday’s main events. The weather was sunny but much cooler than in year’s past with a steady breeze blowing throughout the day. When it was time for drivers to put in all their chips during the qualifying session, three drivers stood out after the Saturday afternoon sessions with Kyle Wiegand taking top honors in the coveted King of the Streets category while Arrow drivers Gary Lawson and Sam Beasley each earned three pole awards.
King of the Streets
The session was split into two groups however a number of drivers chose to go out in the second group, leaving just five drivers on-track to begin the session. Cole Mathewson led the way in his Evolution Karting GP machine with a 33.729 lap time. Former two-time King of the Streets winner Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) quickly topped that with a 33.216 lap in his second circuit. The next to strike was defending champion Jordon Musser (Birel) as he became the first driver under the 33-mark. Fellow Texan Nick Lucido (CRG) took his turn as he clocked in his quickest lap of the session to hold the spot provisionally until Wiegand fire back. With a 32.896, Wiegand scored the pole position with a new track record. Lucido ended up second with Musser in third. Derek Crockett (GP) was fourth fastest while KoS and RIGP rookie Lucas Johnson (Monza) capped off the fast-five overall.
4-Cycle International
New to the Rock Island GP is the 4-Cycle International class with a strong local following in the area. Becoming the inaugural pole winner was Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) with a 38.461 lap time, an amazing 1.247-seconds faster than his next challenger Garrett Bouchard (Margay). Indiana’s Scott Hamble (Margay) was third with Mark Luna (Coyote) and Ken Williams (Coyote) rounding out the fast-five.
TaG Masters
In the first group of the TaG Masters qualifying run, 2006 John Dixon (Birel/Rotax) led the way with his 34.235 lap time, eight-tenths off his class track record. The 2004 winner Mack McCormack (Arrow/Motori 7) led the charge in the second group as the first driver in the 34-second bracket. Defending champ Scott Hamble (Margay/Motori 7) came back on the third circuit to better McCormack’s lap and then Dixon’s on the fourth lap with a 34.220. Hamble would hold on to score the pole over Dixon by 0.015-seconds. Alex Angel (Birel/Rotax) was second to Dixon in the first group, ending up fourth overall with James Slade (GP/Rotax) ending up fifth from group two.
2-Cycle Sr. Sportsman Heavy
Scoring his first pole position of the day in 2-Cycle Sr. Sportsman Heavy was all-time win leader Gary Lawson (Arrow). His lap time of 36.004 was best in the only qualifying group for the class of 14 drivers. Three-tenths back of Lawson was Michael Dittmer (Margay) and Tony Neilson (Margay). Rock Island’s own Brandon Cather (Margay) was fourth with Eric Bartsch (Birel) rounding out the fast-five.
KZ2
Following his KoS performance, Wiegand jumped into his KZ2 package to score his second pole position of the day. His Top Kart/TM entry was good for a 32.266 lap time. Nick Johnson (Intrepid/TM) was second in the order - seven tenths off of Wiegand’s time. Canadian Max Gamble (CRG/TM) was third by just one-hundredth of a second over Indiana’s Alex Conlin. Putting two Canadian’s in the top-five was Joshua Adams in his CRG/Maxter to sit fifth for tomorrow’s main event grid.
4-Cycle Sr. Animal Heavy
Everyone in the Animal categories will be chasing Lawson this weekend. In the Heavy division, Lawson put down a 36.358-lap to sit half a second in front of the rest of the field. Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) was second overall over Connor Lund (Arrow), Michael Dittmer (Margay) and Bart Johnson (Coyote).
TaG Senior
The class was split up into three groups with some fast drivers setting the bar in the first run. Masters driver John Dixon (Tony Kart/Sonik) led the way early until fellow Indiana driver Robby Seward (Tony Kart/Motori 7) jumped ahead by just three-hundredths of a second. Able to better his lap, Seward’s 33.670 was best of the session with Nic LeDuc (Energy/Sonik) able to jump ahead of Dixon in the order. No one in the second group was able to better Seward’s time with Canadian Cory Cacciavillani (Kosmic/Rok TT) the only driver to drop below the 34-second mark. The third group had a number of young guns in the run with Sam Beasley (Arrow/Motori 7) leading the way in the out lap. The next time by, Nevin Nelson (Energy/Rotax) dipped under the 34-second mark. Beasley came back on his fifth lap with a time of 33.744 to sit second overall, looking to take a run at the pole. Lap six was the money lap as he posted a 33.524 to steal the top spot. Nelson held on for second, just eight-hundredths off Beasley’s pace. Seward was third with Dixon in fourth and Eric Schumacher posting the fifth best time however encountered major contact with the turn five barriers and will have to go to a back up kart. LeDuc also had issues, coming in underweight and getting put to the tail end of the field.
Rotax Junior
Leading the way in the Rotax Junior qualifying session was Texan Austin Self (Birel). Lap by lap, Self would get quicker each time by the scoring loop until he posted a 34.416-lap time put him on the pole for the main event. Fellow Texan’s Alec Udell and Bristol Gunderson, both piloting Top Karts, worked together to end up second and third in the session with Cameron Smock (Top Kart) and William Woodard (Birel) capping off the fast-five.
2-Cycle Pipe Heavy
The qualifying session was a tight battle for the pole position with three drivers in the hunt. After the six and final lap, it was Michael Dittmer (Margay) who held on for the pole award with his 35.169 lap. Tony Jump (Margay) posted his fastest lap in the final circuit, only to come up one-hundredth of a second short of the top spot. Tim Goettsch (Margay) was right there, only seven-hundredths off Dittmer’s pace. Local drivers Brandon Cather and Drake Ostrom made it an all Margay fast-five.
125cc Masters
The qualifying session for the 125cc Masters group was an interesting six laps. Road racer Lance Lane (LRM/Honda) led the way early with clear track in front of him. Lap however pulled off with two laps to go, experiencing an engine miss-fire. As he pulled off defending winner Kurt Mathewson (GP/Maxter) took over the provisional pole spot however that was short lived as another road racer - Graham Wilcock (CRG/Honda) slid by with a fast lap by just 0.024-seconds. The 33.377 lap put down by Wilcock held through to the end to earn him the P1 grid spot in Sunday’s main event with Mathewson set to start alongside. Joe Cento (Intrepid/Honda) and Chris Enderlein (Kosmic/TM) came through in the final lap to move into third and fourth, pushing Lane back to fifth in the order.
Rotax Senior
The pole position for the Rotax Senior category came down to the closing laps with a jostle for the spot taking place with each passing of the start/finish line. Michigan driver and paralyzed driver Michael Johnson (Merlin) put in some impressive laps in the first few circuits to hold the provisional spot, as did New York driver Thomas Radivoy (Haase). Come lap three however it was Sam Beasley (Arrow) that soared to the top of the order. The rest of the field pressured but Beasley responded, getting quicker each lap until posting a 33.519-lap to hold on to the pole position. Eric Schumacher (Kosmic) bounced back from his TaG Senior misfortunes to end up second in the run ahead of Arizona’s Phil DeLaO (Top Kart). Alex Mayer (CRG) was fourth with Morgan Schuler (CRG) in fifth over Radivoy and Johnson.
2-Cycle Sr. Sportsman Medium
The 2-Cycle Sr. Sportsman Medium session was a battle between four drivers, all running on the track together - Dittmer, Lawson, Neilson and Jump. Lawson in his Arrow held the spot early with Jump moving into second halfway through the session. On lap five, Neilson put down the fast lap thus far and Dittmer moved into third, dropping Jump back to fourth. On the final circuit, they all improved their lap time however the order went unchanged as Neilson held on for the P1 grid spot ahead of Lawson, Dittmer, Jump and Cather to make it four Margay’s in the top-five.
TaG Junior
The TaG Junior session was a near match to the Rotax Junior session with the same players in the hunt. Austin Self (Birel/Leopard) was quick early until Bristol Gunderson (Top Kart/Rotax) slid by for the provisional spot. Self however came right back and continued to get quicker as the session came to a close. In the final circuit, Self posted a 34.033-lap time to sit four-tenths clear for the pole position. Alec Udell (Top Kart/Rotax) snuck by Gunderson for second with Gregory Gerst (Mike Wilson/Rotax) and Ryan Ridler (Intrepid/Leopard) in fourth and fifth.
Rumble at the Rock Animal Heavy
It was clear who the top dog in the Rumble at the Rock would be in the qualifying session. At one point, Gary Lawson (Arrow) was one second clear of the field. Ending up with a 36.288-lap time to earn the pole award, Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) was able to cut into that gap in the end, only three-tenths off the pole time. Connor Lund (Arrow) was third in the order with Michael Dittmer (Margay) and Harry Smith (MGM) capping off the fast-five.
Parilla Leopard
Split into two session, Arizona’s Phil DeLaO (Top Kart) was P1 in first group with a 33.910-lap. Sam Beasley (Arrow) was able to better that time in the second group with a 33.814 to earn his third pole award of the day. DeLaO was able to hold on to second, with Tony Neilson (Margay) up to third. Colton Aldridge (Arrow) was fourth overall with Andrew Coulter (Arrow) ending the session in the fifth spot.
With the grids set, everything now turns to the action on Sunday with the main events to run after the opening ceremonies at Noon. To follow the event and the live coverage, head over to the EKN Live page - http://www.ekartingnews.com/live - where you can view hear the action live and view the rest of the event’s coverage, including a page view of the http://www.ekartingnews.com/viewtopic.php?t=98632">Official Forum Discussion. |
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