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| June 18, 2011 News |
| EKN Trackside: 2011 IKF Road Race Grand Nationals – Saturday Report |
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The fourth and final day of the 2011 IKF Road Race Grand Nationals went into the books with another record breaking weather day with temperatures well over 100 degrees. The staff of the Southwest Roadrace Association deserves many thanks for their tireless effort into making the event the best it could be, despite the numbers not being what was expected. On track, Mike Mantel clinched his fifth Duffy of the event with a win in TaG Heavy while Anthony Honeywell held on in Yamaha Light Laydown for his fourth Duffy in four days.
SWRA Stock 125 Lite II
Six karts took to the track to open up the final day of action of the event with the first heat for SWRA Stock 125 Lite II. Waylon McCulloch, Mack Dayton and Scott Rister made up the lead pack and drove nose to tail for much of the race until McCulloch and Dayton were able to break away on lap six from Thursday class winner Rister. Dayton went to the point at the same time but McCulloch returned to the top spot on lap seven. At the checkered, McCulloch held on to score the win by three-tenths with Rister falling back two-seconds in third. Conner Iseli ran fourth with Carson Miller in fifth.
The start to the second heat put five drivers running together through the opening lap with Dayton leading Rister, McCulloch, Mike Smith and Iseli. Exiting turn 10 during the first lap, Iseli made contact with the outside curb, thus losing the draft early as the front four powered away. Lap three, Iseli fell off the course and relinquished the fifth spot to Miller. Out front, McCulloch worked his way to the point by lap three, moving Dayton and Rister to his rear bumper with Smith just trailing the lead pack, unable to attack for position. As they completed lap five, Miller pulled off into the pit lane, ending his race, but at the same time Smith spun in turn one resulting in a flat left rear tire to end his race classified in fourth. Meanwhile, McCulloch continued to lead the way with Rister now in the second spot, looking for a way by into the lead. As they came to the white flag, Rister was leading with Dayton and McCulloch behind. Over the crest in turn seven of the final lap, Dayton had the lead as Rister and McCulloch were side by side. Contact was made in turn nine between them, allowing Dayton to cruise to the victory and the Duffy by two seconds. McCulloch came across the line second with Rister in third.
 | Mike Mantel earned five Duffy's over the course of the event, clinching his fifth in TaG Heavy
(Photo: studio52.smugmug.com) |
TaG Heavy
TaG Light winner Mike Mantel showed the way to begin the opening 15-minute heat race, stretching out to a solid one-second advantage over Bristol Gunderson and Ari Feustel through the first lap. Aden Feustel was fourth and Troy Talamantez made up the early top-five in the nine kart field. Mantel continued to post laps under the 2:00 mark to hold his lead through the entire race with Ari Feustel trailing. Gunderson fell off the pace and back into the grasp of Aden Feustel with Adam Kelley recovering by more than 15-seconds behind after getting a very slow start. Kelley posted 2:00-lap times to catch Gunderson and then challenge Feustel for the third position as they came to the white flag. Before they reappeared at turn seven, Kelley was running alone as Feustel had spun in turn six. At the same time, Gunderson spun in turn seven, and ended her race on the sidelines. Mantel would score the win by nine-seconds over Ari Feustel. Kelley was third, able to break the 2:00 barrier as well, with Aden Feustel in fourth and Talamantez in fifth.
Everyone was able to get going as the green flag waved to begin the second heat, except Kelley was slow once again falling to the tail of the field. Coming out of turn eight, Kelley was up to the fourth spot with Mantel and both Feustel’s trailing. Across the stripe, Mantel led by 1.740-seconds over Ari with Kelley in third now and Aden Feustel in fourth. Through lap two, Kelley was into the second spot with Ari on his bumper, but still three-seconds back of Mantel who clocked in a lap of 1:59.767. Mantel continued to drop lap times below the 2:00 mark as Ari and Kelley put on a good show for the second position, flip-flopping the spot a number of times lap after lap. Mantel went on to take the win by four-seconds. Kelley led coming to the final corner with Feustel trailing. Feustel got inside as Kelley went wide on the exit and into the dirt. This allowed Feustel to cruise to the checkered for the second spot with Kelley recovering to finish third. Aden Feustel was fourth with Talamantez and Wright ending their race long battle for fifth in the grass entering the final corner after contact. That gave Mike Love the fifth position for the heat race.
 | Chance Pool stepped up in heat two of Formula 80 Sr. II, helping him clinch the Duffy
(Photo: studio52.smugmug.com) |
Formula 80 Sr. II
Thomas Muth grabbed the holeshot from the second row to begin heat one for Formula 80 Sr. II. Coming around turn seven, on the first lap, Muth was trailed by Chance Pool and Mike Mantel with Ari Feustel trying to stay in the draft. Completing lap two, all four were nose to tail with Mantel now leading Muth with Feustel and Pool in third and fourth. Lap three, Feustel slipped up in turn six, allowing Pool to grab the third spot but was roughly two-seconds behind the top two. Feustel eventually pulled off with a mechanical issue before the white flag. Meanwhile, Pool was able to post some fast laps to catch back up to Muth challenging up to the checkered flag. Mantel, with no transponder on, was able to take the win by a few seconds with Pool attempting a pass at the line but came up short, settling for third behind Muth. Trace Bartley was fourth with Feustel classified fifth. Muth however was removed in tech due to an engine issue, moving everyone up one position in the final heat tally and would come into play in heat two.
Mantel led the way the first time by the stripe to begin heat two with Pool on his bumper. Muth was third, already two-seconds back with Feustel slow off the line but able to work by Bartley for fourth. Pool got a great run down the 2000ft. straight away, moving Mantel back to second on lap two as they pulled away from Feustel now running in third ahead of Muth. They ran that way coming to the white flag with Pool able to stretch out a large gap through turn seven and eight over Mantel. Coming down to the line, Pool went on to the checkered flag and scored the Duffy thanks to finishing second in heat one, earning the tie-breaker with the win in heat two. Mantel settled for the second position, missing out on his sixth Duffy for the event. Feustel went on to finish third with Bartley able to work by Muth for fourth.
Formula 80 Jr. Heavy
Ryan McCollum drove away to the victory in the first heat race for the Formula 80 Jr. Heavy category with Joe Taylor placing second. McCollum led as they rocketed off the line to begin heat two but Taylor led across the stripe the first time bye until regaining the position on lap two. From there, McCollum drove away to a 18-second victory and the overall win with Taylor in second.
 | Coy Dayton dominated the SWRA Stock 125 Lite II category
(Photo: studio52.smugmug.com) |
Formula 125 Ltd Heavy II
With six entered, only four were able to take the green flag with Weston McCulloch pulling out to a huge lead over Richard Booth and Rob Ferstl while Anthony Harwin stalled on the grid, falling back a number of seconds. McCulloch set his kart on cruise-control, pulling out to a 15-second win in the 15-minute race. Ferstl ended up second with Harwin back in third after Booth retired with two laps to go.
McCulloch copied his first heat win to score the win in heat two, earning the Duffy for the category. Harwin was able to break away and closed somewhat in the final laps to McCulloch but was unable to make a move. Donnie Cluck had a solid drive to finish third with Ferstl falling back to fourth.
SWRA Stock 125 Heavy II
Weston McCulloch grabbed the holeshot to begin heat one in the SWRA Stock 125 Heavy II division with Dale McCulloch slotting in behind them. Coy Dayton spilt up the top two heading into turn three, moving into the runner-up position as the top two pulled away by the time they reached turn seven. Exiting turn 10, Dayton emerged with the lead and put McCulloch into the second position to start off the 15-minute race. Dayton set his Tony Kart on cruise control, taking the victory by 29-seconds. The McCulloch’s were close together for most of the race until a mechanical issue struck Dale, slowing him on the seventh lap. That allowed Weston to finish second unchallenged with Dale limping home in third. Rob Miller crossed the line fourth with Connor Iseli a DNS for the opening heat.
Weston once again was quick off the line as the green flag waved for heat two with Dayton slotting in behind. Dale was third until going off at turn three, losing ground to the front two and allowing Miller to advance to third. Just a lap later, Dale was back around Miller, who then pulled off track as they completed lap two. Meanwhile, Dayton jumped by Weston to take over the lead and dropped the hammer to extend his lead to nine-seconds in a blink of an eye. In the end, Dayton took the victory and Duffy by 31-seconds with a fast lap of 1:56.685. Weston held off a late charge from Dale McCulloch as the son/father duo finished second and third.
 | Anthony Honeywell fought off a valiant effort by Michael Sampson to score the win in Yamaha Light Laydown
(Photo: studio52.smugmug.com) |
Yamaha KT100S Light Laydown
The fight for supremacy in the Yamaha Lite Laydown class was waged between Anthony Honeywell and Michael Sampson, as the two pilots battled for the full 45-minute race. Closing out the final 10-minutes, the two drivers exchanged the fast lap of the race to make the gap anywhere between two-eight kart lengths. With two laps remaining, Sampson cut the gap to just two-tenths as he dropped the fast lap of the race. Honeywell struck back coming to the white flag to turn his fast lap of the race while Sampson slide wide through turn five to lose extra ground to the leader. Sampson once again went wide in the same spot, dropping a tire and falling back a few seconds of Honeywell. At the checkered, Honeywell took his fourth Duffy of the event by a six-second margin over Sampson. Mike Sampson had third locked up until retiring with four laps to go, handing the position to Tom Harris with Steve Miller in fourth.
With the event in the books, the SWRA once again should be commended for their effort to put on a solid event that karters could enjoy. The question now is, how to make the event one every road racer should want to attend and compete at. For complete coverage, visit the EKN Event Page and watch for the article in the IKF ‘Karter News’ Grand National issue at http://www.ikfkarting.com |
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