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| July 17, 2011 News |
| EKN Trackside: SKUSA Pro Tour Mothers® SummerNationals - Sunday Report |
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For complete coverage, click over the EKN Event Page
The fourth round of the Superkarts! USA Pro Tour completed on Sunday as the Mothers® SummerNationals wrapped up at the Grand Junction Motor Speedway in Colorado. An interesting day of weather surrounded the area with rain storms pushing their way around the facility throughout the racing action, allowing for a dry but hot day around the 9/10-mile course. The racing action picked up, as you typically see in the final day of events, producing some great racing. Stamping his name in the championship chase was S1 driver Tom Dyer as he piloted his Aluminos entry to the win and event victory while IndyCar Series driver Martin Plowman scored the TaG Senior win.
S1 Pro Stock Moto
The S1 Pro Stock Moto category was positioned as the headline class for Sunday’s action, last to hit the track for qualifying. On his out lap, Kiwi driver Daniel Bray (GP) took the provisional pole with a 52.796. Rookie Lukas Johnson (GP) struck back the next lap to take over the spot. At the same time, Saturday winner Brad Dunford (GP) moved into second. Lap three was Bray’s for the taking as he retook the pole position and held it through the end of the session. His 52.282-lap was best with Johnson pushed back to second. Tom Dyer (GP) was last to hit the track and moved up to third on his second circuit, moving Dunford down to fourth and Ryon Beachner (Tony Kart) rounding out the fast-five.
Bray and Dyer got the best jump at the start of heat one as Johnson dropped back to third. Dunford was quick to attack and put Johnson into fourth with a move through turn five. Dyer kept the pressure on Bray early and would not stop. By lap three, Dyer was into the lead with a move in turn 10. At halfway mark, Dyer and Bray were out ahead by one-second with Johnson back up to third over Dunford and Schoombee with Beachner right there. The battle for third heated up on lap eight and continued to the checkered flag. Dyer took the win with Bray in second. Johnson came across in third with Schoombee fourth and Dunford fifth.
 | Tom Dyer clinched the 1k check in S1 with a victory on Sunday
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
Once again, Dyer and Bray raced out of the starting blocks to the opening corners. After running side-by-side, Bray was stuck on outside and lost the lead to Dyer. Schoombee was up to third and challenge Bray for the second spot, helping Dyer to gap the field. Then Schoombee came under fire from Johnson, allowing Bray to break free in second. The field ran static for most of the race as Dyer and Bray ran 1-2 once again. Johnson held on for third after scraping with Schoombee and Nic LeDuc (Birel) for the position after Dunford retired on lap three with engine issues.
The feature was filled with drama for nearly everyone, except Dyer. After grabbing the holeshot, Dyer pulled out to a solid lead early and extending the gap lap-by-lap. Before the green flag waved, Dunford was left on the sidelines with his engine unable to start. Behind him, the rest of the field battled for the challenger role with Schoombee up to the position early on. After contact between Bray and Schoombee, LeDuc was brought back into the mix. The group lost its second driver as Johnson retired on the exit of turn two on lap three. Dyer’s lead was just over two-seconds at the halfway mark with Bray continuing to lose ground to a closing LeDuc as Schoombee and Don McGregor (GP) kept on the pressure. On lap 13, Schoombee made a slight error through the esses and it cost him the race, retiring in sixth. Just three laps later, Bray began slowing on track. While he continued on, he would end up finishing fifth with a broken shifter lever. This moved LeDuc up to the second spot and McGregor up to third. Dyer would go on to take the win by over four-seconds ahead of LeDuc - who ended the weekend with the fast lap of the race and a podium finish. The win gave Dyer the weekend victory and the $1,000 check. McGregor ran his best laps of the weekend to finish a solid third with Beachner in fourth. Bray’s results put him second on the weekend for $500 and Schoombee in third for $250.
TaG Senior
After two laps into the TaG Senior qualifying session, Mason Marotta (Tony Kart/Vortex) held the provisional pole as he led a host of karts behind him on-track. In that group behind him, both Travis Lowe (Kosmic/Vortex) and Devin Lindsey (Tony Kart/Vortex) bettered his time on their third circuit. Meanwhile, Brett Felkins (Intrepid/Leopard) and Martin Plowman (Zanardi/Leopard) waited on pit lane for their spot on track. Felkins - point leader and Saturday’s winner - only recorded the 13th best lap in his out lap but up to P2 on his second circuit. Both Lowe and Marotta found even more pace the same lap, moving Felkins to third in the order with six-minutes remaining. It all changed with Plowman hitting the track. Following Felkins, Plowman move to provisional pole on his second circuit and continued to improve his fast lap, as did the drivers below him on the time sheet. When the checkered flew, Plowman’s 54.134-lap was best of the session - four tenths clear of Marotta. Felkins and Lowe filled out the second row for heat two with Lindsey and Will Owen (Arrow/Rotax) making up row three.
 | Martin Plowman came back from a DQ on Saturday to score the win in TaG Senior
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
A four driver break-away kicked off the first heat race for TaG Senior with Marotta, Lowe, Plowman and Felkins. Marotta got the jump on the field when the green waved and led the first few laps as they shuffled for position behind them. Lap three, Plowman and Felkins drove away Marotta for the top two positions as the lead group became five with Lindsey able to close back in. Coming to the halfway signal, Felkins took the lead for the first time as he and Plowman put some distance on Lowe, Marotta and Lindsey. They would run static to the checkered flag with Felkins taking the checkered by just under two-tenths. Plowman, Lowe, Marotta, and Lindsey completed the top-five with Dakota Dickerson (Arrow/Rotax) able to move up from 11th to sixth with some fast laps.
Plowman was slow on the outside line to begin heat two, allowing Felkins to pull out to the lead early on with Lowe and Lindsey sliding ahead of him. Felkins was shuffled back to fourth before the first time by the stripe as Lowe and Lindsey ducked inside, bringing Plowman with them. Plowman gained another spot through lap two, up into second with Felkins into third ahead of Lindsey. Lap three, Plowman drafted by Lowe into turn five and Felkins followed through at turn 10. The front three spaced out as Lindsey came under pressure from Dickerson for the fourth spot with a host of drivers behind them. At the halfway mark, the front three were gapped by about three-tenths each with a battled ensuing behind them for fourth. Dickerson was able to get around Lindsey and pull away to secure fourth. Contact on lap six between Lindsey and Austin King (Zanardi) mixed up the new battle for fifth with Lindsey put on the sidelines and King continuing at the tail of the field. Meanwhile, Felkins cut into Plowman’s gap, passing for the lead at lap seven. On the final lap, Plowman challenge but Felkins held him off to the line after exchanging the position through the final corners. Just 14-thousandths separated them at the line with Lowe in third. Dickerson ran to fourth with TJ Koyen (Merlin) having his best run of the weekend thus far in fifth.
A clean start through the opening corners, Lowe escaped the first half of the first lap with the lead until Felkins took over the spot. Lowe came back to take the lead, only for Felkins to take over through lap two with Plowman coming by as well. Dickerson jumped by Koyen for fourth, brining Jess Peterson (FA Kart) up from 12th. Lap four, Felkins and Plowman broke away from Low and Dickerson by a couple of lengths with a host of others battling it out for fifth. Lap six, contact between Paige Wallin (Intrepid) and Austin King (Zanardi) brought out a red flag situation. The group was restarted after the drivers received their medical attention, starting out with lap seven. Back underway, Felkins and Plowman led the way with Dickerson and Lindsey around Lowe for third and fourth. Lap 10, Plowman moved around Felkins to take over the spot while Dickerson fought off Lindsey for the third spot, that brought a gaggle of karts up to their bumpers. Lap 11, Lindsey finally made the move through turn 10 for third and Johnson came with him. Johnson then moved around at turn nine for third and put the head down opening for a move toward the leaders. Felkins reassumed the lead from Plowman on lap 13, as they enjoyed a three-second advantage over Johnson in third. They would run that way up until the two laps to go when Plowman pulled the trigger. Into turn five, Plowman went to the inside and took over the lead. Felkins put on the pressure quickly, forcing Plowman to run defensive through turn five. Coming out side-by-side, Felkins selected his move wisely to slot back behind through the essses. He made his advance up the hill to turn 10 and then went side-by-side once again. Plowman however escaped with the advantage and held off Felkins as they made their way through the final corners. At the line, Plowman took the win by 0.157-seconds. Johnson completed a solid drive from the tail of the field to finish on the podium in third. Lowe beat out Lindsey for the fourth position. Felkins’ performance at the front all weekend long scored him another $1,000 payday as Travis Lowe and Matt Johnson completed the event weekend podium, earning $500 and $250 respectively.
 | With double wins on the weekend, Cory Milne put himself in the championship chase for S2
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
S2 Semi-Pro Stock Moto
An Intrepid group of drivers began the S2 qualifying session at the top of the charts, led by Champion Racing’s Ryan Kinnear. That was until Arizona’s Nicky Freytag (Intrepid) 53.000 set the next provisional pole as a number of karts still sat on pit lane for the session. Freytag improved his time on his second lap, dropping below the 53-second mark with Augie Lerch (Intrepid) right there. Colorado’s Christian Schureman (GP) broke them up as he moved to P2 provisionally with the top five drivers within a tenth of a second. Zanardi America’s Daniel Langon jumped to the top of the order with three minutes to go as the S5 Pro Tour champion dropped a 52.471 on his out lap. His team manager Arie Luyendyk Jr. (Zanardi) moved up the order with him, into the second spot with local driver Sabre Cook (CRG) in third on her out lap. On her second lap, Cook overtook the second spot briefly before Luyendyk laid it down, stealing the provisional pole. As the checkered waved, Luyendyk’s 52.436-lap gave him the pole position by 35-thousandths over his Zanardi teammate Langon. Cook ended up third quick, with a tenth of Arie’s time. Saturday’s winner Cory Milne (GP) moved up to fourth at the end of the session with Clint Korte (Birel) wrapping up the fast-five.
A crazy start kicked off heat two for S2 with Hathcox stalled as the lights went out and was lucky not to get hit after starting seventh, retiring from the race and losing valuable points. Out front, Milne led the way with Korte, Luyendyk, Freytag and Cushenberry. Lap three, Luyendyk took over the second spot with Freytag coming through a few corners later. This gave Milne a seven-tenths advantage over Arie as the front five drove away from Cook running in sixth over Langon. At the halfway mark, the lead was just four-tenths with Cook, Langon and Christian Schureman (GP) joining the front pack. Cook continued her charge forward, working up to fourth as she put Cushenberry and Korte back one position each. At the checkered flag, Milne drove to the win over Luyendyk with Freytag in third. Cook ended up fourth over Cushenberry as Korte held off Schureman for the sixth spot with Joe Ruch (FA Kart), Langon and Lerch completing the top-10.
Langon grabbed the holeshot to begin heat one with Luyendyk dropping into second with Mine and Corte on their bumper with Cook dropping to sixth behind Patrick Cushenberry (CRG). Turn 10, Luyendyk moved to the lead and put Langon back under the pressure of Milne as they completed the second lap. Through turn five, both Milne and Korte worked by Langon while Cook moved back to fifth around Cushenberry. Luyendyk tried to pull away but Milne was there. Lap four at turn five, Milne took over the top spot with Korte up to third over Langon and now Cushenberry. At the halfway mark, Milne and Luyendyk had some distance on the group behind them until Langon moved back into the third spot and closed the gap quickly. With Langon pressuring Arie, Milne was able to break away by about half a second. Lap nine, Langon made the move on his boss in turn 10 for the second position. At the checkered, Milne took the win over Langon and Luyendyk. Korte held on for fourth with Freytag up to fifth from eight.
A clean start for the S2 main event, with the exception of Daniel Langon who stalled on the grid and rejoined well behind. Milne led the way with Freytag, Luyendyk, Cushenberry and Korte making up the front five with about 10-karts making up the lead group. By lap four, the top three of Milne, Luyendyk and Freytag pulled out to about a second lead over the fight for fourth, led by Schureman at that point. Hathcox, who started 24th, was up to 15th but retired on lap five retired with an engine issue. At the halfway mark, Milne’s lead was just six-tenths as the gap to Luyendyk bounced around, but the top two pulled some distance on Freytag in third, who was felling the pressure from Schureman. With four laps to go, Luyendyk kept the pressure on Milne lap after lap with Schureman up to third with Freytag battling Cushenberry in fourth. On the final lap as Luyendyk pressured Milne, he fell off pace. Losing positions on the exit each closing corner, Luyendyk was able to continue on. Out front, Milne cruised to his second win of the weekend. Schureman and Freytag worked around to end up second and third with Cushenberry into fourth. Luyendyk was able to cross fifth but was completely out of gas when he crossed the scales. That put him underweight and removed him from the results, moving Kinnear up to fifth.
 | Jimmy McNeil earned his fourth straight S4 Pro Tour victory
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
S4 Master Stock Moto
Roy Montgomery (CRG) started out the S4 qualifying session to begin the qualifying session. Three-time winner Jimmy McNeil (CRG) moved to second in the order with his out lap with Lance Lane’s (DR Kart) in third on his first circuit. On his second lap, McNeil jumped up to the pole position with a 53.264. They remained that way until Zanardi driver Nick Firestone posted his second lap of the session, able to move up to third in the order to drop Lane down to fourth. While he tried, Firestone was unable to improve in the final laps of the session, ending up third behind McNeil and Montgomery. Lane finished in fourth with Robert Marks (CRG) into the fast-five.
McNeil began the first heat with the holeshot over Montgomery as they broke away from the battle for third quickly. Lane went into third with Firestone and Marks the early top-five. Firestone was able to work by Lane through the early portion of lap three. Lane lost more positions as a missed shift dropped him down to sixth with Marks and Mike McDonough (GP) working by. At the halfway point, McNeil held the lead by nine-tenths over Montgomery with Firestone two-seconds back. McNeil would turn the fast lap of the race on the final circuit, extending his lead to 1.3-seconds over Montgomery. Firestone came under fire from Marks in the final laps but held on to third with Scott Rister (Tony Kart) able to win the battle for fifth over McDonough and Lane.
McNeil took another holeshot as heat two began with Montgomery slid behind in second place. Marks was third through the first lap with Rister and Lane into fourth and fifth as Firestone dropped to sixth. Firestone lost another position on lap two, as Carlos Ferdez (Intrepid) worked by for the sixth spot. At the same time, the top two pulled away with Rister moving to third around Marks. Montgomery put in his best run of the weekend, keeping in the grasp of McNeil who drove to another heat win. Rister ran third ahead of Marks with Firestone coming back to place fifth over Lane as Ferdez won a great final lap battle for the seventh spot.
Going six for six on the weekend, McNeil drove away from the grid to begin their main event with Montgomery, Marks and Rister making up the lead group, all within a one-second margin with Ferdez holding onto fifth. At lap four, an incident with Steve Perdue and Todd Scholta resulted in a red flag situation. After bunching up the field for the single-file restart, Montgomery had his chance for the lead at turn nine but McNeil kept him at bay. Behind them, Marks ran third while Ferdez and Mathewson took advantage of the restart to move into the top-five. At the halfway mark, McNeil pulled out to about a one-second advantage with Montgomery and Marks trying to hang on. Ferdez continued to run fourth with Rister now up into fifth, bringing Firestone with him. Rister continued charging forward, moving around Ferdez as they completed lap 12. Lap 16, Marks was able to get the best of Montgomery, moving around for the second spot with Firestone now ahead Ferdez. The white flag waved with McNeil well out in front with battles for second and fourth brewing up behind him. McNeil took the checkered by over two-seconds with Marks able to hold off Montgomery. Rister crossed the line in fourth with Firestone in fifth.
 | David Harwin earned his first national victory with a dominant performance in TaG Master
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
TaG Master
The TaG Master group began the final day of action with their 12-minute qualifying session with Larry Fraser (GP/Motori 7) taking the provisional pole position through the first two laps. Saturday runner-up David Harwin (Tony Kart/Motori 7) took over the position through the third lap, besting Fraser’s time by just over two-tenths. Point leader Brian McHattie (Kosmic/Vortex) sat outside the top five until his third lap, jumping up to third and improving his time on the fourth circuit, still remaining in that position. After five laps, most of the field pulled off track, with Harwin coming through for the pole position and 10 bonus points for the championship. Fraser ended up second with McHattie third. Ethan Wilson (Tony Kart/Motori 7) ended the session fourth with Scott Falcone (Arrow/Rotax) up to fifth on his fifth lap.
After two false starts, the second row was advanced to the front row with McHattie out to the lead from the new pole position with Harwin up into second with Billy Cleavelin (CRG/Motori 7), Jim Russell Jr. (Parolin/Leopard) and Chuck Gafrarar (Parolin/Leopard) up into the top five as Fraser, Wilson and Falcone were shuffled back. Completing lap two, Russell advanced to third as the front five drivers broke away from the rest of the pack. Harwin kept his Tony Kart on the bumper of McHattie early on as the rest of the top three spaced out behind them. At the halfway mark, the top five all ran within one-second of each other with Russell leading the charge to make it a packed five-kart lead pack. Lap six, Gafrarar was able to work around Cleavelin for fourth as McHattie and Harwin posted their fastest laps of the race. Lap seven, Harwin moved into the lead with a clean pass in turn 10. This brought back Russell, Gafrarar and Cleavelin back into the mix. They ran that way, taking the white flag with about a kart length between each driver. No change for position took place and Harwin took the win over McHattie, Russell, Gafrarar and Cleavelin completing the top-five with Fraser, Wilson and Brian Robson (Arrow/Rotax) running the fast laps of the race in the closing laps.
Harwin got a great jump as the green flag waved to begin heat two. Russell challenged McHattie for the second spot, giving Harwin even more space through the opening corners. McHattie held on with Russell slotting back to third with Cleavelin and Wilson making up the top-five with Gafrarar retiring on the opening lap with a lost gas cap. After two laps, Harwin’s lead was one-second with Wilson on the charge as he worked by both Cleavelin and Russell to move to third. At the same time, Cleavelin came under pressure from Falcone for the fifth spot. Russell locked in on the bumper of Wilson as they began running down McHattie, who stayed about a second back of Harwin at the halfway point. On lap eight, Cleavelin came out of turn three with no power, ending his race with a broken spark plug boot. That gave fifth to Fraser as the front four ran static to the checkered flag.
The start of the 20-lap main event saw Harwin getting through with the lead under no challenge as McHattie was again shuffled back with Russell, Fraser, Falcone able to get around for position. Harwin pulled out to a 1.5-second lead in the opening lap with Russell under fire from Fraser. By the completion of lap two, Fraser was around for the position as Harwin continued to stretch out his lead. Wilson was up to fourth with some crazy action behind him on lap four gave him room to pull away and McHattie moved into the position. By lap five, the field strung itself out back to ninth with Robson up to sixth, Gafrarar into seventh from 17th and Falcone back to eighth. Lap eight, Gafrarar and Robson were in a battle for position when the two made contact. Robson’s race ended short while Gafrarar rejoined outside the top-10. The front two drivers held a solid advantage while Russell came under fire from McHattie and Wilson. McHattie worked by for position at the halfway point, leaving Wilson to battle Russell for fourth. Completing lap 11, Wilson was around Russell for the position. Out front, Harwin continued to hold a strong lead, three-seconds after 13 laps with Fraser in second and losing ground to McHattie. Wilson held fourth but had Russell on his bumper to keep him honest. With four laps to go, McHattie closed up on the bumper of Fraser with solid laps - similar to Harwin’s pace. Lap 17 in turn five, McHattie jumped around Fraser for the position. Lap 18 provided some more drama as Bell was chasing down Cleavelin and went off at turn two, out of the race. Then Cleavelin retired once again at turn nine with an electrical issue. On the final lap, the battles were for second and fourth. At the checkered, Harwin scored the victory by nearly five seconds with McHattie holding on for second. Fraser crossed third while Wilson held off a late charge from Russell for the fifth spot. Gafrarar ended up sixth ahead of Falcone.
 | Ryan Rudolph impressed the paddock with a great run to the victory in S5 Junior
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
S5 Junior Stock Moto
Coming back from the tough break losing out on the feature win Saturday, Austin Schimmel struck back to score the pole position to begin round four. His 53.774-lap was best in the session as he edged out Saturday’s top qualifier Ryan Rudolph (GP) by just two-hundredths. Micah Hendricks (Intrepid) ended the session third with Miguel Lopez (GP) in fourth. Saturday winner Alex Tartaglia (Intrepid) ended the session back in fifth with some work needed in the heat races to get up to the front.
A great eight-lap run began the heat races for S5 with the top five running nose to tail through it entirety. While Schimmel grabbed the holeshot and led for the entire run, the man on the move was Tartaglia. Running fifth through the first half of the race, his Intrepid came during the second half as he picked off positions lap by lap until he assumed the second position. A late charge at Schimmel would not be enough as he came up seven-tenths short. Hendricks ran third with Rudolph and Lopez fourth and fifth.
Tartaglia grabbed the holeshot to begin heat two but Schimmel struck back to take over the lead. As the front five ran together, Lopez retired on lap two as he lost his front tire. On lap four, Schimmel spun going through the esses, handing the lead to Tartaglia. From there, the Intrepid driver took the win with Hendricks holding off Rudolph for the second spot with Andrew Evans (Ultra Kart) the last kart on the lead lap.
From the third spot on grid, Rudolph got a great jump on the field to begin the feature race and led the opening lap over Tartaglia and Schimmel. Rudolph put down a solid pace early on that kept his challengers at bay. Lap after lap, Rudolph remained consistent and it paid off in the end as he led wire-to-wire for his first S5 Pro Tour victory. Tartaglia kept it close, finishing second to end a solid weekend in Colorado with Schimmel dropping back three-seconds in third. Hendricks and Lopez capped off the top-five.
 | Austin Dement put himself back in the TaG Junior title hunt with a win Sunday
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
TaG Junior
Parker Thompson (Tony Kart) began the TaG Junior qualifying session with the provisional pole on the first two laps of the session. He was dropped by Saturday winner Jake Craig (CRG) but Thompson struck back the following lap. The two exchanged the spot until Thompson secured it on his fourth circuit with a 55.133-lap. Craig settled for second, just 0.017-seconds off his time. Blaine Rocha (Wild Kart) posted the third quickest lap with Austin Dement (DR Kart) and Jim McKinney (Zanardi) capping off the fast-five of the session.
From the pole position, Thompson started the opening heat race out in the lead with Craig slotting in behind him. Rocha was spun around at turn two and thankfully, everyone avoided him but hurt his race opportunity. Dement moved up to third with Sonny Cervelli (Top Kart) up to fourth from 11th with Jordan Redlin (Intrepid) into fifth. The top three broke away but Thompson and Craig extended their lead over Dement through the halfway point. Craig kept the pressure on until the white flag when he lost space to Thompson through turns one and two. Thompson took the win by half a second over Craig. Dement ran third with Cervelli ahead of Redlin with the rest of the field battling it out behind them with some great racing.
The field took the green flag with three drivers breaking away. Craig, Cervelli and Thompson made up the lead pack and were more than two seconds out ahead of Dement and Jesse Woodyard (Intrepid) leading the second group at the halfway point. Each of the top three took their turn at the point before Craig established himself as the leader. Mason Daughters (FA Kart) however was the driver on the move. After starting seventh, he was up into fourth by lap five with some great laps. With Daughters at the front of the second pack, they began closing in on third place Cervelli who lost the lead duo. The final lap was a wild one that came to the final corners. Thompson and Craig went side by side through turn 10. Contact was made and they continued on into turn 11. Cervelli came up to push on the bumper of Craig, and that pushed him into Thompson. The result sent both off the track and gave the win to Cervelli. Daughters would cross the line second with Dement, Woodyard and Redlin completing the top-five. Thompson would finish sixth but penalized for contact during the race and Craig finished 15th.
A four kart break away began the 16-lap main event for TaG Junior with Cervelli, Dement, Daughters and Woodyard making up the group. Thompson and Craig were coming up from the back, up to eighth and sixth by the end of lap two. Lap three, Cervelli was dropped off the group with Dement now leading over Daughters and Woodyard. Daughters took his turn at the point on lap four, making his way around Dement for the spot. Lap five, while making his way up for position, Craig made contact and was spun around in turn five to drop him back to 15th. Daughters and Dement worked together to drop Woodyard off the lead group as Thompson was now up to fourth and making ground on the third place driver with Cervelli now back in fifth. Lap eight, Thompson took away the third position from Woodyard in turn five. At the halfway point, Thompson continued his charge from the tail of the field, closing in to within 1.5-seconds. Lap 10, Thompson posted the fast lap of the race to cut the advantage to just 1.2-seconds. Dement stayed glued to Daughters’ rear bumper but Thompson continued to close in, dropping about two-tenths a lap. With three laps to go, Thompson was right there with the leaders and now able to map out his plan. Thompson tried to work by Dement on lap 15 in turn 10, but lost some ground. Able to make it back up, Thompson was right there but Dement had other plans. Getting alongside Daughters through turn five, Dement over took the lead as they entered the esses. Daughters slotted in behind and that slowed up Thompson’s process. Dement was able to escape and hold on to score his second victory of the season. Daughters and Thompson went side by side through the final corners, but Daughters held him off at the line for the second step of the podium while Thompson settled for third. Cervelli held on to end up fourth with Maxx Marian (Zanardi) advancing up to fifth.
 | Colton Herta jumped back to his winning ways in TaG Cadet on Sunday
(Photo: On Track Promotions - otp.ca) |
TaG Cadet
Returning from his mechanical issue in Saturday’s final, Colton Herta (BA1) led the way in qualifying with 1:00.755-lap to top the session. Noah Grey (FA Kart) posted the second quickest lap of the session. Flinn Lazier (Tony Kart), Davey Manthei Jr. (Wild Kart) and Christian Brooks (Tony Kart) completed the fast-five.
Herta grabbed the jump to begin heat one and never looked back. The defending class champion took the win by eight-seconds over a great battle for the second spot. Manthei came away with the spot over Brooks with Lazier winning the battle over Derek Scott Jr. (Birel).
The second heat was more exciting up front as four drivers were able to stay within site of Herta this time around. Manthei and Lazier worked together to keep within a second of Herta over the course of the race and at times, ran quicker laps than the leader. Brooks and Scott ran nose-to-tail behind them until the final lap. They four-some shuffled around on the final lap but remained in the same positions under the checkered flag.
Herta continued on as he did all day, putting in another stellar performance to earn the sweep on the day and his third feature win of the season. The field kept it close until they began shuffling for the runner-up position. Donaldson joined Manthei and Lazier up front and at one time sat in second. A wheel off on the exit of lap two help kick the chain off his driveline ended his race in the dirt. Herta meanwhile extended his lead lap after lap, taking the checkered flag by eight-seconds. Manthei won second over Lazier while Grey recovered from a poor second heat to end up fourth in the feature ahead of Scott. |
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