|
 |
|
 |
| Features |
| Musser Backs Up International Title Earning Another Trip to Egypt with Sanso, Mauel and Melton |
| |
by Rhonda Mims-Brown
Photos by Bill Kister, except where indicated
International
 | | International class winner, Jordan Musser |
Defending Rotax Max International champion Jordon Musser proved last year’s win wasn’t a fluke with his repeat performance in yesterday’s 25 lap main event of the Rotax Max Grand Nationals held at North Texas Kartway in Denton, Texas. Musser, who started on pole, took the lead at race start in turn one over Costa Rica's, Juan Ignasio Sanso and never looked back. Both drivers pulled away from the 34-kart field early on, stretching to a half second lead by lap six, a 2.5 second lead by lap 21 and a 4.1 second lead over third place finisher, Nathan Mauel of Broken Arrow, Okla., by race end. On the previous day, Musser scored one second and two wins to Sanso's triple heat wins.
Sanso's Nolan-backed CRG was seldom more than a few kart lengths off of Musser and he picked up the pace toward race end with deeper drives into the turns at both straight-away ends. With two laps remaining, the pair moved into lapped traffic who workers were feverishly trying to signal, and Musser managed a squeeze by at an opportune moment to gain a 1.2 second advantage bringing the SSC Racing driver breathing room for the remaining half mile and a big smile to his tuner, Erik Kullenberg, who's coached and worked hard to help give his College Station, Texas protege continued success.
Mauel (KAM Karting Birel) drove most of the race alone and finished 4.157 seconds back of race leaders and up 4.2 seconds on fourth place finisher, Mike Manning from Rosamond, Calif. Manning and Athens, Alabama driver Mack McCormack had a race long dual four fourth with McCormack leading Manning’s JM Racing-Avanti most of the race but overtaking McCormack’s Birel with three laps remaining. Both McCormack and Manning were held up slightly early in the race from the leaders after narrowly avoiding an excursion just prior to the track’s hair pin turn.
All three drivers have earned a trip to Egypt for the Rotax Max World Finals this January in addition to the Junior class winner, Justin Melton. Stellar runs were also made by Fittipaldi-Supreme driver Pedro Jacobsen, a Brazilian driver now living in Miami. Jacobson was strong in the pre-finals but was disqualified for an air box infraction and speedometer in two of the heat races. He stormed the field in the pre-final from his 31st starting position to finish 10th. In the main, he moved up to fourth by lap six but dropped out of the race with mechanical failure on lap 13. Amadeo Marten finished sixth with his CRG from a fourth row outside starting position followed by San Diego’s Flemming Tranberg in seventh.
Tranberg recovered nicely from his second heat race collision with Mauel on Saturday and improved on his 11th place pre-final position to finish and start in ninth. Another local driver, Heinz Meyer, was silently up front consistently in all heat races and finished with third in the pre-final but punted off track on lap four of the main. Frank Gyuru, driving a Birel from Clearwater, Florida, was impressive after locking in a fifth in one heat and 12th overall in his first year effort. BTK’s Chris John deserves an honorable mention as a first year Arrow driver as well. John finished ninth behind Lee McGovern and managed to work his lap times down to a very competitive range, but suffered several crushings on the track in multiple races.
The leaders consistently ran the half-mile circuit by picking up the pace slightly in Sunday’s main. Tranberg locked in the races’ fast lap at 37.549 versus Musser’s at 37.721, Sanso with 37.703 and Mauel with 37.734 as recently reported by official scoring and timing.
Rotax Junior
 | Justin Melton, this year's Cinderella story, took the Junior class win
(Photo by RMB) |
This year’s Cinderella story was in the Junior class where local racer, Justin Melton of Flower Mound, Texas, pulled off a win over Midland, Texas driver David Holland. Melton (Margay Brava) was hampered after a DNF collision in his first heat race on Saturday but came through to take two heat race wins to Holland’s clean sweep of his heats on Saturday. Holland (Birel) continued his win streak in the pre-final with Melton starting the final in fifth. Melton snatched up second on the first lap but had an all too familiar view of Holland’s bumper he’d chased all weekend.
With only a handful of laps remaining, Melton took over the lead in turn one’s sweeper and finished 0.244 seconds ahead of Jonathan Beason’s protégé at race end earning the 16-year-old driver a ticket to Egypt as well. Jonathan Summerton took his Orlando, Fla., based – CRG to a fine third place finish 1.8 seconds behind Holland and 5.5 seconds ahead of fourth and fifth place finishers, Hayden Duerson of Orlando, Fla., and Jonathan Beason of Broken Arrow, Okla..
Duerson successfully fought hard in the late stages of the race to hold off the hard charging CRG entry (Beason) who was the defending class national champion. Beason’ feature race performance was impeccable and exciting for race goers to watch. The 15 year-old driver had a first, second and 15th place finishes in Saturday’s heats and continued his third heat misfortune in the pre-final after a crash that sent him back to 21st place. By lap seven, he moved up 14 spots to seventh and by lap 10, he was glued to Ansel Gaddy’s bumper readying himself for fifth. On the next lap, a driving error in turn one sent him back a few positions but he managed to work back up to re-take Cody Jolly and Gaddy for a very respectable fifth place. IThe race fast lap went to Beason who posted a 37.689 versus Melton's best lap at 37.711 seconds, noting they were as fast as many of the International's best times.
Other impressive drives by Junior drivers during the event included Levi Roberts, Seth Chapa, Ryan Fowler, Summerton and Gaddy. Roberts, who scored a second, fifth and fourth in Saturday’s heat races, broke a chain in the pre-final and started two rows behind Beason in the 24th spot for the main. Roberts (Arrow) finished a respectable eighth and was coached and tuned by Pro-racer, Preston Peebles, II. Gaddy consistently ran up front with a fourth, second and third for Birel in the heats; Summerton had a second, third and 13th; Chapa’s best was a third in heat one and Fowler scored a second in his third heat race for Rysa Racing after flipping on Saturday.
Matt Varsha, son of journalist and television commentator, Bob Varsha, was on hand and was a delight at the track. Despite being the "Jolly Green Giant" of the junior class, he had some good finishes coupled with some on-track excursions he tried his best to avoid. Matt has a positive attitude and funny sense of humor whose talent should be forthcoming as he moves up the competition ladder. Also out of Florida, were the Mossey brother and sister team who didn't have their best on-track adventures, but were a delight to know as competitors. The spirits displayed by all three of these juniors is a positive attribute to the sport of karting.
Masters
 | | Alan Fudge cleans up in Masters |
The over-35 class was dominated by Alan Fudge, who took his KAM Karting Birel to a clean sweep of all three heats, the pre-final and final race win over 32 drivers who made the main. Fudge, who moved to San Francisco from Dallas last March, took the pre-final win 4.2 seconds ahead of Chris Davenport, another KAM Karting driver from Las Vegas, and locked in the feature win 6.5 seconds over Seattle’s Rusty Lingle driving a Trackmagic under the APD Karting banner in his first year of karting. Davenport experienced difficulty where his second place start moved back quickly in the field; but he managed to hang on to a ninth place finish after dueling many laps with the number 11 kart of Jay Mealey. Finishing third through fifth was Tom Gilmore from Seattle (Cycle Barn-CRG), Eric Vaughan of Denver (Arrow) and Luis Huaracaya with a Tony Kart.
The California-based drivers teaming with Full Throttle Karting, had their highs and lows throughout the weekend. Mike Mautner (Birel) and John Borroel (Trulli) scored a sixth and seventh in the main but had their goals higher for the well placing drivers on the west coast series. Mautner had a first, second and DNF (13th) in his heats after suffering engine failure in his third run and continued his bad luck in the pre-final with a broken chain. Borroel, was consistent on Saturday with a sixth, third and second in his heats with many driver’s chasing some of his impressive laps during practice and qualifying. The bad luck omen touched Borroel in the pre-final where his power valve stuck shut, leaving him to start in 26th position. FTK's owner, Andy Seesemann, also fought the bad luck omen all weekend that put him as a multi-time crash victim in addition to a few mechanical difficulties.
Exhibition Classes – RM1 and Mini Max
 | | The RM1 Exhibition winner, Chad Miller from Rockwall, Texas |
The RM1 dominator was another local runner under the KAM Karting banner. Chad Miller swept up in all three heats, pre-final and final race of the nine entry class. The race was red-flagged early on where eRacingoutlet owner, Brian Stiver, was knocked off course in the short section close to the hairpin and sending his kart flipping in the air. Stiver’s helmet grazed the pavement and was taken to the hospital for x-races for hip and head injuries. He returned later that day to the track fortunately suffering only painful bruises followed by stiffness Monday morning. Stiver battled his ill handling kart all weekend fighting with both front and rear wheels that refused to roll freely but managed to run in the upper mid pack, in spite of this and additional bangs he took from other drivers in the heat races. This was certainly an unfortunate exhibition attempt to help promote the class for SSC Racing. Andre Martin, David Simonar, Nick Weil and Craig Duerson rounded out the top five.
The latest Rotax creation, the Mini-Max, had some great racing but many were surprised at the speeds produced for this class set up for drivers aged 8-11. It took a red flag during the pace laps to get the drivers lined up in proper order, but once they got started, a great race ensued. Andres Lopez from Miami with TL Racing took the win by 0.169 seconds over Conner Dimond of San Diego, sponsored by eRacingoutlet.com for the event. On their heels was Court Vernon who finished third 0.111 seconds behind Dimond at race end. Fourth and fifth place finishers were Daniel Formal and Chance Turner who drove 12 and 14 seconds back of the leader pack. The only controversy which surrounded this group was a last minute change to a spec gear ratio that hurt some of the older and heavier kids’ performance capabilities.
 | Andres Lopez celebrates his Mini Max win
(Photo by RMB) |
SSC Racing, promoters for the event, touted it as a successful four days with 162 entries spread among five classes. It was a tough job to manage 15 heat races, three LCQ’s, five pre-finals and finals over a two day period for Race Director, Marshall Martin and Scott Evans handling the technical aspects. The SSC staff did very well handling the event with hats off to their staff, Dave Ridenour, Chuck Yoder, Al Menting and Stacey Martin, Marshall's daughter.
Marshall Martin also gave praise to the local club, North Texas Karters for their participation and support citing they were extremely helpful and competent in their duties throughout the week. For the most part, the schedule was flawless with the exception of a few red-flag incidents in Saturday’s Junior race and again on Sunday in the RM1 and Mini Max class.
Lastly, the Texas weather cooperated where many made last minute rushes prior to leaving for rain tires from forecast predictions. Fortunately, the weather held out where beautiful blue skies and very comfortable temperatures graced all during the entire event.
If a hard luck award was presented, it should probably go to Florida’s Rysa Racing team with three of their four drivers experiencing crashes. Junior, Ryan Fowler, flipped on Saturday followed by International driver, Josh Hurley who also flipped in heat one. Their Masters’ contender, Bill Winchester suffered a practice crash on Thursday as well. One remaining driver, Jesse Singer, did make the International class main, started around 18th and fell out on lap 19 and scoring a 23rd.
Complete results can be found in a separate news story and a Bill Kistler photo gallery is currently posted as well. Additional galleries will be added over the next few days.
|
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
