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| September 03, 2011 News |
| EKN Trackside: 2011 Rock Island Grand Prix - Saturday Report |
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For complete coverage and entry list of the event, click over to the Event Page
It was an up and down day at the 17th running of the Rock Island Grand Prix. The world’s largest street race began day one of two in Rock Island, Illinois with two rounds of practice and qualifying scheduled to take place. Weather however changed the schedule for the day with qualifying cut short for a number of categories with the track shut down early for the day.
With dry conditions welcoming the practice rounds, a storm front finally made its way into the Quad Cities area as the first group for qualifying hit the track. The first five classes in the order completed their qualifying runs in wet conditions with a consistent rainfall. Just as group six was to hit the track, the rain turned into a storm, with thunder and lightning hitting the area. Officials put things on hold and assessed the situation, coming to the conclusion to end the day’s activities with unsafe track conditions the major fault with flooded sections and floating barriers. With that, those classes that qualified will continue with their normal schedule on Sunday, while the categories that did not qualify will use their warm-up session to record a timed lap and use to set the starting grids for the main events.
TaG Senior was the first group on track and split up into three groups. Defending race winner Sam Beasley (Arrow) was quickest, even in the wet weather, posting a 40.078 in the first group out to secure the pole position. Former RIGP winner Eric Jones (Arrow) returned to the Rock with a P2 lap. Rock Island rookie Mason Chelootz (Top Kart) was third and four-time King of the Streets winner Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) fourth, all in the same group. Michael Politis (Merlin) slotted into fifth overall during the third group on track.
Connor Lund (Arrow) threw down a killer lap in Clone Heavy under wet conditions (45.519), over seven-tenths clear of defending champion Travis DeVriendt (Coyote). Matt Pewe (Margay) ended the session third with Ken Williams (Coyote) and Scott Hamble (CRG) rounding out the fast-five. The Yamaha SuperCan Heavy fight for the pole position was heated, going down to the wire with four-time class winner Michael Dittmer (Margay) score the P1 spot with a 42.929-lap. Drake Ostrom (Merlin) made a late charge, ending up second. Tim Goettsch (Margay), Tony Jump (Margay) and Joey King (Margay) completed the fast-five.
The Pro Open drivers elected not to take on the wet track and their Prefinal race for Saturday was also cancelled. There schedule for Sunday is under review. IAME Parilla Leopard was the final class to record qualifying laps with Mason Chelootz (Top Kart) scoring his first pole position in his first trip to the event. A 40.355-lap was best as he was quicker than Michael Politis (Merlin), Drake Ostrom (Merlin), Douglas O’Horo (Top Kart), and Jacob Kneuven (Arrow).
eKartingNews.com Trackside Live will continue with updates to the Official Discussion Thread, live audio and timing with the start of TaG Junior Qualifying sometime after 8:15am CDT. Coverage will continue with the Opening Ceremonies at 11:00am CDT (12:00pm EDT) followed by the start of the Main Events at 11:45am CDT (12:45pm EDT). If you are unable to track the EKN Trackside Live coverage of the Rock Island Grand Prix event from your laptop or desktop, eKartingNews.com will be providing similar updates via their Twitter and Facebook pages. Be sure to follow @eKartingNews on Twitter and ‘Like’ Facebook.com/eKartingNews to receive all the updates as they happen. The EKN Trackside Live coverage is supported by Courtney Concepts, Southern Karting Specialties, FirestoneKartInfo.com, and Streeter Super Stands.
The order for the event is as follows:
TAG Senior /. AT&T
Clone Heavy / Schurr Power Racing
Yamaha SuperCan Heavy / CBS4
Pro Open / Lafarge
Leopard / AT&T
TAG Junior / Casey's General Stores
2-cycle Pipe Heavy / Lafarge
King of the Streets / McDonalds's restaurants
Rotax Senior / Casey's General Stores
Clone Medium / Schurr Power Racing
Yamaha Super Can Medium / Casey's Gen. Stores
Shifter Masters / AT&T
TAG Masters / GP USA
Rotax Junior / CBS4 |
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