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| September 04, 2011 News |
| EKN Trackside: 2011 Rock Island Grand Prix - Sunday Report |
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For complete coverage and entry list of the event, click over to the Event Page
 | Sam Beasley defended his TaG Senior win and won the 5k in cash
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
The 17th running of the Rock Island Grand Prix will go down in the books as another historic event. Battling through tough weather conditions on Saturday, the Rock Island, Illinois city streets were covered with bright sunshine and clear skies for a perfect day for racing. Fourteen categories took to the track, half qualifying during their warm-up sessions in the morning, and setting up for the spectacular main events in the afternoon. The interesting part about the feature races was how much the tech barn was involved in deciding the outcome. In the headline categories, three were decided on the track with one during inspection. Sam Beasley started out the day, claiming his second straight TaG Senior title and $5,000. After years of trying, Derek Crockett finally conquered the Rock with his first King of the Streets title. Mike Giessen scored the debut win in the Pro Open category with Caleb Loniewski advancing to first place in Yamaha SuperCan Medium for $4,000.
TaG Senior
Qualifying conditions in the wet weather Saturday set the lineup for the TaG Senior division, taking the role of the opening class for the first time in the event’s history with 31 drivers on the grid for the annual autograph session. When the green flag waved, Beasley (Arrow) led the field to the green flag with veteran Eric Jones (Arrow) on his outside. After some shuffling in the first few laps with Mason Chelootz (Top Kart) in the mix, Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) took over the top spot and stretched out to a one-second gap. As a group battled for second, Chelootz would retire with a broken axle. Jones eventually cleared everyone in the second spot with Beasley into third. Jones ran down Wiegand with some consistent laps and took over the lead on lap 14. The following lap, the top two ran into traffic, allowing Beasley to close up. On lap 16, Beasley went from third to first. From there, Beasley was able to work around the remaining traffic and score the victory, earning him a $5,000 pay check. Jones and Wiegand continued their battle for second until the final lap when Jones ran into a lap kart, taking himself out of the race. Wiegand took second and put Bill McLaughlin Jr. (Birel) up to third. John Dixon (FA Kart) and Michael Politis (Merlin) completed the top-five.
 | Gary Lawson drove from 17th to 1st in Yamaha SuperCan Heavy for his 21st RIGP victory
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
Clone Heavy
The Clone Heavy category was plagued with red flags. Two separate incidents brought out two red flags, cutting the race short to just eight laps down from the originally scheduled 15. Connor Lund (Arrow) scored the pole position and was leading the race after the second red flag. With the race called, Lund was the provisional winner until he was removed in tech for an engine related issue, along with Ken Williams (Coyote) who finished third. That handed Leo Carr (Margay) the Rock trophy for first place and moved Andrew Pennington (Rocket) to second. Brian Carter (Tony Kart) was third with Mark Luna (Coyote) and Brad Carter (PCR) rounding out the top-five.
Yamaha SuperCan Heavy
From the LeMans starting grid, the Yamaha SuperCan Heavy group took to the track with 19 drivers. Drake Ostrom (Merlin) and Michael Dittmer (Margay) began the race out front and were later caught by Tim Goettsch (Margay). Dittmer was able to put a gap on the other two before the caught back up. Meanwhile, eyes were on Gary Lawson (Arrow) - who started dead last and was making his way through the field. A chance at the win went away for Ostrom on lap 11, and crazy enough, Lawson was now running third and catching the front two. By lap 13, Lawson got some help from a lap kart and took the second position from Dittmer with Goettsch in the lead. By the white flag, Lawson was up to Goettsch. As they came around for the checkered, Lawson was the leader and scored his 21st victory. Goettsch had to settle for second with Dittmer in third. Tony Jump (Margay) ran to fourth over Joey King (Margay) in fifth.
 | Mike Giessen powered around the Rock Island circuit for the Pro Open win
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
Pro Open
New to the event is Pro Open category, where everything is open. Engine rules, fuel rules and tire rules. Mike Giessen (Margay) entered as the favorite but was challenge all race long by Bill McLaughlin Jr. (Birel). The two swapped fast lap times through out the run until lap 14 when McLaughlin went too wide and made contact with the barrier, putting him out of the race. From there Giessen drove away to the win over Pete Vetter (Margay), Scott Truempi (Sodi) and Travis Porter.
IAME Parilla Leopard
The TaG racing at the Rock Island GP always produces some dramatic events, and the Parilla Leopard category did just that. Mason Chelootz (Top Kart) kept the top spot after earning the pole position in qualifying with Michael Politis (Merlin) slotted in behind from outside row one. Drake Ostrom (Merlin) and Jacob Kneuven (Arrow) joined the fight up front for a four-kart lead group. After some jostling for position, the group ran into a lap kart, bunching up the field as they completed lap 10. The group scattered on the front stretch with Kneuven taking advantage and moving up to the lead. Contact up front dropped Chelootz out of the group and out of the race on lap 10. As they shuffled, Cory Cacciavillani (Kosmic) and Caleb Loniewski (Haase) joined the fight up front. Out front, Kneuven continued to lead until lap 15 when he made contact with a barrier in turn five, taking himself out of the race and moved Colton Aldridge (Tony Kart) into the lead. The top four stayed together on the final lap but Aldridge was able to keep everyone back to cross the line first. Tech however played the final role in the results as Aldridge’s engine was WKA spec and not TAG USA. This handed the win to Politis with Loniewski and Ostrom behind him. Cacciavillani and Alex Nowysz (Margay) rounded out the final top-five.
TaG Junior
Indiana driver Chase Jones (Birel) turned his pole position in qualifying into a race win in TaG Junior. After dropping back at the start, Jones worked his way back to the point and drove away to a three-second victory. Behind him was a great battle for second with Gavin Reichelt (Birel) taking the position over Ryan Ridler (Top Kart). Armin Cavkusic (Birel) finished fourth with Clark Toppe (Kosmic) in fifth.
 | Derek Crockett carried the RIGP checkered flag for the first time in the King of the Streets category
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
2-Cycle Pipe Heavy
Pole-sitter Tony Jump (Margay) was slow coming on the straight as they waved the green flag to begin the Pipe Heavy feature. He would drop to fourth as they entered turn one but back to third with Drake Ostrom (Merlin) at the point over Tim Goettsch (Margay). By lap three, Goettsch was into the lead with Jump coming through for second the next time by. Jump’s race however was cut short as contact with a barrier on the exit of turn one bent his axle. As the laps clicked off, Goettsch drove away to provisional win until he came in to the scales underweight. That gave Brandon Cather (Margay) the victory as he edged out Ostrom at the checkered flag. Dustin Blomme (Margay) finished third with Garrett Nimmick (Margay) and Pete Vetter (Margay) rounding out the top-five.
King of the Streets
With a new track record for the Stock Moto package, Derek Crockett (GP) filled the P1 grid position for the first time in the King of the Streets headline class. Texan Jake French (Birel) filled the outside spot with three-time KoS winner Kyle Wiegand (Top Kart) and Colton Aldridge (Tony Kart) in row two. Wiegand grabbed the holeshot as the flag waved with Crockett slotting into second ahead of Aldridge and 2009 winner Jordan Musser (Birel) as French dropped to fifth to open up the 20-lap event. Wiegand was strong on cold tires, pulling out to a solid lead as Crockett looked to by struggling with a loose setup. Lap after lap, Crockett was losing ground to Wiegand but still holding back Aldridge with a solid fight taking place for the fourth position. The race appeared to be settled for the top three until lap 15. Wiegand was making his way through lap traffic when he got too impatient, making a wrong move and lost it in the marbles, ending his chance for a fourth Kos title. This put Crockett into the lead as he continued to feel pressure from Aldridge. Lap traffic near the end helped French close in on the top two. This put the pressure now on Aldridge and allowed Crockett to concentrate on the ground in front of him. At the end, it was Crockett scoring his first KoS crown after a number of attempts. Aldridge scored a solid runner-up finish with French placing on the podium a second straight year. Musser placed fourth in only his second weekend in a kart for the season with Nick Lucido (Intrepid) in fifth.
 | Travis DeVriendt was awarded the Clone Medium win after tech inspection took place
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
Rotax Senior
The Rotax Senior category was all Sam Beasley (Arrow). Beasley checked out from the P2 starting position with his team manager Eric Jones (Arrow) edging him out for the pole position. When the green flag waved, Beasley was off in the distance as Jones fought Senior rookie Alec Udell (Kosmic). After some intense battling, Udell made slight error that pushed him back to seventh on lap nine. This allowed Jones to cruise to second as Beasley drove off to the victory, six-seconds ahead. Udell fought back and was up to third by lap 11. He held on to the end to finish on the podium with Adam Taylor (Birel) and Andrew Coulton (Arrow) completing the top-five.
Clone Medium
A field of 28 drivers took on the Rock for the second year with defending champ Travis DeVriendt (Coyote) on the pole position. He got off the line clean and was joined out front with Scott Hamble (CRG) and Cal Stewart (Coyote). It would become four at one point with Matt Pewe (Margay) into the mix but dropped to three drivers as Hamble retired on lap four. By lap six, Pewe found his way to the point. Behind them, Connor Lund (Arrow) was making his way through the field after starting last. At the halfway point, he was up to fifth and trailing the leaders. Lap after lap, he picked off a driver until he took over the lead on lap 14. From there, drove on to the checkered flag until the win was taken away due to issues in tech. This put DeVriendt on top of the podium for the second straight year with Pewe, Stewart, Ken Williams (Coyote) and Andrew Pennington (Rocket) rounding out the top-five.
Yamaha SuperCan Medium
The feature race for the Yamaha SuperCan Medium class played out in an unusual fashion. The race was red-flagged on lap two after the top two winners of the category in RIGP history were involved in a wreck in turn five. Defending champ Gary Lawson (Arrow) hit a bump just right and sent his kart into the barriers, leaving Tim Goettsch (Margay) with no where to go. Thankfully, both walked away. Once restarted, it was Sam Beasley out front with Michael Dittmer (Margay), Drake Ostrom (Merlin), Cale Wyse (Merlin) and Tony Jump (Margay). The lead pack continued to run nose-to-tail with Jump advancing up to second and pushing Beasley around the course. As the race progressed, Caleb Loniewski (Haase) worked his way into the lead pack. By lap 12, Beasley and Jump were out a few lengths on the rest of the group, until Jump made contact with a barrier once again and cost him a chance at the win. This put Beasley alone out front and cruised to the checkered flag. Loniewski knifed his way into second over Ostrom. Later on in tech, a protest was filed against Beasley for running different compound tires on his kart and was removed from the results. This put Loniewski on the top step of the podium and $4,000 in his pocket for his efforts. Ostrom was classified second with Wyse third, Dittmer fourth and Bill McLaughlin Jr. (Birel) fifth.
 | Kurt Mathewson earned his second Masters Shifter title in the last three years
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
Masters Shifters
From the pole position, 2009 class winner Kurt Mathewson (Birel) grabbed the holeshot but it was Lance Lane pushing his personally-built LRM kart to the front by the second lap. The front two drove away from the field with Carlos Lopes (Tony Kart) and Chris Enderlein (Kosmic) in third and fourth. They would make contact in turn two on lap four, putting Lopes on the sideline while Enderlein restarted at the tail of the field. Lane continued to show the way until the halfway point. Making contact with a barrier and hay bale on the exit of turn one, his right front tire ripped off and ended his chance once again to score a win at Rock Island. This put Mathewson to the front of the field with Wilcock up to second. Though he closed the gap on the final laps, Wilcock could not get close enough as Mathewson scored his second RIGP victory. Behind them, race director Terry Riggins (CRG) was fighting off a group of drivers for third. Enderlein eventually caught the group and made his way up to Riggins. After a couple swaps for the position, Enderlein secured the spot with Riggins placing his highest result ever in fourth. Darrick Lang (Monza) completed the top-five.
Rotax Junior
The Rotax Junior race came down to two drivers, Logan Bearden (Haase) and Gavin Reichelt (Birel). The two did not take it easy on each other, swapping the position a number of times during the 15-lap event. On the final lap, Reichelt got the bad end of the stick and spun, allowing Bearden to cruise to the checkered flag for the win. Clark Toppe (Kosmic) crossed the line second with Reichelt recovering to finish third ahead of Armin Cavkusic (Birel) and Nick Landi (Tony Kart).
 | Logan Bearden scored the Rotax Junior victory
(Photo: Joe Brittin - Go Racing Magazine) |
TaG Masters
Ending the event with a wild main event, 27 TaG Masters drivers took to the track led by Scott Hamble (CRG) and Brian McHattie (Kosmic). Following a red flag after lap one involving Scott Falcone (Arrow) and Glen Critchett (CRG), the race resumed with another former winner - John Dixon (FA Kart) joining the duo out front. Dixon took the lead just after the restart but Hamble retook the position at the halfway mark. Dixon came back to the point as they began lap 17, setting up for what happened on lap 18. As they entered turn one, McHattie pushed inside of Hamble for the second spot but could not complete the move. Contact was made and both went into the barriers. This allowed Dixon to cruise to his second class win. Alex Angel (GP) edged out Eric Chappell (Birel) for third with Dean Leifheit (Corsa) and DJ Ortiz (Tony Kart) rounding out the top-five.
One thing can be said, the crew at the Rock Island Grand Prix is among the best in the business. From all the behind the scenes work that goes on, to the track crew that build and tear down the circuit, and all the two to four people crew at each corner keeping the drivers safe. By far, the event is one of the best to be at, whether you are a spectator or racing through the city streets. With 270 total entries, the event saw an increase in the total number of entries from the last two years. There is no doubt when Tuesday comes, all those involved will begin planning the 2012 edition of the Rock Island Grand Prix. |
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