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| January 26, 2012 |
| Indoor News: Grand Prix New York - Mt. Kisco’s Winter League Round One Report |
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The first round of the winter adult racing season at Mt Kisco’s Grand Prix NY took place this past Tuesday. With over 35 racers registered this season looks to be another great one. Each season usually sees a tweak or two of the rules and this time there are some major changes to the format. This season, instead of a ten minute qualifier each group gets three flying laps to qualify. The first heat is gridded immediately after qualifying and the second heat is gridded based on the best time of each racer in heat one. Gone are bonus points for fast lap and winning pole for heat one is now worth an extra point.
The first group up this evening was GTU (175lb). This group featured a number of regulars but also had a number of newcomers. Gary Megennis started out where he left off last season by grabbing pole – not easy seeing as that the karts were all on cold tires. Behind him by two hundredths was Alex Eickelbeck who dropped back down to this class from GTO and Phil Paraggio who had a great effort to land himself in third. Heat one kicked off and Megennis found himself fighting with both Alex and and Mark Eickelbeck. At the end, Alex was able to hold off Mark and Gary for the win. In heat two, Jonathan Lally made the best of the new rules as he set fastest lap in heat one and used his pole position to motor away from the rest of the field. Behind him, the Eickelbecks were once again mixing things up and this time Mark prevailed over Alex.
The second group up this evening was GTO (205lb) and while there were a couple of drivers missing, the action was still intense. Driving in two classes for the first time, Gary Megennis grabbed pole in this group as well only three hundredths ahead of Michael Cohen. Just a few ticks behind was Andrew Wood in third. At the drop of the green, Megennis did not put a wheel wrong and was able to take the win, just over a second ahead of Cohen. A half second back, Wood was able to hold on for third. In the second heat, Ironman veteran Gene Thyer was able to grab the top spot just ahead of Cohen and Wood. A few laps in Cohen was able to get by Thyer and the top four of Cohen, Thyer, Wood and Tom Caspar were nose to tail. On the final turn, Thyer tried a move on Cohen that didn’t work out which wound up handing the victory to Wood. Megennis found himself in second and Caspar third while Cohen was awarded fourth after a penalty to Thyer.
The last group up this evening was GTBB (245lb) and with a bunch of new racers, this group is larger than it’s ever been. In qualifying, Dave Harmon was able to post a time four hundredths faster than last season’s champion, Cory Rossi, to grab the pole. In third, only three tenths back was veteran Adrian Salageneau. In heat one, Harmon was able to hold of Rossi going into the first hairpin and slowly crept away from Rossi to take his first win of the season. Behind Rossi, Salageneau and Bill Strachan were mixing it up nicely. Salageneau took third, but Strachan beat him in lap time, so at the start of the second heat Strachan was in third, ahead of Salageaneau and Gary Proft. Up front, Harmon had pole again with Rossi second. As in heat one, Harmon was able to pull away with Rossi in second. Behind them, Salageneau was able to get past Strachan to grab the final podium spot.
Next week the racers will be on the tight uptown track. Qualifying will be more important than ever! |
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