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| August 10, 2012 News |
| Race Report: IKF Region 7 Sprint Championship - Santa Maria |
| Article by: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine |
 | Willy Axton
(Photo: Joey Barros) |
The 2012 IKF Region 7 Sprint Championship started their rebirth season back in March at Adams Motorsports Park. From there they continued the journey to Willow Springs Kart Track and on to the Apex Karting Center. Round number four of the series took drivers and teams to beautiful Santa Maria, California. The typically cooler temperatures from this seaside-ish city make the ideal location to hold a race in the hot summer months. Normally that combined with tri-tip steak and being in wine country is enough to make for a vey enjoyable weekend. For what seems like forever, the Santa Maria Karting Association has fought to stay open. The track is located at the airport and issues with FAA and others have forced a closure several times. Most had given up hope that we would ever race with the Santa Maria Kart Track again but somehow the racing gods showed mercy and graced us with another event. The club always does a good job and the track layout has evolved over the years into one of the best of the series. Participation remained stable after having a short series break for the IKF Grand Nationals.
Junior 2 PRD Controlled qualifying kicked things off with Matt Million landing the pole with a 50.558. Willy Axton and Skylar Estrada were quick in practice and they slotted in for P2 and P3. Axton stepped up his effort and grabbed both heat race wins easily over Chance Skaufel and Estrada. Axton got a great start to begin his 16-lap final with Estrada, Hannah Grisham, and Million in tow. Axton had this race in the bag from the drop of the green. Behind Axton, Grisham moved up into second place as Million started a rearward progression. Nick Ramirez too was able to climb up the running order slotting into third place by the end of the contest. Axton solidly won by three seconds over Grisham and eight seconds on Ramirez to continue his winning ways in the Junior PRD class.
Travis Lowe qualified on the pole in TaG Sr. with a time of 50.058. Mike Herda qualified second and Jenson Talmo, returning to karting action after a few years off started in third. Lowe was once again the man, winning both heat races without too much of a problem. The final came down to a challenge between the #63x of Lowe and the #63 of Talmo. Lowe was able to put a little distance between him and his competitors by halfway and just cruised his ride home for another Region 7 TAG win. Talmo had a respectable effort in his comeback, finishing in second ahead of Herda.
Hunter Corbitt set the pace in Junior 1 PRD qualifying, besting Jake Drew and Myles Farhan with his time of 52.226. The first two positions remained the same in the heat races with Corbitt seeing the checkered flag first. Ryan Schartau elevated himself into third for both heats after Farhan scored a DNS in heat one. The final saw Corbitt jump out to a quick lead and never look back, winning with ease over a talented field of drivers. Drew and Schartau traded positions a few times in the early laps before Anthony Sawyer jumped in the mix and took over second place. By halfway, the running order didn’t change and Corbitt scored an impressive win over Sawyer and Schartau.
 | Travis Lowe
(Photo: Joey Barros) |
KPV 2 was very close in qualifying as ‘Quick’ Nick Ramirez landed the pole. The top five were less than a second back with Colton Herta P2, Mathew England P3, Christian Brooks P4, and Josh Kurts in fifth. Ramirez won heat #1 over Herta and Kurtz, with a similar result in heat #2 over Herta and England. The main event was very exciting behind Ramirez, who scored a well-earned flag to flag win. With an aggressive start, Herta fell in line behind Ramirez. Kurtz, England, Justice Lepe, and Brooks all fell in line, but Brooks was the guy on the gas. Four laps into the contest and Brooks was already challenging Herta for second place. Four more laps later and he was in second, giving chase to Ramirez. Turning the fastest laps of the race was not enough for Brooks to unseat Ramirez, who gave a quick look coming onto the front straight and raised his hands in victory. The pair of Ramirez and Brooks hammered the remaining field with Kurtz leading the pack in third place some nine seconds back.
Tanner Hudspeth smoked the field in Kid Kart qualifying, nearly two seconds quicker then Kaden Vermillion and Colin Queen. The top three qualifiers DNF’d in heat # 1, but Carson Mallett picked up the slack for the win. Heat #2 was a lot closer as Rylee Martinez led Hudspeth and Mallett to the finish. The opening circuits were a thrill-fest with Martinez in first over Hudspeth Aden Dodge and Mallett. Positions changed right and left as Vermillion joined in the fray. By halfway, Hudspeth’s machine came alive and bolted past Martinez for the lead. Once in the clear air Hudspeth motored on to an impressive win. Martinez finished well back in second place along with Mallett, Jace Jones, and Dodge.
KPV1 was the final race group on day one and hands down was the largest field with 18 drivers. The top ten qualifiers were separated by less than a second with the #56 driven by Carter Herrera landing the pole. Hunter Corbitt, Jonathan Shone, Dante Yu and Anthony Sawyer rounded out the fast five. Herrera took top honors in heat #1 with Sawyer gaining ground to finish in second place. Herrera’s luck faltered in heat two, handing opportunity to Hunter Corbitt, Sawyer and Jagger Jones. Sawyer got the jump to begin the final, leading the charge out of turn one. Corbitt grabbed the rear bumper of Sawyer followed by Ryan Schartau and Jones. Jake Drew was lurking just inside the top ten after being DQ’d out of second place in qualifying. Clearly he was quick, but he still had a block of impressive drivers between him and the finish line. As Sawyer continued to pace the field Drew was picking off position after position. By the crossed flags Sawyer was still heading the charge, but he was under pressure from Corbitt and Drew. Drew made quick work of Corbitt to secure second place, but Sawyer was running lap times right on the pace of Drew and procured a fantastic win to end the day. Corbitt held on for third place with Jones and Schartau completing the top five.
 | Hunter Corbitt
(Photo: Joey Barros) |
Day two kicked things off with Sr. PRD qualifying. Lloyd Mack led the way over Mike Herda and Brandon Reed with his time of 50.281. Heat one saw Mack score the win over Travis Lowe and Herda. Mack fell back to fourth in heat two as Lowe crossed the finish line first. The ‘Mack Attack’ bounced back in the final. Lowe took the green and opened the bidding, but Mack went on the offensive right away. Lowe didn’t give up and slid into Mack’s draft, but he wasn’t able to mount a serious attack. Herda ran the entire race in third place, but slightly off the pace of the lead duo.
Tanner Hudspeth secured his second pole of the weekend in Sunday’s Kid Kart Heavy class. Again he dropped the hammer, putting a pounding on his fellow competitors. He carried that speed through both heat races, but ran into a slight snag in the final. Hudspeth led the way for the opening circuits of the ten lap final while Rylee Martinez, Colin Queen and Kaden Vermillion all battled for second, third and fourth. Martinez made her move just past half way, but it took Vermillion a few extra laps before securing second place from Hudspeth. Queen was right in the mix as well, as the lead four were well ahead of fifth place. Martinez scored the win by a few seconds ahead of second place, but the tech barn had the final say in the finishing order. Martinez scored the win, Hudspeth was bumped back up to second place, and Queen rounded out the podium in third.
Jake Drew set the pace in KPV1 Heavy qualifying after a great run on Saturday. He was the only driver to dip inside of the 53-second mark, but Anthony Sawyer, Hunter Corbitt, Carter Herrera and Jonathan Shone were just a blink of an eye back. Drew and Corbitt split heat race wins and set the stage for the 20-lap final. As with most cadet races the competition was close throughout the field. Although the field was tightly grouped there was little in the way of position changes and the running order inside the top five only briefly varied. Corbitt led the field to complete lap one followed by Drew, Sawyer, Jagger Jones and Herrera. Ryan Schartau cracked the top five but not for long as Herrera passed him back. They went to the finish just as they started with Corbitt taking the win ahead of Drew and Sawyer.
Matt Kimball was back in action for round 4 of the series and he picked up right where he left off. Kimball scored another KPV4 Heavy pole, running a full second faster than P2 qualifier Stephen Huelsman. Kimball killed it in both heat races and continued to dominate throughout the final. No one had anything for him and he cruised to a ten second win over Tyler Coffman and Huelsman.
 | Lloyd Mack
(Photo: Joey Barros) |
‘Quick’ Nick Ramirez was back at the top of the qualifying sheets in KPV2 Heavy running a lap of 50.944. Colton Herta qualified P2 and he and Ramirez split heat race wins. Herta and Ramirez went toe to toe for the win while Christian Brooks and Justice Lepe dueled for third place a few seconds back. Once clear of Lepe, Brooks was able to distance himself from the pack. Herta controlled the race from the front with Ramirez looking for a way by. A few karts lengths back Brooks waited for an opportunity that never came. Herta brought it home for the win with Ramirez and Brooks in tow. Lepe finished fourth with Noah Grey rounding out the top five.
Rookie Comer 80 was the last race on the docket and Jagger Jones came up aces in the final qualifying session of the weekend. Anthony Willis sat P2 on the grid with Ryan Schartau and Myles Farhan making up row two. Let it be said that there were too many #98 karts in the field. Jagger was in the #98x, Jace 98s, and Farhan in the regular 98. Heat one went to Jones while Schartau chalked up the win in heat two. The main event blew apart anything we thought we knew about how things would go down. With a good start, Schartau nabbed the lead in turn one. He continued on the point until Jones was able to sneak by. Jones’ time up front didn’t last long as Schartau regained the top position. Dezel West and Trey Brown were both on the move, and charging to the front. By halfway Schartau was out, Jones was out, and West led the field. Brown stayed glued to West’s rear bumper and plotted his attack. Willis got faster and faster as the race went on and climbed his way up to third place in the closing stages of the race. West did his best to hold off the advances of Brown, but with only a few laps remaining Brown took the lead and eventually the race win. West followed Brown home for a great second place finish. Willis came home solidly in third. Farhan ended his day in fourth and Kanyon Vermillion rounded out the top five.
Round 5 of the IKF Region 7 Championship series heads to Grangé Race Track in Apple Valley, California on September 1-2. The desert oasis is one of the most technically demanding tracks on the racing circuit and is sure to provide a weekend of fantastic racing. Registration will be open soon. Check with http://www.ikfkarting-r7.com for event registration and all things Region 7. |
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