|
 |
|
 |
| January 23, 2004 News |
| World War Rotax |
| |
by Ken Johnson for Ekartingnews
 | | Juan Sanso escapes war zone and finishes with a third in LCQ |
“Man, it’s a war zone out there” were the first words out of Jordon Musser’s mouth after his first heat race of the day. “I’ve never seen such aggressive driving, today’s not going to be about speed as much as survival,” he added. Musser’s comments followed a particularly frustrating heat race that found the US National Champion from Coppell, Texas off the road not once, but twice.
Although not happy about the situation, he was at least able to laugh when he discovered the handfuls of Egyptian dirt that had filled the pockets of his driving suit while going backwards off the track.
Having an even worse time of it was Broken Arrow’s Nathan Mauel. In two heat races Mauel had yet to make it past the first turn without getting caught up in someone’s over-aggressiveness. The first heat was the worst as a driver mugged him from behind, climbing over his right rear tire and taking out his radiator as well as a few other parts. After repairs were made, he ventured out for his second heat race where once again, he got caught up in another incident. The bright side is at least this time there was no damage and after getting the kart pointed in the right direction, he was able to pull away, albeit at the tail end of the field.
 | | Musser makes it by virtue of seventh in LCQ race |
Having a much better day was Costa Rican teammate Juan Sanso.
Sanso’s day was far from trouble free yet he was able to avoid many of the problems that befell the other drivers. Nonetheless, a few incidents with other drives still knocked him down the order and into the last-chance race. This meant that at the end of the heat races, all three of the Americas Team Rotax International drivers would have to race their way into the finals through the last chance race that reward the top eight finishers a spot in the pre-finals and main event. While not where they wanted to be, the last-chance race was an opportunity for the team to show what it could do.
As the start of the race everyone expected mass hysteria going into turn one. And, sure enough, that’s pretty much what happened. Everyone in the top six rows went for the lead in the first turn. For once, things went our way as Musser and Sanso emerged from the scrum in third and fourth places respectively.
The last-chance race was the best performance for Sanso as he was able to get past Musser on the first lap and race at the front, eventually finishing third.
Musser was beset by a kart that wanted to push in the slow corners and gradually fell back to seventh position. This is no problem as the top eight make it to the finals and that was his goal going in to the race. Musser did cause a scare for the team, however. On the last turn of the last lap he tried to make a move on the kart in front of him and just came up short. But in doing so there was contact that sent his sidepod flying through the air. CIK rules state that if you lose bodywork you must pick it up and have it reattached. Fortunately for Musser this rule does not apply to the last lap. Clarification of this rule held up results of the last-chance race leaving us to wait for confirmation of who would be in the final.
Mauel came out somewhere around 15th but was able to put in a few good passing moves to bring himself up the order to 12th at the finish. After seeing the struggle he’s had the past couple days, it was great to see Mauel show what he’s capable of as his drive in the last-chance race was very impressive. Unfortunately, 12th is not high enough to qualify for the last day and just like that, he’s out. On the bright side, that frees him up to go out this evening and there are two pretty girls from Germany at the resort taking an interest in the Oklahoma native, perhaps helping to distract from his disappointment.
Having a similar circumstance to Musser was Junior driver Justin Melton. As was typical for the day, the start of the second heat saw everyone make it through the first turn except for Justin. His frustration was apparent as he got his kart back onto the track way behind the end of the field. Frustration turned to determination, as he was able to get down to some very respectable lap times and catch a duo in front of him on the last lap. Although five or six inches behind the kart he was trying to catch at the line, it was still a good run for the driver from Flower Mound, TX.
The day wasn’t just rough on our team as our Canadian friends had a rough go of it as well. One of the most spectacular looking crashes of the day involved Canadian driver Sylvian Ruel. During the last heat race a few karts got together on the straight after the first turn and went bounding into the plastic barriers that separated that straightaway from another one going the opposite direction. Everyone was thankful it happened at a time when no one was on the second straight as one of the karts ended up in the middle of the other piece of track. During that crash, Ruel suffered a badly bent axle. This was one of those cases when the axle comes out looking like a big allen wrench. I asked him how he ended up in such a predicament and his tuner replied, “He came to Egypt.”
Enough said. Saskatoon,, Saskatchewan driver, Scott Campbell also had a promising week-end that turned south when bad luck in the heats put him in the last-chance race. Campbell, like Ruel, also suffered a bent axle due to contact in his last heat but was ready to make his mark in the last-chance race. Running near the front, Campbell was well placed and would easily have made the final when contact from behind knocked his pipe off and sent him to the pits for repairs. Scott refused to say die though and, even over a lap down, was still passing karts on the last lap. The third International Canadian driver, Jean-Francois Valour also struggled with a myriad of problems throughout the day, ending the last-chance race in 19th position and out of the finals.
Like Team Americas, it’s difficult to see the group have problems and especially since the turn of events means none of the three will make it to the final.
Tomorrow is the Pre-Final and Final for Junior and International drivers. Results with a complete tabulations of points are not available at this time; however, Ekartingnews will have this available once they are tabulated, hopefully within the hour so check back soon.
|
|
|
Go Top
|
|
|
|
|
