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| March 30, 2004 News |
| Mfg. Cup Jax Report – King, Harraka & Giessen Get Double Wins |
| Article by: Report Compiled by Rhonda Mims-Brown |
 | Paulie Harakka heads up Matt Lee and others at Jax Manufacturer's Cup
(Photo-Sean Buur, Go Racing Magazine) |
The track still remains hot at the 103rd Street Sports Complex after hosting back to back events for the season opener of SKUSA’s Pro-Moto Tour East Zone competition and for last weekend’s George Kugler Manufacturer’s Cup event sanctioned by the World Karting Association (WKA). Some of the SKUSA 125 and 80cc shifter kart racers who attended the previous week’s event stuck around to test their skills in WKA territory.
WKA’s amateur series is known by many to rival any level of pro action bringing in 505 entries which provided high levels of competitive racing in 20 classes ranging from shifter to 100cc clutch and direct drive class offerings. The concentration of drivers came from the Eastern sectors with some from Canada and the Midwest. The contest included 30 different brands of chassis' for round two of the four race series with its next stop set for May 14-16 at Trane Motor Speedway in Sheridan, Ill., and then on to Dousman, Wisc., for the Grand National finale Aug. 13-15 at Badger Raceway. With the 500 plus crowd and their families/crew, the series is considered to be the largest national series gathering in the US for sprint racing.
The largest groups of the weekend continue to be the 100cc Yamahas with the Yamaha Junior SuperCan being the largest individual class with 40 drivers entered and a consi required to set the field. Yamaha Heavy and Yamaha Super Sportsman attributed to 30 and 28 entries respectively as well the 80cc junior shifter field with 28 that also required a consi to set a 24 kart maximum field for the junior classes. Yamaha Junior Sportsman brought in 33 as the junior HPV engine classes had 30.
 | A freight-train of Margays, Joey King, Corey Reeves and Tony Jump
(Photo-Sean Buur, Go Racing Magazine) |
Joey King was one of three drivers to earn double class wins earning two for Margay in HPV Lite and Spec 100. He also crossed first in Yamaha Lite, but was penalized one position that resulted in controversy. Paulie Harraka from Fair Lawn, N.J., returned home as another double winner taking center stage for Kart Racing Technologies (KRT) and Hi-Rev Engineering engines scoring victories in HPV Junior and Yamaha Junior SuperCan. Mike Giessen was the third driver to the top podium spot with double wins in ICA and Formula Yamaha Senior.
On the chassis count, Margay drivers continued to shine taking first in seven of the 16 100cc classes run. Birel continued their dominance in the shifter kart competition taking three of the four shifter kart wins and two more in ICA and Formula Yamaha with Giessen at the wheel. The Nevoso chassis earned two with one win on the record for the Arrow, Merlin and Energy brands.
Listed below are selected highlights from the event:
ICC 1 & 2 – Winners, Josh Schreiber and Troy Hottmann
 | Josh Schreiber
(Photo-Bill Kistler, Racepixs) |
Josh Schreiber, hot off the PMT event, took pole and fast lap honors for MRP/Birel with TM-SRA Karting power in both ICC 1 and ICC 2 classes. The Lancaster, Pa., driver who made the switch back to the TM power plant from a Pavesi recently, landed Saturday’s win with a 1.4 second margin over Merlin’s Troy Hottmann after qualifying with a 31.841 lap time and taking the pre-final win. The CRG entry of Terrick Mansur was three-tenths back of Hottmann and scored third followed by off-pole Alan Adams for Biesse and Matt Pritiko with a Birel. Both Adams and Pritiko were gapped from the leader pack at nearly four and eight second margins to the leader.
In ICC 2, Schreiber was focused on a second win when at three laps remaining, his engine stop bolt broke, causing the engine to slide and the chain to break. Hottmann moved on to take the victory 1.757 seconds ahead of Mansur. Nick Wagner (Birel), Matt Pritiko (Birel) and Amanda Campbell (Intrepid-CG Racing Pavesi) rounded out the top five with this group bunched together but nine seconds off the winner. Campbell, who’s a 17-year-old honor student at Baldwin High school in Jacksonville, may very well have earned a place in WKA record books by becoming the first female to score an ICC podium at a WKA event. "It was great to be out there and running with some of the best shifter kart drivers in the country, and after the bad luck we had in Daytona, I am just glad to be here,” she said regarding the race. When asked where she wants to go from there, she smiled and said, “My goal is number one in ICC, but I am going to take it one step at a time for now."
Yamaha Junior Classes, Winners Paulie Harraka, Christian Pahud & Justin Larsen
Robert Thorne qualified on pole in Yamaha Jr. SuperCan with a 29.791 for Nevoso Karts but Harraka took center stage in the feature with a half-second gap on Margay’s Justin Larson and the CRG entry of Thomas Hartensveld, Jr. Thorne finished in ninth position.
Crispin Beaver, the young hot-shoe from Joplin, Mo., was the fast kid in Yamaha Junior. Sportsman taking his chassis to pole honors with a 40.150 lap two effort. Beaver dropped out of the feature on lap nine with Christian Pahud (Energy) earning a 0.359 second victory over Sergio Pena (CRG) and Kody Hughes (Biesse).
In Formula Yamaha Junior, Steven Arens took pole with a 35.581 for Edge with Margay’s Justin Larson taking the win with a close 0.206 second margin over Arens. Hartensveld finished in the hunt with a podium third and fast lap honors at 36.152. Thorne and Tim Goettsch (Margay) rounded out the top five at eight and ten seconds back.
80cc Jr. Classes, Winners Daniel Morad and Matt Lee
 | | Daniel Morad |
Taos-Tech/3-S Birel Canadian pilot Daniel Morad grabbed his sought-after win in 80cc Junior 1 action by 0.136 seconds over MRP’s Matt Lee. Morad was pleased with his win after obtaining two seconds after last-lap duels while drafting down the back stretch in SKUSA PMT competition. Lee, 15, who resides in Manhassett, NY, took his Birel to pole for Saturday’s action with a 33.030 over Morad’s 33.118 to set the front row for a high caliber field. The top 17 drivers were separated by under one-second. Keith Spicer (Tony Kart), Logan Gomez (Birel) and Hayden Duerson (Tony Kart) rounded out the top five for Saturday.
Lee scraped by to earn his second pole over the weekend for Sunday’s 80cc Jr. 2 class with a 32.767 over Gomez at 32.813. The top ten qualifiers were spread only a half-second apart with Morad and Spicer filling out the second row of the pre-final. Lee went on to take the win over Gomez with a 0.545 second margin as Morad rounded out the third podium seat 2.5 seconds back. Spicer and Michael Vincec (First Kart) finished in the top five for this highly competitive run.
Cadet Junior Sportsman, Winners – Corey Lewis, Sergio Pena and Sterling Shaw
 | Sergio Pena
(Photo-Sean Buur, Go Racing Magazine) |
Corey Lewis (Nevoso) almost swept Cadet Junior Sportsman 1 and 2 by taking pole on both days, earning Saturday’s win and finishing second on Sunday to fellow Nevoso-chassis driver, Sergio Pena. Lewis’ win on Saturday over Pena was a close dual with a 0.257 second win margin as Cody Robinson , Christian Pahud (Energy) and Evan Kalogiannis (Biesse) rounded out the top five.
 | Corey Lewis
(Photo-Sean Buur, Go Racing Magazine) |
Pena’s win on Sunday over Lewis was extremely close with a 0.101 second margin of victory. Jarvis Gennari (Fittipaldi), Jacob Sekey (PCR) and Sage Karam (Birel) rounded out the top five as Pahud finished in sixth.
In the 30-entry HPV Junior Sportsman Class, Sterling Shaw earned his first WKA national race win. Shaw, an 11 year-old champion from Ohio Valley Kart Club (OVKC) has been tearing up that track for a few years racing his Arrow with Pahud. The straight A student qualified fourth, just 0.115 off Pahud’s pole. It was a thrilling victory for him and his family. Pena finished four tenths behind Shaw with Pahud finishing in third. Steve Nemeth (Margay) and Nicole Weick, another young lady to grace the podiums over the weekend with her KRT effort.
ICA - Winner, Mike Giessen
While the top 13 drivers qualified less than one second apart in ICA’s 20 kart field, the top two were the only karts left in the hunt for the feature with Giessen taking his Birel to victory over Chris Giumarra with a 1.3 second margin. The remaining eight karts that finished the race were spread from nine to 26 seconds off pace. Tim O’Brien (Margay) finished third followed by Chris Keller (Biesse) and Chris Wehrheim, also for Margay.
Yamaha Senior Classes – Winners, Kevin Nelson, Casey Neal, Joey King and Michael Giessen
In the 28-kart Yamaha Heavy field, Margay took the top four slots with Kevin Nelson walking to his victory with a 3.045 seconds lead to Chuck Tate. Todd Bolton earned fast lap with a 36.740 followed by James Perkins and John Dixon (Birel) who rounded out the top five. Fast qualifier was Arrow driver Shawn Slattery with a 36.219.
Casey Neal was the pacesetter in Yamaha Senior Sportsman narrowly taking a pole for Biesse with 37.443 over Joey King with a 37.453. Yamaha competition continues to be cut throat with only a half second separating the top 10 and one second flat for the top 18. Neal managed a narrow victory over Giessen with a 0.122 second victory as Margay’s star, Corey Reeves, drove to third about six tenths behind. King and James Cardillo, Jr., rounded out the top five with Rotax racer Susie McIlroy taking sixth. Fourth through sixth were about four seconds off the winning pace.
Margay drivers also swept the top five in the final of Yamaha Lite class with King and Tony Jump having a close battle for pole. Jump got the edge for the inside front row by 0.122 seconds but King prevailed in the final by another one-tenth margin over Reeves. Reeves; however, was announced as the race winner after officials accessed a position penalty on King for blocking. Jump was hot on their tail and finished in the hunt at two tenths back. Staple Nash and Caleb Loniewski rounded out the top five and the remainder of the field was seven to 28 seconds back and victims of DNFs.
Loniewski grabbed a winning 36.051 pole in Formula Yamaha Senior with a very narrow 0.089 second margin over Margay pilot Danny Guerra. The outside third row qualifier of Giessen gained the top podium spot; however, with a 0.831 second victory over Chris Larson’s Margay. Guerra finished fourth followed by PCR’s Tommy Mayer and Tim O’Brien (Margay).
Other Class Winners, James Perkins, Joey King & Chuck Tate
 | Mike Giessen and Chris Giumarra in ICA
(Photo-Sean Buur, Go Racing Magazine) |
While Giessen and KRT’s Matt Johnson filled the front row in Spec 100 with a 36.350 and 36.443, respectively, it was third place qualifier King who took the feature win over Giessen with a close 0.189 second margin. James Cardillo, Jr. (Birel), Kim Carapellatti (KRT) and Mike Welsh rounded the top five as Johnson watched from the sidelines from lap 12 on.
Jeff Jewell (Haase) earned pole for Yamaha Masters with a 38.594 with James Perkins (Margay) taking the class win over PCR pilot, Don Chrzan with a captivating 0.083 second margin with Gary Willis (Margay) on their tail for in third. Jewell was sidelined on lap 13 and Tim Benford (Tony Kart) and John Ferris (Margay) placed for the final top five.
Listed below is a chassis break down for the top five:
Top Five Chassis Break Down| Class | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th| 10-ICC Final 1 | Birel CR31SP | Moran | CRG | Biesse | Birel CR32SR | | 09-80cc Shifter Jr Final 1 | Birel CR-32X | Birel CQ-31z | Tony Kart | Birel CR-32SP | Tony Kart | | 07-HPV Heavy Final | Margay | Margay | Margay | KRT | Margay | | 05-Spec 100 | Margay | Birel | Birel | KRT | Margay | | 02-Yamaha Lite | Margay | Margay | Margay | Margay | Margay | | 01-Yamaha Masters | Margay | PCR | Margay | Tony Kart | Margay | | 08-Cadet Jr Sportsman Final 1 | Kevoso | CRG | MBA Arrow | Energy | Biesse | | 06-Yamaha Jr SuperCan | KRT | Margay | CRG | KRT | Birel | | 03-HPV Jr Sportsman Final | Arrow | CRG | Energy | Margay | KRT | | 04-ICA | Birel | CRG | Margay | Biesse | Margay | | 19-80cc Shifter Final 2 | Birel | Birel | Birel | Tony Kart | First Kart | | 18-Yamaha Sr Sportsman | Biesse | Birel | Margay | Birel | Margay | | 17-Cadet Jr Sportsman Final 2 | Nevoso | Nevoso | Fitipaldi | PCR | Birel | | 16-HPV Lite | Margay | Margay | CRT | Margay | Margay | | 15-HPV Jr | KRT | Margay | Birel | Birel | Tony Kart | | 14-Yamaha Jr Sportsman | Energy | CRG | Biesse | KRT | Biesse | | 13-Yamaha Heavy | Margay | Margay | Margay | Margay | Haase | | 12-Formula Yamaha Jr | Margay | Edge | CRG | Nevoso | Margay | | 11-Formula Yamaha Sr | Birel | Margay | Margay | PCR | Margay | | 20-ICC Final 2 | Merlin | CRG | Birel | Birel | Intrepid | |
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