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| October 29, 2004 News |
| EKN Trackside - SKUSA SuperNationals 8 - ICC Qualifying |
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The 2004 SKUSA SuperNationals were officially opened on Friday with a full day’s worth of on-track action. The atmosphere in the paddock was subdued significantly, however, by news that CompCor / Tony Kart USA President Ron Huber remains in intensive care at a local hospital after suffering a severe head injury yesterday when he apparently fell off his scooter in the paddock area early in the morning.
While the mood in the paddock is somber, the action on the track has been very solid as the surface is now taking rubber with a groove being laid down. Times are dropping dramatically as the grip level increases. There remains a buzz regarding the strength of the ICC field and excitement was magnified today by a wild set of qualifying sessions that introduced this weekend’s primary players.
ICC
 | Tad Funakoshi
(Photo: OnTrack Promotions) |
The big story of the day was ICC poleman Tad Funakoshi. The 2002 Formula S1 SuperNationals winner laid down some seriously quick laps during the 15-minute session, running in the all-important second group of the class. With almost 50 drivers in the field, SKUSA split the class into two groups to allow for more open track. With the track grip improving with each session, being in the second group translated into approximately two tenths of a second. This approach opened the door for a great deal of controversy, which came in the form of an unfortunate officiating error.
Muscling their way into the second group was the trio of Joe and Ron White and Phil Carlson, who had practiced in the first group through the beginning of the weekend. Just as the first session was about to begin, they were moved into the second group, much to the displeasure of many on the ICC grid. The stated motivation for this alteration was to even out the group sizes. It was an incorrect decision on the part of the SKUSA official, but truly, not much could be done. There was, however, at least one protest pending when we left the track.
Making an impressive debut was the all-new Trackmagic FTR, running into the top five at the hands of veteran Kyle Martin. The Texan steered the chassis to third on the grid, just 0.148 seconds back of Funakoshi.
In the lead-up to the SuperNationals, we talked about the quality of the field and now we have the proof. The top 43 drivers in the ICC class are covered by just 1.43 seconds. Once we get racing, it’s going to be hard-nosed racing with the very close lap times.
Italian Motors’ David Jurca put his Italkart on the front row, keeping the streak alive for the British Columbia-based team. Over the past three years, an Italkart has been on the front row of the ICC grid following qualifying. White (CRG) and Carlson (CRG) rounded out the top five, taking full advantage of their move to the second group. Factory Porsche driver Patrick Long made a good showing for the new Zanardi chassis with a solid tenth-place effort. Long was second after the first group’s session and was one of the more vocal oponents of the move of the three drivers into group two.
As much of a surprise as it was to see Funakoshi on pole, a poor showing by Alex Speed also set the paddock abuzz. Speed has been struggling all weekend with his new Birel and this was evident this afternoon as he and tuner Mike Speed thrashed making changes. All the hard work would only yield a 29th place effort in the final tally. The young hotshoe has his work cut out for him today.
Kyle Wiegand (GP) looked strong early in his session, running in the first group, but a slight error saw him graze the TechPro barriers and he retired from the session with a bent steering shaft. Another big-name driver who struggled during the timed session was First Kart’s Bobby Wilson. The Wisconsin driver fought a tweaked chassis and the remnants of a stuck motor this morning and could only manage the 40th best time of the day.
| Pos. | No. | Name | Chassis | Motor | Best Laptime | Diff | In Lap| 1 | 23y | Tad Funakoshi | Energy | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:50.9 | -- | 7 | | 2 | 92z | David Jurca | Italkart | Italian Motors TM | 00:51.0 | 0.038 | 4 | | 3 | 96o | Kyle Martin | Trackmagic | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:51.1 | 0.148 | 5 | | 4 | 71y | Ron White | CRG | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.1 | 0.155 | 3 | | 5 | 90c | Phil Carlson | CRG | DDR TM | 00:51.1 | 0.158 | 1 | | 6 | 17y | Joe White II | CRG | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.1 | 0.198 | 7 | | 7 | 33y | Brett Buckwalter | Reynard | IKTL TM | 00:51.2 | 0.277 | 10 | | 8 | 23l | Lorenzo Mandarino | GP | TM | 00:51.2 | 0.283 | 7 | | 9 | 84y | Wesley Boswell | Birel | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:51.2 | 0.314 | 3 | | 10 | 29 | Patrick Long | Zanardi | TM | 00:51.2 | 0.327 | 4 | | 11 | 11 | Jason Bowles | Tony Kart | Vortex | 00:51.2 | 0.329 | 2 | | 12 | 96l | Jordy Vorrath | Italkart | Italian Motors TM | 00:51.2 | 0.331 | 1 | | 13 | N1 | Alan Sciuto | Birel | SwedeTech TM | 00:51.3 | 0.343 | 4 | | 14 | 27y | Gary Carlton | Trackmagic | SwedeTech TM | 00:51.3 | 0.382 | 8 | | 15 | 10b | Gian Cavaciuti | GP | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.3 | 0.394 | 7 | | 16 | 19l | Jake Thompson | Italkart | Italian Motors TM | 00:51.3 | 0.4 | 5 | | 17 | 9y | Tom Dyer | Intrepid | SRA TM | 00:51.3 | 0.418 | 8 | | 18 | 56r | James Hinchcliffe | First Kart | CRS | 00:51.3 | 0.419 | 3 | | 19 | 5c | Matt Jaskol | CRG | DDR TM | 00:51.4 | 0.457 | 4 | | 20 | 71c | Darren Elliott | CRG | Maxter | 00:51.4 | 0.486 | 2 | | 21 | 86j | Kyle Wiegand | GP | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.4 | 0.502 | 3 | | 22 | 8y | Justin Moon | PTK | SwedeTech TM | 00:51.4 | 0.513 | 6 | | 23 | 9o | Chris Jackson | Intrepid | Champion TM | 00:51.4 | 0.532 | 6 | | 24 | 80y | Ryan Yop | Kosmic | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.5 | 0.595 | 9 | | 25 | 18j | Ron Joynt | CRG | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.5 | 0.614 | 2 | | 26 | 14y | Nick Green | PTK Tony Kart | SwedeTech TM | 00:51.5 | 0.63 | 5 | | 27 | N3 | A.J. Noud | RBI | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:51.6 | 0.635 | 6 | | 28 | 43c | John Zartarian | KRT | DDR TM | 00:51.6 | 0.673 | 11 | | 29 | 41y | Alex Speed | Birel | SwedeTech Pavesi | 00:51.6 | 0.679 | 7 | | 30 | N2 | Alan Rudolph | RBI | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:51.6 | 0.683 | 6 | | 31 | 25u | Mike Beeny | Tony Kart | Msquared Vortex | 00:51.6 | 0.721 | 4 | | 32 | 3c | Ray Robinson | CRG | SRA TM | 00:51.8 | 0.858 | 5 | | 33 | 6j | Darin Marcus | Birel | TM | 00:51.8 | 0.861 | 2 | | 34 | 22c | Michael Abbate | Tony Kart | Vortex | 00:51.8 | 0.898 | 4 | | 35 | 23j | Logan Gomez | Birel | Rocket TM | 00:51.8 | 0.903 | 3 | | 36 | 17 | Colin Katzakian | CRG | SwedeTech TM | 00:51.9 | 1.018 | 3 | | 37 | 26c | Michael Rossi | Topkart | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:52.0 | 1.048 | 2 | | 38 | 7y | Nicholas Halen | Vankart | SGM | 00:52.0 | 1.076 | 6 | | 39 | 3h | Bobby Wilson | First Kart | Hi-Tech Pavesi | 00:52.0 | 1.086 | 2 | | 40 | 4 | Tomas Scheckter | Tony Kart | Vortex | 00:52.1 | 1.205 | 8 | | 41 | 9z | Chris Nixon | Italkart | Italian Motors TM | 00:52.2 | 1.247 | 10 | | 42 | 9 | Mathew Sofi | CRG | SRA TM | 00:52.3 | 1.42 | 3 | | 43 | 18r | Jonathan Fecteau | Tony Kart | SH Vortex | 00:52.4 | 1.459 | 8 | | 44 | 9b | Scott Michael Barnes | Intrepid | SwedeTech TM | 00:53.1 | 2.134 | 10 | | 45 | 27n | Josh Schreiber | Birel | SRA TM | --:--:--.--- | | - | |
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