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| March 11, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars Race of the Americas - Friday Report |
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The Snap-on Stars of Karting team could not have asked for a much better opening to their 2005 season. With the paddock of the Oklahoma Motorsports Complex packed to capacity and the atmosphere buzzing with anticipation for what promises to be the best season in the last three years, a cloudless blue sky and warm temperatures provided the perfect backdrop. A staggering entry list of 235 drivers will make an attempt at qualifying tomorrow afternoon in the six classes on the Stars menu.
“This is the most crowded the paddock has ever been,” said Rodney Berryhill, who runs OMC with his father Dub and brother Brett. Trailers are shoehorned into every available space and motorhomes owned by the competitors and their families have been relegated to the back forty, where they now line the first corner.
Today’s schedule was devoted to motor break-in and practice sessions, with the final two runs through the order coming with mandated placement of the timing system transponders. This gave the paddock the opportunity to see who had their stuff together and who would be kicking off the season as a contender for the championship. By the end of the day, the pecking order had been established in all five classes.
Leading the way in ICA’s second session was MRP’s newest driver Adam Johnson, who had been solid all day long. German driver Helmet Sanden (Mach 1) - who runs for the British Columbia-based Orlado Racing - was second ahead of reigning World Champion Davide Fore, who is till sampling the racetrack, running 0.166 seconds off Johnson in the final outing. U.S. ICA national champion Jordy Vorrath is working to bring his ride up to speed and sits 11th heading into Saturday’s qualifying runs. Turning in an impressive debut in ICA was Cole Whitt, who logged the 10th best time in the second timed session.
Wrapping up the day was the ICC class and perfect conditions greeted the drivers. As the sun was setting, Chris Jackson (Intrepid) laid down the fastest lap of the session at 42.607, an unofficial track record. ’04 SuperNationals winner Jason Bowles was second-quick and Matt Jaskol, who is returning to karts after being dropped by the Red Bull Junior Team, was third quick in his DDR-powered CRG. The final minutes of the session saw three drivers all top the charts before Jackson dropped the hammer. ICC National champion Alex Speed was a no-show in the session after a gear bolt backed out while they prepared on the grid. Instead of cobbling together a temporary fix, the team returned to the paddock with the knowledge that they had set the fast lap in the first timed session of the day. Speed will be a factor in qualifying, have no doubt.
JICA has a full field with Carlos Munoz leading way, followed by Jeremy Nelson and Michael Hogg. Well clear of the 80cc Junior field was Cody Jolly, who set a blistering 44.636-second lap. Levi Roberts and James Bayliss were second and third. The battle for the top spot in Easykart was spirited with Patrick Barrett coming out on top over Dominic Scheer and Guillero Freile. The 41-kart Cadet category looks to be the tightest group with Miles Maroney, Gustavo Menezes and Kyle Shriver timing in all within 0.1 of a second.
The weather is expected to hold for tomorrow’s qualifying sessions and the Prefinals as well. The fields are stacked and the key to success at this event will be to qualify well and stay out of trouble in the Prefinal in order to avoid Sunday morning’s Repechage, as only the top 16 front the Prefinals will transfer directly into the main events.
We’ll be back to tomorrow will full results from qualifying and the Prefinals as they are completed and we’ll cap the day with our report and our predictions for Sunday’s finals. We will be updating our photo gallery all weekend with different images collected by the EKN Trackside staff.
Super Kart Illustrated
All Access Pit Notes:
- This year’s trip to Norman was eventful for the Firstkart.com race team’s truckies when they flipped the trailer during their trek through St. Louis. In extremely windy conditions, things got ugly while passing a truck heading over a bridge. Before they knew it, the trailer was ahead of the tow vehicle and rolling down the road ahead, dragging the truck along with it. Fortunately, there was little damage to the contents of the trailer, which it self was all but written-off. The team’s road crew was able to transfer the contents into Michael Vincec’s trailer, who came upon the incident with his family, and continued to Norman without further incident. Some days, you don’t know how lucky you are to see you friends when you arrive at the track. It was nice to see the First Kart lads in one piece.
- Absent from the weekend, as reported last night, is long-time shifter frontrunner Kyle Martin. The Texan is in Daytona this week tending to business with M4 Exhaust, as his family’s company is sponsoring an AMA motorcycle racing team. Martin was undoubtedly celebrating in a big way last night as their sponsored Team M4 EMGO Suzuki took a huge win the Superstock class on the high banks of the Daytona speedplant.
- Japanese Intrepid driver Hironobu Yasuda was a no-show this weekend after running into trouble gaining entrance into the United States. According to Champion Racing chief Rodney Berryhill, the Japanese citizen is in Italy on a visa issued from Korea. When he tried to catch a flight to the U.S., things got held up thanks to the complicated program.
- Two-time SKI Young Driver of the Year Cole Whitt is making his senior debut in the ICA class in Norman. In addition to his introduction to the new class, Whitt is sporting the colors of new sponsor Red Bull. Outfitted in the Red Bull driver’s suit and a Red Bull lid, Cole is holding his own in a stacked field of ICA drivers, timing in the top ten.
- As the track cooled late in the day, times dropped dramatically for the “B” group of the ICC class. Leading the way was Champion Racing’s Chris Jackson, who set an unofficial track record with a lap of 42.607 seconds. With qualifying set for 1:30 pm tomorrow, it is very likely there will be a new track record set on the challenging OMC layout. |
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