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| March 12, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars Race of the Americas - Saturday Report |
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After a full day of practice yesterday, one that ended with a pair of timed sessions, the big dogs of the Stars of Karting national championship program made themselves known today. The first official runs went into the books with both the qualifying and Prefinals being completed under clear blue skies.
With 66 drivers on the ICC entry list, the simple fact was that some very gifted drivers would be looking at qualifying positions very deep in the pack. Heading into the pair of sessions for the two groups, many pondered the remaining timeline on A.J. Noud’s six-month track record. The Colorado pilot’s 42.670-second qualifying run at last fall’s SKUSA World Finals was in deep trouble after Intrepid’s Chris Jackson set an unofficial track record yesterday in timed practice.
Most eyes were on the #1 on ICC National Champion Alex Speed after he ran well all day in practice despite suffering from drive line problems for the final timed practice. Joining Speed as likely pole candidates were MRP teammate Wesley Boswell, SuperNationals winner Jason Bowles, and reigning King of the Streets Kyle Wiegand. The long shot was still Jackson, who had run extremely well the day before on his home track.
 | | Boswell gives the 'hang loose' sign to SKI editor Tim Blaney after the track record at OMC |
Speed set the pace in the first group with a 42.726-second run. Alan Rudolph (RBI), Josh Schreiber (Biesse) and Ryan Phinny (Birel) followed closely in the initial session but they were quickly dispelled by Boswell’s stellar performance, which saw the Californian smoke off a 42.491 on his second lap around the 0.7-mile Oklahoma Motorsports Complex layout. No driver has ever circulated the challenging venue as quickly as Boswell, and the new record will likely stand for at least the next twelve months until the second edition of the Race of the Americas.
Speed showed the way in the opening ICC Prefinal by walking to a 4.6-second win. Speed had to work early as he came under attack from Matt Jaskol (CRG) heading into the first turn midway through the race. Jaskol had a good run and moved to the inside to take the point but he was forced to abort the pass due to a local yellow.
Soon after, Jaskol came under immediate attack from Schreiber, who pushed the former Red Bull driver hard until he finally pulled the trigger heading into the first corner. Jaskol gave Schreiber room on the inside but the Biesse bounced off the inside curbing and the two made contact that allowed Jackson and Canadian Philipe Gelinas (Sodi) to slip through. Gelinas would eventually take the runner-up position over Jackson.
Wiegand proved to have the stuff to pace the second Prefinal and was on his way to a win and a spot on the front row of Sunday’s final when a loosened fuel return line at the tank left him covered with the contents. The resultant meatball flag sent Wiegand to the scales and then quickly to his pit area to soak down the affected area with water.
Boswell would assume the lead unchallenged and powered away to a front row position for the main. By rights of Wiegand posting the fastest lap of the two Prefinals, Boswell will take the inside of the front row alongside Speed. Rudolph and Bowles took second and third while Phinny came home fourth ahead of Ryan Kinnear (Birel).
 | | Three time World Champion Fore leads the way during his Pre-Final win |
The final results of ICA qualifying were not particularly surprising as Tony Kart’s Davide Fore led the charge with a smoking 44.713 to pace the 38-kart field. The reigning World Champion looked very good on track, showing the paddock that their concerns were well warranted. Fore waited until halfway through his group’s 15-minute open lapping session to head to the track, where he was followed closely by Orlado Racing’s Helmut Sanden (Mach 1), a fellow Euro racing veteran. Once on track, Fore quickly set the fast time and then headed for the scales, the pole in the Prefinal all but guaranteed.
The biggest surprise of the class was the trouble faced all weekend by last year’s ICA National Champion Jordy Vorrath (Italkart). Continually the man to beat during the 2004 season, Vorrath has struggled to come to grips with the grippy Norman surface. Saturday was another day of frustration for the Canadian as he qualified back in 11th place, 0.8 seconds off the pace of Fore.
Running second to the champion was fellow Italian Giancomo Patrono (Biesse), two-tenths off the polesitter. Adam Johnson (Birel) led the way for the North American contingent, qualifying third. Helmet Sanden (Mach 1) was fourth while Michael Giessen (Birel) was fifth.
The opening of the first ICA Prefinal saw Giessen snag the first lap lead although Fore quickly dispatched him to second and began driving away. The three-time World Champion made it look easy, powering away from Giessen and the rest of his pursuers. On the other end of the spectrum, Vorrath’s day went from bad to worse. After struggling to keep pace, he was sidelined by a flat left rear tire. With Fore taking the win and Giessen coming home second, Johnny Johnson carried his new Kosmic to third over Grant Hebner (CRG) in fourth.
Grabbing a relatively easy B-group win was Sanden (Mach 1) over Patrono. Back aboard a PCR was Chris Wehrheim in third while Matt Johnson carried his KRT to fourth.
 | | Andre Villarreal improved on his outside pole qualifying position to start the Easykart main at the top spot |
PSL Karting’s Cody Jolly continued his control of the 80cc Junior category with a pole position. Jolly was three-tenths clear of his nearest pursuer, James Bayliss. Zachary Schiff was third and Garrett Boone fourth. Taking the reins of the class in the Prefinal early was Jolly although Bayliss stayed in the hunt, giving chase despite not being able to mount a serious challenge. He would end the run in second.
An eventful qualifying session in the ICA-Junior class ended with Carlos Munoz (Birel) on pole with Garrison Masters (Vanspeed) setting the second quickest time of the 10-minute session. Sabastian Saaverda (Vanspeed) ended in third, three-tenths off the poll. In one the tightest finishes of the day, Andres Lopez (Birel) edged Xavier Coupal (Tony Kart) by a scant 0.147 seconds in the Group A Prefinal. The two were locked in a tight run through much of the heat race with Coupal making a run at the win on the final lap, coming up just short at the line. Polesitter Munoz was third and Jeff Pesner (CRG) was fourth.
The second Prefinal was equally as good through much of the run, although in the later stages, Jacob Neal (CRG) took control and ended with a very comfortable margin over Masters. Richard Benetiz was third and Sergio Pena crossed the line fourth.
Many in the paddock expected Patrick Barrett to vie for the pole in Easykart but undetermined mechanical problems kept the pacesetter from Friday’s final practice from logging a lap. Guillero Freile took the reins and secured the pole over Andre Villareal and Paul Harraka. After getting off to a bad start, Freile was mired outside the top five in the Prefinal as Villareal cruised to the win over Dominic Sheer, who pressured early but faded late. Cory Pollock took third in the results over Harraka, as both drivers would run alone on the track for the majority of the heat race. Sean Gilmartin came from 20th to card an impressive fifth. Barrett would continue to suffer mechanical woes and did not complete a lap.
Tomorrow’s schedule sees the Easykart/MG Tires $1000 Dash-for-Cash kick things off with the top two qualifiers in ICC, ICA and Easykart. The B Mains for ICC and JICA will set the officials grids before the mains get rolling at 1:00 pm.
Super Kart Illustrated
Pit Notes
- Thanks to a number of problems in the Prefinals, the field for the B-main in ICC would make an impressive Final grid on any other weekend. The list of drivers needing to use the Repachage to make the main event includes Kyle Wiegand, Darren Elliott, Tom Dyer, Daniel Morad, AJ Whisler and Tad Funakoshi.
- The gnarliest wreck of the weekend featured Dallas Patterson and Jan Velez. The two tangled in the first turn of the first lap in the second ICC Prefinal, sending Patterson onto his head, literally. The Texan’s new Maranello is a total loss as is his helmet, which had a major scar into the shell of the lid.
- The season opening race was not your typical weekend for the Italian Motors squad. Team leader Jordy Vorrath has struggled all weekend to keep the face and retired from the Prefinal with a flat tire after qualifying a disappointing 11th. ICC star David Jurca is running with the leaders but does not look to be a serious threat for a podium much less a win. Junior driver Hayden Duerson was running well all day until the 80 Junior Prefinal when he hit the tires hard. By the end of the day, the IM compound was completely walled off as they look to regroup for Sunday.
SKI Team Predictions:
Rob Howden:
ICC
1. Alex Speed
2. Wesley Boswell
3. Philip Gelinas
ICA
1. Davide Fore
2. Helmut Sanden
3. Mike Giessen
Tim Blaney:
ICC
1. Alex Speed
2. Wesley Boswell
3. Jason Bowles
ICA
1. Davide Fore
2. Helmut Sanden
3. Mike Giessen
David Cole:
ICC
1. Alex Speed
2. Wesley Boswell
3. Matt Jaskol
ICA
1. Davide Fore
2. Helmut Sanden
3. Giacomo Patrono |
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