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| July 01, 2005 News |
| Race Report: IKF 2 Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals – Day 2&3 |
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 | Luis Martinez picked up wins in HPV 2 and Jr. Super Sportsman
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
Story by Sean Buur – Go Racing Magazine
For full photo gallery, visit the PHOTOS link on the EKN home page
Day two and three went much better for a few drivers who suffered a bit on day one. Travis Irving, and Jesus Vasquez bounced back from their misfortunes to score two wins a piece, joining Jess Peterson and Luis Martinez as the only double winners for the week.
Vasquez and Joey Severino battled it out in Formula Y action in the early goings, but Grant Hebner was on the move. The white flag came out and they went three wide exiting the hairpin. Severino and Vasquez touched heading down to the “wall” leaving room for Hebner to sneak by Severino for second place. Vasquez held off Hebner for the remaining few corners to get back the win he had taken away the day before.
Vasquez became an IKF Expert on Thursday after a tight race with Joey Barros in Sr. Superbox. Barros was the only driver able to keep pace with Vasquez for the entire 18 lap final. Chris Guizar was right there for the first half, but more troubles for him brought an end to his day.
After his ½ pound misfortune in TaG, the 200lb Irving had no problems with weight in Senior Superbox Heavy. Guizar and Irving shared the front row for the start of the Superbox final, but Irving came away with the lead, and Guizar was shuffled back to fourth. It took a while for Guizar to run down Irving, having to get by Doug Boren and Tuesday’s winner Chris Wesson. Once out front, Guizar had it made, right up until his motor grenade’d with three to go. Irving resumed the lead, but a charging Neil Otto and Josh Brander kept him honest.
Josh Harris had a pair of Duffies coming into this event, one as a junior and one as a senior. He left this weekend as one of the few newly crowned IKF Expert drivers. After the pole and a win in the Prefinal, Harris was set for the win in the HPV 3 final. Robin “Princess” Stonesifer, Neil McCoy and Jess Peterson all got better starts than Harris, forcing him to work his way up through them to get to the point. Princess managed to lead her fair share of laps, but Harris was on his game and took the lead just past half way. Princess managed to stay close for a while as Peterson and McCoy diced with Boomer DeRoads, but Harris was too speedy this day to keep pace with. Harris landed the win by two seconds over Stonesifer and 5.5 seconds over Peterson.
 | Travis Irving earned two Duffies after falling a half pound short in TaG on Day 1
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
Irving, a multiple Duffy winner as a junior, managed to earn his gold plates on the final day of racing. Irving dominated the field of Formula Y Heavy drivers, making them look very slow. Brian Phillipsen, Brian Johnson, and Gary Gwin gave chase, and actually had a good go of it for second position, but Irving just checked out for his second official win of the weekend.
After picking up his first Grand National win on Tuesday, Luis Martinez secured his place in the 2005 record books by landing the win in HPV 2. Thirty-one HPV 2 drivers took the green for their final, but it came down to only four when it counted, Martinez, Billy Goshen, Alexander Rossi, and Dylan Albiani. Martinez took the win by a second and a half, adding a second bronze man to his collection.
John Bush walked away with it in the Masters Formula Y class. Matthias Kattanek and Denis Valente looked pretty good in the prefinal, but they had no chance in the final. Bush took his first GrandNationals win back in 2000, and although it seems like he has been winning forever it wasn’t until Wednesday that he became an expert.
Brian Phillipsen was the only driver able to challenge Lucas Wilkinsen for the win in HPV Heavy, but his opportunity didn’t last long. Wilkinsen is one heck of a tire bowler, but now he adds an IKF GrandNational championship to his resume. Phillipsen fell back into the clutches of John Crow, and eventually finished third. Wilkinsen ran off to an impressive win of nearly seven seconds over his nearest competitor, Crow.
The Junior 1 finish sparked one of the biggest controversies of the week, with the flame still burning the next day after the racing was finish. Essentially, the race came down to two pairs of drivers, the leaders, Brendan Phinny and Miles Maroney, and a Taylor Miinch and Donny St. Ours battle. Kyle Shriver was a few feet back at the finish in fifth, but he along with Miinch and St Ours wasn’t part of the on track conflict. Phinny had the lead starting the final lap, but obviously Maroney wanted it too. The two drivers tangled on the back section with Maroney coming away with the win. Race officials later deemed there to be a driving infraction, and docked Maroney a position, handing the win to Phinny.
 | Jesus Vasquez crosses the line to earn his second Duffy of the event
(Photo: Sean Buur - Go Racing Magazine) |
Zach Zimmerly took the top honors in Thursday’s largest class, Rookie Sportsman. With 27 drivers entered, it was no small feat to score the win. Five drivers ran up front together for most of the race, but things spread out just a bit towards the end of the sixteen lap final. Phinny once again ran up front for the beginning of the race with Justin Coplen and Zimmerly in tow. The duo of Taylor Miinch and Miles Maroney ran in fourth and fifth, but were able to join the hunt for the win as the leaders made a few passes slowing their progress. Zimmerly snaked his way to the front and managed to procure a slight gap back to Miinch. They finished with the big Z on top with Miinch, Maroney, Coplen, and Phinny rounding out the top five.
Thursday’s big hoopla came in the form of Junior Sportsman. James Kennedy, Cody Kutzner, Alexander Rossi, Dylan Albiani, and Dusty Davis all got things going early in the final. It was clear from the drop of the green that things could go ugly early, but they waited until the final lap to do so. Kutzner and Rossi passed Kennedy heading into the corkscrew, but the passing was not done just yet. Rossi got a run coming off of “Montréal” and threw it inside of Kutzner in the hairpin. Carnage ensued, but Rossie came across the stripe as the winner. A great drive and quick thinking by Christian Stover and Garrison Masters landed them second and third place finishes. Protests were made though the results were upheld, keeping Rossi as the winner.
Overall it was a pretty good event. Obviously the people who felt wronged in some way will disagree with that, by for the most part people seemed like they enjoyed the close action on track. Although it felt like it took days to clear a class from the tech barn, competitors appreciated the thorough inspections, making sure they all got a fair shake. Tri-C Karters, Moran Raceway and the entire IKF staff did a fine job of keeping this going all week. Next year’s 2006 IKF 2 Cycle Sprint Grand Nationals will be held again in Southern California in the shadow of California Speedway at the Cal-Speed racing facility.
Results from Day 2 and 3 will be posted as soon as they are available. |
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