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| July 10, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting – CARTBC – Sunday Report |
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 | Trackmagic's Gary Carlton slid into the ICC victory on Sunday
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Arriving at the CARTBC facility for the morning, the first bit of news was the final outcome of Saturday’s ICA Final. After an exhaustive investigation, Stars Race Director Kevin Williams was unable to say whether Jurca did indeed jump the start of the previous day’s Final. Between Glover dropping out before the start, and another competitor waiving drivers past before the green flag, the evidence was inconclusive so the results stood.
The action today would all be run on a dry track as the clear skies held until near the end of the day. Clouds moved in as the Finals were drawing to a close but no rain fell. It was a welcome relief for everyone.
ICC
The track record was never in doubt for today’s ICC qualifying session as the heavy rains from earlier had wiped out all the rubber and kept the grip to a minimum. For the 15-minute session, several drivers waited a long time to go onto the track. Sitting until well past the halfway mark were Alex Speed (Birel), Lorenzo Mandarino (CRG) Ryan Phinny (Birel) and Joe White (Top Kart).
Once on the track, Mandarino went to the top of the charts but his time there did not last long as David Jurca (Italkart) took the pole position in the headline class with a 49.216-second lap. Gary Carlton (Trackmagic) continued to run well as he has all season with the second fastest time, just .06 seconds off of Jurca. Mandarino settled for the third fastest time while reigning National Champion Alex Speed was fourth. Rounding out the top five was John Zartarian (KRT).
The ICC Prefinal opened with polesitter Jurca slow off the line. Getting the jump was Carlton to take the lead with Mandarino second, Speed in third and Jurca back in fourth. Exiting the second corner, Jaskol and Bowles tangled sending both to the back of the field. Carlton built a good lead early but as Mandarino’s Steve Rickman-tuned Genesis CRG came in, he began cutting into the deficit. Slowly, he reeled in Carlton and took over the lead. Jurca took over third from Speed.
That group ran fine until with three laps to go, Speed was black flagged when his silencer came off moving White into fourth. When the checkers flew, Mandarino took the win followed by Carlton and Jurca. White finished in fourth while Ryan Phinny was in fifth.
The ICC drivers put on the best show of the day in the Final as drivers were dicing right from the drop of the flag. Mandarino got the holeshot and Carlton was aggressive off the line moving to his right in front of Jurca for second. Those three checked out on the field and began to build a serious gap before they began dicing for the lead.
Coming hard from the back were Matt Jaskol (CRG), Speed and Bowles. The three carved their way through the field. At the front, Jurca moved past Carlton and began chasing Mandarino. For Jurca, he was looking for both a sweep of the pro classes and chance to get a win over Mandarino as the two had fought hard two years ago that ended with Jurca out of the race.
At the halfway mark, all the action happened at nearly the same time. Jurca pulled the trigger and moved to the lead. Meanwhile, Jaskol dove to the inside of Tad Funakoshi (Top Kart) in the first turn to take over the fourth position. That fight allowed Bowles to close on Funakoshi’s bumper. In turn three, Bowels went below Funakoshi and the two touched sending Bowles flying once again this weekend. Bowles was able to pick up the pace but the Top Kart of Funakoshi was damaged and slow exiting the corner. Coming through next were Speed and Phinny with a full head of steam. Speed tried, but was unable to avoid Funakoshi and tore his nose off, effectively ending his day.
From there, Jurca cruised to the win while Carlton was able to get by Mandarino for second. Jaskol was fourth and Bowles salvaged a fifth place for the weekend. As was the case yesterday though, the race wasn’t decided when the checkered flag fell. Once in the tech shed, the motors were given a thorough review by Scott Evans and Jurca was disqualified for a spark plug protrusion issue. This moved Carlton into the win with Mandarino second and Jaskol in third.
 | David Jurca swept the ICA category
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
ICA
With clear skies and a dry track, the ICA times came down significantly and tightened the field as the top 12 drivers were separated by only a second. Leading the way in the early portions of the 15-minute session was Joel Miller (Tony Kart) but yesterday’s winner David Jurca (Italkart) and the rest of the Italian Motors team sat waiting until later in the session. Once they hit the track, Jurca quickly headed to the top of the charts. After setting the quick time, he bested his own pole time on a couple of occasions.
Miller stayed on the track trying to find the speed he needed to retake the pole but was unable to mount a challenge. Jurca’s 50.255-second lap stood and he would line-up P1 for the Prefinal, beside him on row one would be Miller. Row two saw Tyler Dueck (Italkart) and Kevin Glover (CRG) lining up for the Prefinal. Rounding out the top five was Cole Whitt, another Italian Motors driver.
After yesterday’s controversial start in the ICA Final, Stars Race Director Kevin Williams tried a new method for making sure the grid was properly aligned. After the two reconnaissance laps, the drivers were stopped on the front straight, put back into their proper positions then sent around for one additional lap. It would have worked but the starter did not like the alignment and waved off the start. On the second attempt, Jenn got into the back of Glover and got popped into the air. This spun Glover around and that collected Justin Anfinson (Tony Kart) ending the day for both Glover and Anfinson.
The third time was a charm and Jurca took the lead over teammate Dueck with Miller in third. There would be no changes in the order although Miller made several attempts to get around Dueck. Jurca took an easy win with Dueck in second and Miller third. Grant Hebner (CRG) finished in fourth while Phil Giebler (Intrepid) finished in fifth after being involved with a first lap incident with Nicholas Tonkin (Birel). After the race, Jenn was penalized for causing a collision and was sent back behind Glover.
The ICA Final was comlpetely dominated by Jurca. Leading off the line from the drop of the green, Jurca was never seriously challenged. At the back of the field, Glover got held up at the start and never really seemed to find any speed. It took him several laps to clear through the back of the grid and by that time, there was simply too much open track between himself and the lead groups. After the race, he said the carburetor was not working right.
With Jurca in the lead, the fight was for second and involved Giebler, Dueck, Miller and Grant Hebner (CRG). It was a good fight throughout the race with Giebler running as high as second before his TM motor broke entering the first turn. Miller and Dueck had a great battle swapping the second position several times. Hebner stuck his nose into the fight late but eventually got shuffled back to fourth.
On the final lap, Dueck held second but Miller was looking for a way by. Dueck was defensive in every corner allowing Miller to get better exits off the turns. In turn eight, Miller dove under Dueck and took second. Jurca took his second win of the weekend followed by Miller and Dueck. Rounding out the top five were Hebner and Matt Johnson (KRT). Glover finished sixth.
 | Sebastian Saavedra swept Sunday's action in the JICA division
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
JICA
Leading the way in the JICA qualifying session was Reno star Sebastian Saavedra (Vanspeed) with a fast time of 52.508 seconds. Brendan Langlois (Maranello) was second in the session, nearly .2 seconds off the pace. Qualifying in third and fourth was Garrison Masters (CRG) and Christian Stover (Tony Kart) while MacKenzie Johnson was fifth.
The JICA Prefinal was all Saavedra as he took the lead from the drop of the green and was never challenged again. The battle for second was a fairly good with Mackenzie Johnson (Margay) and Hayden Duerson (Italkart) duking it out. Duerson came out of the fight on top to claim second. Rounding out the top five were Langlois and Michael Hogg (Italkart).
Just like the Prefinal, the JICA Final was all Saavedra as he built a gap off the start and was never challenged for the lead. Johnson, Smrz and Jacob Neal (CRG) were all fighting for second but in the end, Johnson held on for second with Neal in third. Rounding out the top five were Smrz and Hogg. Afterward the race concluded, Johnson was disqualified for an undisclosed technical infraction moving Smrz into third.
 | Levi Roberts earned his first victory of the year in 80 Junior
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
80 Junior
The day opened with the qualifying session for the 80 Junior class. The top three were no surprise as the Western Division championship has come down to Billy Goshen (Top Kart), Levi Robert (Top Kart) and Phillip Arscott (Swiss Hutless). The pole battle came down to Roberts and Goshen with Goshen out front early then he lost the spot to Roberts. As the session came to a close, Goshen re-took the lead and the session ended with Top Karts on the front row – Goshen on pole, Roberts outside. Phillip Arscott (Swiss Hutless) was third while Christian Stover (Tony Kart) and Connor DePhilippi (CRG) rounded out the top five.
Off the line at the start of the 80 Junior Prefinal, Roberts slipped into the lead with Goshen in second. Trying to make room in the middle, Alex Doman (Invader) got popped into the air, but suffered no damage to his kart. After dropping back on the first lap, Arscott was trying move up but he was pushed wide on the exit of the second corner. This left the race to Roberts and Goshen. The gap between the two stayed at three kart lengths for the entire run with Roberts getting the win and Goshen in second. Conner DePhilippi (CRG) finshed in third while Arscott and Stover rounded out the top five.
Off the line in the Final, a slow start by Goshen gave Roberts the early lead with Arscott second. Goshen would begin to work his was back to the front, moving up to third before a broken cylinder ended his day near the half-way point. Roberts had a huge lead and drove smooth, consistent laps to bring his RC-20/Team Top Kart ride home for his first major win. Arscott crossed the line in second with Dusty Davis (CRG) in third, his best result of the year. DePhilippi was fourth and Jahan Mongul (KRT) rounded out the top five.
 | Kyle Shriver earned the Sunday victory in the Cadet class
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Cadet
The Cadet qualifying session was briefly interrupted by a red flag brought out when Gustavo Menezes flipped his Nevoso in turn seven. The Brazilian was out of the kart and ready to get rolling again before the corner workers arrived to assist. As a result of the flip, he was not allowed to continue the session while being evaluated by medical staff at the track meaning he had to start the Prefinal back in 19th place. The fight for the pole was won by Saturday’s winner Miles Maroney (Nevoso) and he was joined on the front row by Taylor Miinch (Birel). Brendan Phinny (Birel) and Dylan Nobile (Nevoso) qualified in third and fourth while Kyle Shriver (Birel) was the fifth fastest in the session.
In the Cadet Prefinal, the action was coming from Menezes, as he needed to work his way through the field after the qualifying difficulties. Menezes was helped by contact up front early in the race that sent Phinny back to the 16th position at the end. Miinch was the winner of the heat with Menezes in second. Shriver finished in third while Maroney and Owen Chandler (Mach 1) rounded out the top five.
A first turn jam up at the start of the Cadet Final saw four wide action sending Menezes off in the grass and ending Phinny’s day early. That shuffled the top ten around with the normal NASCAR- style draft pack until about halfway into the race when the drivers began dicing around. Eventually, a four-kart pack worked away from the rest of the group towards the end, with Shriver edging out Timmy Bachman (Top Kart), Miinch, and Maroney. Phillip Orcic (Mach 1) won the battle for the fifth spot.
With the day complete, the championships were in the bag. In the ICC class, a bad weekend by Alex Speed left the door open for Jason Bowles, but he was never able to capitalize on that development. Over in ICA, Sanden’s absence opened the door for the rest of the field and two wins by David Jurca kept any of the other hopefuls from putting any serious points on the board.
The Snap-on Stars of Karting Western Division championship takes a month off before concluding at Infineon Raceway in September. |
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