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| September 10, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: Stars of Karting – Infineon – Saturday Report |
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 | | Alex Speed held off White and Carlton for the ICC win (Photo: SKI) |
The first day of competition is in the books after a great day of racing at Infineon Raceway for the final round of the Snap-on Stars of Karting Western Division. The day was capped by the thrilling ICC race that saw the lead swap numerous times between the front-runners. Just a few feet on the track decided a couple of other races as well.
Intercontinental C (ICC)
Leading the way in the ICC qualifying session was Alex Speed (Birel) who sat in the pits for most of the 15-minute session. It wasn’t until about 13 minutes in and on his fourth lap that he went to the top of the timing sheet. He displaced teammate Ryan Phinny (Birel) who was on the pole for much of the time. Trackmagic’s Gary Carlton was third while Ron White (Top Kart) was fourth. White is making his first start in Western Division competition. Rounding out the top five was Matt Jaskol (CRG).
When the field lined up for the ICC Prefinal, the Team Speed duo of Alex Speed and Phinny were side by side while Carlton and White were on row two. Off the line, Speed jumped hard and White launched well and was looking for more but Phinny was a bit slow off the line and held up White. This allowed Carlton to slip into second, Phinny and White behind. In the next group, Jurca and Cameron battle with Jurca getting the advantage.
With the clear track, Speed settled in and while Carlton was close, he was never close enough to make a serious move for the lead. Speed stayed in control with White moving into third and setting off after Carlton but was never able to close up enough for an attempt at Carlton. Behind the lead four, the battle for fifth was between Jurca, Jason Bowles (Tony Kart), Jaskol and Lorenzo Mandarino (CRG). Most of the action came from Mandarino who made some bold moves. In the end, for all his work, he finished eighth. Jurca was fifth with Bowles in sixth.
Saturday’s ICC Final will likely replace Moran as the best ICC final ever. The lead changed nine times between White, Speed and Carlton. Off the line, it was Speed to the lead with White aggressively to second from the second row. Early on, Speed gapped the field but White and Carlton closed and the action began. White moved into the lead, then Speed went back to P1 with Carlton assuming the lead at one point as well.
The trio put on a clinic on how to race hard, close without being dangerous. In the end, it was Speed taking the win followed by White and Carlton. Speed’s margin of victory over White was just 0.095 seconds. Phinny finished fourth with Joe White (Top Kart) fifth. Bowles’ seventh place finish likely ended his hopes of the Western Division championship.
 | | It was a dominant second ICA win for Cole Whitt (Photo: SKI) |
Intercontinental A (ICA)
After running the quick time in both timed sessions yesterday, Cole Whitt (Italkart) backed up his times by running to the ICA pole Saturday. With a 48.710-second lap, Whitt was the only driver to get into the 48-second range. CompCor’s Joel Miller (Tony Kart) was second with Whitt’s Italian Motors teammate David Jurca third. Another Tony Kart, this in the hands of Eastern ICC driver Keith Spicer was fourth while Phil Giebler (Intrepid) set the fifth fastest time late in the session. Championship leader Kevin Glover was well back in 17th after sticking his motor early in the session.
It was an Italkart sweep of the top four in the ICA Prefinal. Whitt took the lead off the green with Jurca right behind. Dueck was third for the entire run. Miller got off to a rough start as some argy-bargy in the first corner sent him back in the field. Peterson and Landon Yee (Italkart) traded the fourth spot with Lee crossing the strip in fourth. It was an easy run for Whitt, as he was never seriously challenged throughout the run.
When Whitt looks back at his rookie season in ICA, he can say that his first win at Reno came with a little help from the bad luck of teammate Jurca. The same cannot be said for his second win as he absolutely dominated the day including the ICA Final. Young Whitt took the lead off the flag and held off Jurca in the early laps. Making an equally impressive run was Glover who was DQ’d after the Prefinal because his silencer had malfunctioned. Glover worked through the field and drove to a sixth place finish.
The real fight early was for third as the Italkarts of Yee and Dueck along with Giebler all swapped the spot a few times. As the race ran, Yee and Dueck worked past Giebler and it was and all Italkart top four. Whitt took his second ICA win followed by Jurca. Yee and Dueck were third and fourth with Giebler fifth. With Giebler and Glover finishing in order, there was little decided for the championship.
Intercontinental A- Junior (JICA)
Looking to clinch the Western JICA championship, Sebastian Saavedra (Vanspeed) set the wheels in motion with the pole in the qualifying session, running a 51.513-second lap. Running second was Hayden Duerson (Italkart) just over a tenth of a second off Saavedra. Provisional Eastern champion Gustavo Yacaman (First Kart) was third while Jacob Neal (CRG) and Jahan Mongul (KRT) were fourth and fifth.
 | | PCH Motorsports Jacob Neal (CRG) drove away from the field on his way to his first JICA win (Photo: SKI) |
A hard fought JICA Prefinal saw Sebastian Saavedra take the win. With two to go, Neal protected the inside line and overshot the exit of the first turn allowing the Columbian to take the lead heading into the esses. Neal was second and Duerson finished in third. Tony Kart’s Christian Stover was fourth and Bret Smrz (Intrepid) finished in fifth.
The beginning of the JICA Final began with a Sebastian Saavedra causing a red flag in turn one. After a lengthy delay, the field was reformed for a full restart. Off the green, Neal took the lead and put on a display of total domination of the race. With each lap, the lead built and by the end of the 16-lap final, it was Neal crossing 5.8 seconds ahead of second place finisher Stover. Duerson settled for third after a good scrap for second. Smrz was fourth and James Kennedy (Birel) finished in fifth. As a result of the red flag, Saavedra did not participate in the event and was effectively eliminated from the Western Championship race.
80 Junior
With the 80 Junior title on the line, none of the front-runners found themselves at the top of the timing sheets after the qualifying session. Running to the pole was Tommy Thompson (Italkart) with first time Stars racer Laura Hayes (Top Kart) in second. Hayes sat on top for the early session hoping to become the first woman to win a National Championship-class pole in Stars competition. Running third was Phillip Arscott (Swiss Hutless) with point leader Levi Roberts (Top Kart) fourth. Top Kart’s Billy Goshen was fifth.
With the top drivers in 80 Junior running for the Prefinal win, the story of the event was Hayes who drove a solid event to finish third. Hayes slotted in behind Thompson off the start while Zach Schiff (First Kart) and Roberts moved through the field. Eventually, Roberts took the lead and Schiff quickly followed through. Roberts was solidly in control and took the win followed by Schiff and Hayes. Thompson settled for fourth while Billy Goshen (Top Kart) moved up to fifth.
The 80 Junior Final came down to a battle between the two men who will contest the National Championship in Austin – Zach Schiff and Levi Roberts. The two swapped the lead a few times but at the line by a scant 0.017 seconds, Schiff took the win with Roberts second. Thompson was third and Hayes was fourth, an impressive debut for the Top Kart driver. Alex Schutte (Maranello) was fifth.
Easykart
Leading the way in the Easykart qualifying session was unofficial Western Division Champion Cory Pollack. The Californian set his lap of 51.398 on his fourth lap. Second was Joshua Lyon, just over 0.3-seconds back. Coming over from the East was Dominic Scheer who set the third fastest time while Ian Costa was fourth. Running shotgun on the field was Sebastian Fauque.
Making the Easykart Prefinal look easy was Pollack who led off the green and drove away to an easy four-second win over Dominic Scheer. In third well back was Fauque with Lyon fourth.
The Easykart Final was never a contest as Pollack took the lead off the green and drove away. Scheer slotted into third and then moved to second before retiring on lap 10. With Costa already out, that left just three drivers on the track. Pollack cruised to the easy win followed by Lyon and Fauque.
 | | Brendan Phinny used a brave outside pass to score another Cadet win (Photo: SKI) |
Cadet
In Cadet qualifying, many of the drivers dropped their quickest lap times early into the 10-minute session with Miles Maroney (Nevoso) earning the pole with 58.103 lap. Brendan “Mini” Phinny (Birel) qualified outside pole with Zach Zimmerly (Top Kart) starting third for the Prefinal. Kyle Shriver (Birel) and Taylor Miinch (Birel) rounded out the top five.
After an aborted start because of a massive turn one wreck, the Cadet Prefinal got underway with Maroney and Phinny at the point. The two swapped the lead a couple times with Phinny scoring the win followed by Maroney. Shriver was third and Menezes finished fourth. Rounding out the top five was Zimmerly.
It was an eventful Cadet Final with a lot of contact throughout the field. Much of the bumping was coming from Maroney into the bumper of leader Phinny. On the last lap, Maroney took the lead but Phinny wasn’t going to give up. Having led almost the entire way, Phinny put his Birel on the outside of 11 and held on to retake the lead and the win. Maroney crossed the line second but was DQ’d for unsportsmanlike conduct. That moved Shriver into before being disqualified in the tech barn, handing second to Menezes with Zimmerly moving up to third. Marcelo Montore (Top Kart) and Miinch close out the top five.
The day wrapped with a few of the drivers looking for more speed as they need to make serious gains to keep their title hopes alive for both the Western Division title. The Infineon Raceway lends itself to great racing as we saw today and should see the same tomorrow during the final day of competition. |
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