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| September 30, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: USSC – Texas Motorsport Ranch – Friday Report |
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 | FE pilot J.R. Osborne preparing to take the track aboard his new Stockman-BRC250FE package
(Photo: Super Kart Illustrated) |
The final round for the Eastern Division of the United States Superkart Championship began today under the hot Texas sun at the Texas Motorsport Ranch, south of Ft. Worth. Two practice sessions during the day gave the drivers a chance to familiarize themselves with the track before the practice/qualifying session at the end of the day.
The weekend’s news began before the karts even hit the track with two of the Formula E drivers making some chassis/engine switches. FE point leader J.R. Osborne is making the debut of his new Stockman/BRC package this weekend with BRC Engineering head Riley Will on hand to help tune the engine. Also switching to a BRC250FE is Texan Derek Eastty. The Nemesis Superkart team have not received their repaired FPE powerplant from France as of yet and BRC was able to provide a motor for them this weekend.
Qualifying began at 5pm local time with an hour of track available for the drivers. The ICE pole was wrapped up early with Andy Kiker (Anderson/Honda CR) taking the top spot with a 1:11.652 lap time in his fifth and final lap of the session. James Ingram (PVP/GasGas) would overcome many problems during the session to start second for tomorrow’s Prefinal with George Saldana (PVP/Honda TRX) to start third.
The FE pole came down to the last few laps for the BRC drivers. Osborne held on to the provisional pole for most of the session and dropped his fastest lap time on the final lap of the hour session after changing from Bridgestone to Dunlop tires. It was the opposite for Eastty has he scrubbed in a set of Dunlop tires while breaking in the motor in the early portion of the session. The Nemesis team then switched to Bridgestone tires and with an hour of breaking in the motor, they came with nine-thousandths of a second within Osborne’s pole winning lap time on the last lap. Both Osborne and the Nemesis squad are happy with the performance of the BRC package after just one day of action. Johnny “Superkart” West brought both cars and has found the MSR ride to be the faster of his two and will start tomorrow’s Prefinal from the third spot.
Saturday will begin with a morning warm-up before the teams hit the track for the Prefinal in the afternoon. Continue to watch EKN for evening updates tomorrow night.
Pit Notes:
Two new drivers have hit the paddock in the ICE division. PG Racing’s Cory Simpson is making his USSC debut this weekend aboard his Nemesis/Honda TRX package. He was able to make the trip courtesy of West Racing, who helped him shake down the kart at Blackhawk in August. Scott McQueen is making his 250 Superkart debut with his recently purchased Anderson/Rotax 257 that was for sale on the 250 Superkart website for quite sometime. The purchase was a good deal as the kart was race ready.
Tires will be a major issue beginning tomorrow in the Prefinal as the tracks high-speed corners and grip is wearing on the tires. Many of the drivers are running Bridgestone tires though a few are on or switching to the Dunlop. Chassis set-up will come into play to keep the tire wear at a minimal on the abrasive course.
Formula E - Qualifying Results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine | Best Lap| 1. | 83 | J.R. Osborne | Stockman/BRC | 1:10.401 | | 2. | 79 | Derek Eastty | Nemesis/BRC | 1:10.410 | | 3. | 2 | Johnny West | MSR/Honda RS | 1:15.338 | | 4. | 99 | Firouz Haghighi | P-1/Yamaha TZ | 1:16.004 | | 5. | 3 | Jim Brannon | MSR/Honda RS | 1:19.481 | |
Intercontinental E - Qualifying Results
| Pos | No. | Driver | Chassis/Engine | Best Lap| 1. | 24 | Andy Kiker | Anderson/Honda CR | 1:11.652 | | 2. | 11 | James Ingram | PVP/GasGas | 1:13.499 | | 3. | 89 | George Saldana | PVP/Honda TRX | 1:15.763 | | 4. | 98 | Michael Kranz | Nemesis/Honda TRX | 1:17.725 | | 5. | 21 | David Liretts | Nemesis/Yamaha YFZ | 1:19.547 | | 6. | 60 | Ardi Saveghi | Anderson/Honda CR | 1:19.614 | | 7. | 13 | Cory Simpson | Nemesis/Honda TRX | 1:20.058 | | 8. | 14f | Bobby Butler | PVP/Yamaha YFZ | 1:22.508 | | 9. | 25 | Michael McAllister | Anderson/Honda CR | 1:22.733 | | 10. | 95 | Scott McQueen | Anderson/Rotax 257 | 1:23.052 | | 11. | 45 | Brad Cain | Nemesis/Honda CR | 1:25.113 | | 12. | 69 | Paul Green | Nemesis/Honda CR | 1:26.529 | | 13. | 52 | Ronald Kuhn | PVP/Honda CR | 1:28.344 | | 14. | 26 | Scott Loewenstine | MSR/Honda CR | 1:29.454 | | 15. | 14 | Donald Engbretson | Kart Pro/Honda 450 | No time | |
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