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| November 11, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: SKUSA SuperNationals IX – Friday Report |
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 | Ron White lead the entire Avs.B Heat race under the lights
(Photo: Super Kart Illustrated) |
The first day of competition at the ninth annual SKUSA SuperNationals kicked off at Sam Boyd Stadium with ten classes hitting the track for both qualifying and the first round of heats. The qualifying sessions ran in the afternoon and in a return to SuperNationals tradition, heats were run at night under the lights.
The SuperPro qualifying session was run to establish the four flights for the heat rounds, which have also returned to the SuperNats. The pole qualifying session was a 30-minute run that saw a few typically-fast drivers struggle while others found themselves up front where they expected to be. Running quick early were a host of drivers that included Logan Gomez (First Kart), last year’s polesitter Tad Funakoshi (Intrepid), Matt Jaskol (CRG) and Ryan Yop (Tony Kart). Once the session really got going, things settled down and the drivers who had been fast all season long began to come to the front of the field.
Hitting his quick time fairly early was Trackmagic’s Gary Carlton, who rolled off a 53.648 on his sixth timed lap. This time put him immediately to the top of the sheets. As Carlton waited on pit lane, Ron White rolled his Mirage Motorsports TopKart onto the track and was fast right out of the box, taking the pole with a 53.519-second lap. As White was looking for more time, Carlton began getting ready for another run, pulling on the helmet. There was no more time in the chassis though and Carlton was forced to settle for second behind White.
Team Speed’s lone driver Ryan Phinny (Birel) was third while Genesis Racing’s Lorenzo Mandarino was fourth, running a CRG with a TM mill prepped by George Barks. The Canadian is one of those drivers who normally does well here in Las Vegas. Rounding out the fast five was Jon Allen, who is back on Kosmic this weekend after running an MBA all season long.
Texan Kyle Martin qualified 11th in his debut for PTK Racing while former winners Jason Bowles (Tony Kart), Wesley Boswell (Birel) and David Jurca (Italkart) qualified 12th, 14th and 15th respectively. They still had a little work to do.
The first round of heats was run under the lights and off the line with a strong start in the A-B pairing was White. The ‘Tornado’ nailed the start while Carlton spun his tires and dropped back to third as Jon Branam (Birel) launched well from the second row to jump to P2. Carlton got himself back in the game quickly and re-took second from Branam to go looking for White. A big wreck in turn four early on and it took out Jaskol, Ryan Yop (Tony Kart) and John Zartarian (KRT). None of the drivers were injured but there was serious damage to Jaskol’s CRG.
On the restart, White got the jump and held the lead for the remaining seven laps and took the win. Carlton was second with Branam third. Allen and Logan Gomez (First Kart) rounded out the top five at the checker.
In the C-D pairing, Mandarino got the holeshot but had to deal with Velez in the opening laps. The two swapped the lead several times before Mandarino took control. Velez was second and Phinny ran third. The action was for fourth as Carlson, Jason Bowles (Tony Kart), Kyle Martin (Tony Kart) and David Jurca (Italkart) all fought hard. Carlson looked to be holding up the pack and with Bowles trying hard to get by, Jurca and Martin drew close. With two to go, Bowles made a move that allowed Jurca to get a run into turn 11, when that didn’t worked, Martin jumped and took over sixth from Jurca. Mandarino cruised to the win followed by Velez and Phinny. Carlson held onto fourth while Bowles took fifth.
The early fight between 125 Stock polesitter Nick Halen (MS Kart) and Curtis Cooksey (Biesse) lasted a couple laps but ended when Cooksey slowed and pulled off the track in turn 10. This left the MS Kart driver well out front and he cruised to the easy win over Jonathan Wright by 4.2 seconds. Back in third was Greg Smith (GP) with Matt Kimball (Tony Kart) and Wayne Mello (Tony Kart) rounding out the top five.
In the 80 Junior heat, a first turn shunt dropped David Ostella (First Kart) and Christian Stover (Tony Kart) to the back but they recovered to finish 11th and 12th. At the front, emerging star Connor DePhillippi (KRT) checked out and ran to the easy win. Behind was Top Kart’s Billy Goshen in second and David Carmendy (First Kart) in third. Rounding out the top five were Maxime Pelletier (CRG) and Hayden Duerson (Italkart).
Newcomer Jaime Zuleta (First Kart) lost the lead from the pole at the start as Shayne Shipley (Arrow) notched the holeshot. The two ran in that order for the first couple laps before Zuleta took the lead at the end of the backshute. From there, Shipley tried in vain to get back past as Zuleta, in his first ever SuperNationals, took the heat race win. Shipley was second at the checker while last year’s winner Bonnier Moulton (Tony Kart) finished third. Rounding out the top five were Doug Cox (Birel) and Chris Farrell (Tony Kart).
The first round of TaG Senior heats saw two of the best ICA drivers in the country taking easy wins. In the A-B pair, Joel Miller (Tony Kart) took the lead early and was never seriously challenged. Running second was Cory Pollack (Monza) with Colby Jenn (Italkart) holding onto third place. In his second race with TopKart, Grant Hebner was fourth and Scott Koumis in fifth. Making a great run from deep in the field was Rocky Moran, Jr. (GP) who scored a sixth.
 | Heat Cvs.D winner Lorenzo Mandarino has been impressive this weekend
(Photo: Super Kart Illustrated) |
In the C-D heat, David Jurca (Italkart) got to the front but had to deal with Travis Irving (TopKart) for the early laps. Irving retired after five laps with a stuck clutch. This gave the easy win to Jurca. Jess Peterson (Alpha) was second with Jerry Henderson (MMK) in third. Rounding out the top five were Devon Sandeen (First Kart) and Raphael Ranger (Tony Kart).
In the Novice Shifter class, Brandon Underwood (TopKart) took the easy win after early leader and polesitter Zach Zimmerly (TopKart) came into contact with the barriers in turn two. Running second was Dylan Kwasniweski (CRG) with Colby Yardley (CRG) in third. Back in fourth was Austin Farley (Intrepid) while brother Andrew Farley (Intrepid) finished fifth.
It was a First Kart sweep of the top three in the 125cc Semi-Pro class as rookie Daniel Morad took the lead from teammate Logan Gomez in the early going. The duo ran nose-to-tail through much of the run with Morad holding on to score the heat win. Gomez was second and Matt Pritiko was third. CRG’s Michael Vincec finished in fourth with Rene Silva (First Kart) in fifth.
The TaG Masters heat got off to a rocky start when polesitter Jerry Henderson (MMK) was involved in a wreck in turn three. That brought out the red flag and eliminated Henderson from the action. Taking over the lead on the restart and taking a comfortable win was Ethan Wilson (Tony Kart) with John Crow (KRT) back in second place. The Italkart of Mel Snow scored third while Wayne Enright took his Italkart to fourth. Finishing fifth was Chris Rock (Margay).
The first ever JICA race in SKUSA history went off without incident as Christian Stover took the early lead before polesitter Connor DePhillippi (KRT) took the point with fellow KRT driver Scott Rossi in tow. They would finish in that order. Taking third was Brett Smrz, who was making his debut with First Kart in one-off. Rounding out the top five was Brandon Langlois (Maranello) while Stover salvaged a fifth.
With the first day of actual competition in the books, the drivers now have a night to make changes for the second and third rounds of heats. Tomorrow’s action will be a different animal, however, as both heats will be run during the day when the track will be hotter with action to match. EKN will continue to have full coverage from Sam Boyd Stadium all day tomorrow. |
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