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| December 29, 2005 News |
| EKN Trackside: World Karting Association KartWeek 2005 - Day 1 |
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The 2006 season officially began today as racing got underway at the Daytona International Speedway for the 32nd Annual WKA KartWeek. Yesterday’s action gave the drivers and teams a full day of practice for both the Road Racing and Manufacturer’s Cup Series under sunny Florida skies.
During yesterday’s action, the talk in the Road Racing paddock was the drop in lap times from last year with the new pavement on the infield, giving the drivers a lot more grip then in year’s past and a lot smoother in certain areas of the course. The NRRS held the banquet last night at the Daytona 500 Club, along side Daytona Victory Lane where all the champions lined up for photos. In the crowded Man. Cup pits, high number of entries kept the WKA staff busy as over 600 entries were collected by Tuesday with more coming in throughout the four day event. The 2005 champions will be crowned tonight at the Daytona 500 Club during their series banquet.
Today the racing got underway with six races per division and many close finishes.
 | CIK 125 Sprint winner Eric Freiburg
(Photo: SKI) |
Road Racing Series
As at the sprint tracks, the TaG division is growing in the road racing scene as nearly 40 Spec 125 Sprint karts hit the track during the first race of the day. It was a photo finish after the 30 minute race with Bret Spaude (Veloce) beating out Donny Warren (CRG) by 0.043 seconds, just ahead of last year’s class champion Kevin Kopp (Veloce). Tony Tedeschi (Veloce) and Bob Varga (Veloce) rounded out the top five.
In Sprint shifter action, Eric Freiberg (Corse) dominated the CIK 125 Sprint class, running almost two seconds a lap faster then the rest of the 22 kart field. Dominick Petronzio (CRG), Tim Richardson (Margay) and Kevin Webb (CKI) put on a great show for second, third and fourth. Steve Oracion (Corse) rounded out the top five with a solid run. In WKA/ICC 125 Sprint, it came down to a photo finish with Dean Oppermann edging out Joe Komyati (Gold) by 0.029 seconds. Gary Long (Veloce) finished third after Andrew Chase (PCR) was disqualified for being under weight. Ron Brinker beat Talon Craft (WildKart) to the line for fifth.
 | Randy Fulks leading the way in Yamaha Sportsman Medium
(Photo: SKI) |
The Super Kart Illustrated Formula 125 Challenge concluded its 2005 season today with Scott Fiesler (Emmick) taking the victory and Brian Wilhelm (Owl) earning the championship title. Wilhelm and two-time Daytona winner Mike Spear Jr. (Emmick) battle up front before Wilhelm’s engine let go. During the 45 minute race, Spear’s right front tire began to blister and cause a serious vibration. Fiesler was able to capitalize and move around Spear for the lead and the win. Todd Behrens (Emmick) improved his lap times from this year and was finished a strong third spot Mitch White (Emmick) - runner-up in the championship standings – in fourth. SKI F125 rookie Michael Lattos (SpeedCraft) finished fifth.
In laydown action, the competitive Yamaha Sportsman Medium was won by Daytona legend Randy Fulks. He was able to break away from second place finisher Nate Grindell through lap traffic towards the end of the 45 minute race. It was a photo finish for third as Scott Buerman, Barry Taft, defending class champion Dave Hechler, and Margay’s Keith Freber all crossed the line within 0.070 seconds. Fulks earned another victory in B Stock, 25 years after he earned his first Daytona victory.
2005 Triple Crown winner Kevin Learnard (Elite) added two victories in Day 1 – Yamaha Sprint Lite and Yamaha Sprint Heavy - in effort to earn Triple Crown status in ’06.
 | Tim Goettsch earned victory in HPV Lite
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Manufacturer’s Cup Series
The first group of the day was the Yamaha Sr. Sportsman Heavy class with 51 entries vying for 30 spots. In qualifying, Margay’s took the first seven spots with Brandon Adkins leading the way with a 44.304 lap time. In the Prefinal, Rock Island Grand Prix star Gary Lawson took the win from the third starting spot with Tim Goettsch (Margay) moving up from fifth to finish second, dropping Adkins to third. In the Final, Lawson was able to hold off a charge by 2005 Triple Crown winner Corey Reeves (Margay) to take the win. Christopher Larson (Margay), Adkins, and Goettsch rounded out the top five.
HPV Jr. Sportsman was a one man show out of the 25 entries as Dylan Nobile (Nevoso) swept the class for the day, earning the pole (43.979) and taking victory in the Prefinal and Final. Sage Karam (TopKart) won a tough battle over Nick Neri (KRT) for the second spot. Randall Potter (Energy) finished fourth with Colton Ramsey (Margay) in fifth.
In HPV Lite, Tim Goettsch defeated 19 other entries to claim the Final victory. Goettsch qualified on pole (42.450) but was shuffled back to third in the Prefinal with Paulie Harraka (KRT) taking the win ahead of Ryan Stewart (Margay). In the Final, Goettsch took the lead from Stewart with about three laps to go. Harraka finished third with Chris Wehrheim (Merlin) and Tony Neilson (Margay) rounding out the top five.
 | Casey Neal on his way to the TaG win
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
Tied for the biggest class after day 1 was the TaG division with 53 total entries. In Qualifying, Nick Hedin (Mari) earned the pole with Red Bull Driver Search finalist Casey Neal (Energy) in second. Chris Burt (Energy) qualified third but was moved to the back after a visit in the tech barn, giving Chris Grektorp (Gillard) the third spot. In the Prefinal, Neal took the win just ahead of Caleb Loniewski (Margay) by 0.347 seconds with Hedin finishing third. In the Final, Neal and Loniewski battled and made contact with Loniewski on the short end of the stick with a spin, dropping him back to finish sixth. Neal went on to take the victory with Chris Grektorp (Gillard) finishing second ahead of Christopher Stage (Gillard) who needed the Last Chance race to get into the Prefinal. Stage moved up 17 spots in the Prefinal to start the Final ninth. Reeves (Margay) finished fourth with Eric Jones (Arrow) finishing fifth. Hedin finished ninth in the Final.
HPV Jr. Lite had 25 entries and had a great battle all day. CJ Linter (Margay) earned the pole with a like time of 42.649. Richard Benitez (Kosmic) moved up from third to take the Prefinal win ahead of Lintner and Cody Robinson (Arrow). In the Final, Robinson followed Benitez’s strategy and moved up from third spot to edge out Linter by 0.203 seconds at the line. Chad Finley (Margay) finished third with Evan Kalogiannis (Birel) and Christian Pahud (Energy) rounding out the top five.
 | HPV Jr. Sportsman winner Dylan Nobile
(Photo: Todd McCall - otp.ca) |
The best race of the day was saved for last as the Cadet Jr. Sportsman drivers put on show for the Man. Cup crowd. Spencer Pigot (Nevoso) qualified on pole after Gabriel Chaves (Nevoso) was disqualified for a technical infraction. Defending class champion Sage Karam beat Pigot in the Prefinal to put the two on the front row for the Final. After 53 entries were narrowed down to 25 drivers, Pigot beat Karam at the line by just 0.086 for the Final victory. Sebastian Ordonez (Nevoso) and Dylan Nobile (Nevoso) finished within a half second of Pigot. Eric Filgueiras (Gillard) rounded out the top five. |
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